War was the agony from which the United Nations was born. Chartered in 1945 to keep the peace, the U.N. has become to many a cruel delusion. This has rarely been more evident than it was last week as the U.N. debated the India-Pakistan war. While thousands were being killed, the U.N. floundered through 26 hours of procedural arguments, five stillborn resolutions and shrill big power confrontations, including two Soviet vetoes. As the interpreters buzzed the long-winded, angry or pompous phrases, spectators could visualize so many bullets, so many wounds per word: simultaneous translation accompanied by simultaneous death.
Although...
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