UN's growing ineffectiveness and Pakistan.

Byline: Javid Husain

General Qassem Soleimani's assassination by the US under the direct authorization of President Trump was the latest reminder of the growing international anarchy and ineffectiveness of the UN in the consideration of major issues of international peace and security. UN Security Council, which carries the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security under the UN Charter, was prevented to perform effectively during the Cold War because of the intense rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union as well as between NATO and the Warsaw bloc. The end of the Cold War initially engendered hopes for a New World Order based on respect for international law and the UN. However, these hopes proved short-lived.

The US took advantage of its supremacy in a unipolar world to pursue its hegemonic ambitions in different regions of the world instead of strengthening the UN and the rule of international law. An important Pentagon planning document, which was leaked to the press in 1992, laid down the following as the US overarching strategic goal in the post-Cold War global scenario: 'Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival......that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union......Our strategy must now refocus on precluding the emergence of any potential future global competitor.' This strategic goal has remained the most important guiding principle of the US foreign and security policies since then. Consequently, instead of a New World Order based on international law, the international community was confronted with the spectacle of a world in disorder marked by the domination of power politics over international law, unilateralism and the diminished authority of the UN on the strategic issues of war and peace.

In pursuit of the goal of global hegemony, the US has openly defied the UN and blatantly violated the principles of international law. The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 under President Bush was perhaps the most telling example of the disregard of its obligations under the UN Charter and international law while pursuing its hegemonic agenda and its inclination towards unilateralism in dealing with international issues of peace and security. President Trump has carried the US unilateralism and defiance of the UN to an extreme as reflected by his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which had been negotiated with Washington's full...