The Need and Feasibility of the UN to Lead the Human Community in Creating a Digital Planet(005)
— An Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Guterres and Global
In this vicious circle, over time, the United Nations has become so ineffective in almost everything that even its Charter has become unsustainable. Article 3 of the UN’s purpose clearly states “to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character.” There is no doubt that the United Nations is fulfilling this purpose in all the above-mentioned areas where money is needed. However, the so-called function of “promoting international cooperation” can be seen as a complete failure and a total failure.
In August 2022, the US government announced a plan to reduce student debt.
The US government believes that the increase in the cost of studying at university greatly outweighs the increase in the federal foundation grant, the Pell Grant. As a result, there are over 45 million students with increasing debt. The total accumulated debt has now reached US$1.6 trillion. This relief scheme will help up to 43 million students. Of these, 27 million would receive up to $20,000 in relief and the rest up to $10,000. This is a cost of at least US$600 billion.
There is really nothing wrong with a government addressing the financial difficulties of students in its own country. But it is heartbreaking to see it in the context of the funding woes that the UN is currently experiencing. On the one hand, the 43 million university students in the United States need more than US$600 billion to help alleviate their debt; on the other hand, the UN is begging the world’s richest man to donate US$6.6 billion to save the lives of 42 million hungry people. On the scales of the global human community, is it more important to forgive a student’s debt or to save a poor man’s life? Any earthling with a conscience can only feel a deep sense of injustice and resentment when faced with this comparison.
It makes no sense for the UN to force a donation from an individual, even if he is the richest man in the world. But it is justifiable for the UN to force donations to the US government. After all, it is nations, not individuals, that form the UN. Article 2 of the UN’s purposes: “To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples”. How do we understand “respect for the equal rights of peoples” at the international level? Is the right of peoples to live the first and equal right that should be respected internationally. Suppose the UN could persuade the US government to allocate even 1% of the cost of this debt relief to help the world’s hungry. The UN’s “enabling international cooperation” and “respect for the equal rights of people” would not have been a name or a complete failure.
And Article 1 of the purposes of the United Nations: “To maintain international peace and security; and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace; and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.” The core of this first article is, to put it bluntly, the suppression of war and the avoidance of war. This is the fundamental purpose for which the United Nations was established by the international community after the Second World War. Since its establishment, the United Nations has won so many Nobel Peace Prizes precisely because it has made its due contribution to this fundamental purpose. However, this fundamental purpose has become increasingly impossible for the UN to uphold at a later stage, and after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the authority, deterrence, binding force and even deterrent effect of this fundamental purpose have all disappeared.
It is fair to say that when the war broke out in full on 24 February 2022, Guterres had a very short time to characterise the nature of the war. On 17 March, the UN-affiliated International Court of Justice promptly issued a ruling demanding that Russia “immediately cease its military operations in Ukraine”. It was still not binding.
Having to do so, on 22 March 2022, Guterres made a formal speech, once again stating clearly that it was Russia that had launched a massive invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory in violation of the UN Charter. Great damage was done to Ukrainian sovereignty and Russia was expected to stop its military action. It remains ineffective.
Guterres had no choice but to call for a humanitarian ceasefire, no matter what. We should negotiate to solve the problem and avoid further casualties. It was clear that Guterres had thought of everything he could think of and used all the tricks he could. Later, a meeting with Putin was also held. But to this day, not only has the war between Russia and Ukraine not stopped, but it is even continuing to escalate.
To solve the global climate problem, the developed countries have pledged $100 billion a year, and the result is nothing short of an unbearable international joke. To solve the global hunger, refugee and humanitarian problems, the developed countries are not even willing to make commitments. Even though Guterres has pleaded and begged countless times on Twitter and the official website, and even resorted to the International Court of Justice, they have all turned a blind eye and remained indifferent to solving the Russian-Ukrainian war and regional conflicts. What is the value and meaning of the UN’s existence now that it has failed to maintain its three most central and fundamental purposes? Once the global functions and role of the UN are lost, human society as a whole will no longer simply return to the pre-World War II era, but will return to a primitive civilisation where the law of the jungle prevails and the fittest survive. For the global epidemic crisis and the global climate crisis are unprecedented before the Second World War, and the global nuclear war crisis is even more unlikely to occur before the Second World War. If any one of these crises gets out of hand, humanity will face extinction.
The saddest thing is that the vast majority of people around the world are not aware of these facts. There is a persistent belief that the UN can solve all these crises, or that the UN is solving them. And the UN has no money, and “a clever woman cannot cook without rice.”The UN can only feed on illusions. As in the previous description of the self-defeating way in which the UN is addressing the global climate problem, we acknowledge that the UN is helpless too. But is it really ethical to keep people all over the world in the dark. Or should we reveal the truth and face up to reality?
That reality is that the United Nations, the guardian of the global civilisational order, the guardian of global human peace, the promoter of global international cooperation. Today, both her role, her function and her purpose have been stifled little by little by money, and she is cease to exist except in name.
(to be continued)
The English translation is mainly done by AI and is inevitably not accurate enough. Please refer to the original Chinese text below for a more accurate understanding.
联合国引领人类社会打造数字地球的必要性和可行性（005）
— — 致联合国秘书长古特雷斯及全球贤达的公开信
在这种恶性循环下，久而久之，联合国几乎在所有事情上都显得有心无力，甚至连联合国宪章也无以为继了。联合国宗旨第三条明白写道：“促成国际合作，以解决国际间属于经济、社会、文化及人类福利性质之国际问题。”毫无疑问，联合国上述所有需要钱的地方，都是在履行此宗旨。可是，所谓“促成国际合作”职能，可以视为完全失效、完全失败。
2022年8月，美国政府公布了一项减免学生债务计划。
美国政府认为，大学学习成本的增幅，大大超过了联邦基础助学金 — — 佩尔奖学金的增幅。因此，有超过4500万学生的债务在不断增加。目前，累计债务总额已经达到1.6 万亿美元。这项减免计划将帮助到4300万学生。其中，2700万人可获得最高2万美元减免，其余人可获得最高1万美元减免。这笔费用至少在6000亿美元以上。
一个国家的政府解决自己国家学生的经济困难，这确实无可厚非。但联系到目前联合国遭遇的资金困境来看，又令人心碎。一方面，美国的4300万大学生，需要6000多亿美元帮助他们减免债务；另一方面，联合国在苦苦乞求世界首富，可否捐赠66亿美元拯救4200万饥民的生命。放在全球人类社会的天平上，究竟是免除一个学生的债务重要，还是拯救一条穷人的生命重要。任何一个有良知的地球人，面对这种对比，都只能感受到深深的不公和愤懑。
联合国逼捐个人，哪怕他是世界首富，都毫无道理。但是，联合国逼捐美国政府，是理所当然。毕竟，组建联合国的是国家，而不是个人。联合国宗旨第二条：“发展国际间以尊重人民平等权利及自决原则为根据之友好关系”。如何理解国际间“尊重人民平等权利”。人民的生存权，是不是国际间最应该尊重的第一平等权利。假设联合国能说服美国政府从这笔减免债务费用中，拨出哪怕1%来救助全球饥民。联合国“促成国际合作”、“尊重人民平等权利”，也不算有名无实，也不算完全失效。
而联合国宗旨第一条：“维持国际和平及安全；并为此目的：采取有效集体办法，以防止且消除对于和平之威胁，制止侵略行为或其他和平之破坏；并以和平方法且依正义及国际法之原则，调整或解决足以破坏和平之国际争端或情势。”这第一条的核心，说白了，就是制止战争、避免战争。这也是二战后，国际社会成立联合国的根本目的所在。联合国成立以来，之所以获得了那么多项诺贝尔和平奖，也正是因为在这个根本宗旨方面，做出了它应有的贡献。可是，这个最根本宗旨，联合国在后期已经越来越无法坚守了，而在俄乌战争爆发之后，这个根本宗旨的权威性、威慑力、约束力，甚至阻吓力，都已经荡然无存。
可以说，当这场战争于2022年2月24日全面爆发后，古特雷斯在极短时间内就对战争性质做了定性。要求普京总统不要进攻乌克兰，可是，没有作用。3月17日，联合国所属的国际法院迅速作出了裁决，要求俄罗斯“立即停止在乌克兰的军事行动”。依然没有任何约束力。
不得已，2022年3月22日，古特雷斯正式发表讲话，再一次明确指出，是俄罗斯违反《联合国宪章》，对乌克兰主权领土发动大规模入侵。对乌克兰主权造成了极大破坏，希望俄罗斯停止军事行动。依然无效。
万般无奈之下，古特雷斯只好呼吁无论如何，可不可以先实现人道主义停火。大家用谈判的方式来解决问题，避免更多人员伤亡。看得出，古特雷斯能想的办法都想了，能用的招都用了。后面，与普京也见了面。可时至今日，俄乌战争不仅没有停止，甚至还在继续升级中。
解决全球气候问题，发达国家承诺了每年拿出1000亿美元，结果简直就是一个不忍目睹的国际笑话。解决全球饥饿、难民、人道问题，发达国家连承诺都不愿意作出。解决俄乌战争问题、地区冲突问题，就算古特雷斯在推特上、官网上无数次的恳求和乞求，甚至动用国际法院手段，他们统统视若无睹、无动于衷。联合国发展至今，现在已经连它最为核心、最为根本的三大宗旨都维持不住了，其存在的价值和意义又在哪里？联合国的全球功能和作用一旦丧失，整个人类社会就不再只是回到二战前这么简单了，而将返回到一种“丛林法则”下、一种弱肉强食、适者生存的原始文明状态下。因为，无论是全球性疫情危机、全球性气候危机，都是二战前没有的，而全球性核战争危机，更是二战前没可能出现的。这其中任何一个危机失控，人类都将面临灭顶之灾。
最为可悲的是，全世界绝大多数人民并不清楚这些事实真相。还始终相信联合国可以解决这一切危机，或者联合国正在解决这些危机。而联合国没钱，巧妇难为无米之炊，也确实在画饼充饥。就像前面描述联合国解决全球气候问题所采用的自欺欺人方式那样，我们承认联合国也很无奈。可是，这种让全世界人民都蒙在鼓里的做法，真的道德吗。还是我们应该揭示真相，直面现实。
这个现实就是：联合国，这个庞大的全球文明秩序的守护者，这个全球人类和平的维护者，这个全球国际间合作的促进者。今天，无论是她的作用、她的职能，还是她的宗旨，都被金钱一点一点给扼杀了，她已经名存实亡了。
（未完待续）
