| Memo
from Richard Hudson: New Global
Report (NGR) Item 1:
California Conference,
“What Future for the United
Nations?”
As
Efforts Toward Peace Under Law Flounder,
Center for War/Peace Studies Regroups
A
re-reading of Global Report No. 57,
published in January 2002, makes clear that in the period since
then the prospect of “saving succeeding generations from the
scourge of war,” the mission proclaimed in the opening
sentence of the United Nations Charter, has sharply diminished.
(See attached reprint of this issue.)
Norms limiting military arms, including weapons of mass
destruction, are weakening. The “Unies” – powers favoring
a unilateral, often military, strategy and embracing unlimited
national sovereignty – are overpowering the “Multies” –
those who urge multilateral policies emphasizing political and
diplomatic approaches to global problems. General and Complete
Disarmament (GCD), for example, was some years ago being
discussed at the highest level between the U.S. and the Soviet
Union (with the U.S. delegation headed by John J. McCloy and the
Soviet team by Valerian Zorin). Today, the U.N. Committee on
Disarmament (CD) in Geneva is all but dead, unable even to agree
on an agenda.
As one step toward strengthening the Multies, the Center
for War/Peace Studies organized a conference, “What Future for
the United Nations?”, with the subtitle “Californians for
the U.N.,” on the 60th birthday of the world
organization, June 26-27, 2005, in Santa Cruz, California.
Twenty individuals – all Multies knowledgeable about
the United Nations – spent an intense day and a half
considering three specific questions:
1)
Should the U.S. “Take the Future of Iraq to the
U.N.”?
2)
Can a core group of U.N. member states be found to
cosponsor a U.N. General Assembly resolution introducing the
Binding Triad system for global decision-making?
3)
Can a group of members of Congress be developed to
sponsor a “Sense of the Congress Resolution to Support and
Strengthen the U.N.”?
The first resolution, a draft of
which appears at the beginning of the five
following documents, was drafted and approved by a consensus
of all 20 participants. The second
and third resolutions, which follow the
first, were generally well received and there were offers of
help to promote them.
Richard Hudson, Executive Director of the CW/PS, made the
point that the conference was only a waypoint on the hard road
to a world of peace under law. To facilitate progress along this
road, the CW/PS is altering its format of Global Report from
print to its website: www.cwps.org.
This will save us both time and money. Readers will be able to
keep abreast of our reports by checking our website
periodically. If you would like to receive special notice when
we put urgent reports on our website, send an e-mail to Hudson@cwps.org
and ask to be put on the “Urgent Notice” list.
Another major change in our reporting will be an
expansion of reader participation. If you have thoughts that
would be helpful in advancing world rule of law, send them to us
(same e-mail: Hudson@cwps.org),
and they will be considered for publication on the Center for
War/Peace Studies website.
Two operational notes:
1)
We have professional videotapes and audiotapes of our
California conference and are now considering whether to spend
the time and money to edit them down to shorter versions.
Meanwhile, the full, unedited versions can be rented or
purchased by special arrangements.
2)
The CW/PS is planning to strengthen its Board of
Directors and Board of Sponsors. We are particularly pleased to
have Walter Cronkite join us as a sponsor, and look forward to
discussing with him possible ways to advance our mutual
concerns. Supporters are invited to suggest additional possible
board members.
Finally, a plea for help! The CW/PS is understaffed and
underfinanced. If you can make a contribution now – or
encourage a friend to do so – it would give a big boost to our
effort to win a higher place for the Multies on the world’s
agenda. Many thanks!
An Exit Strategy --
Take the Future of Iraq to the U.N.
The
Binding Triad Complex
Sense of the
U.S. Congress Resolution
The World Needs a Way to Make Up Its
Mind
Global Report 57
|
