Audio By Vocalize
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Ms. Annalena Baerbock on June 10, 2026. [DPCS]
The League of Nations collapsed because it could not stop wars or curb the arms race. By 1930, Italy had invaded Ethiopia, Japan had seised Manchuria, and Germany was rearming. In 1945 the UN rose from that wreckage with a clear charge: Keep the peace, defend human rights, and get nations working together. Eight decades on, we must ask: Has it delivered?
Since its founding, war has not stopped. The Gulf, Syria, Bosnia, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, turmoil everywhere. Iran still reels from US and Israeli strikes. Russia grinds on in Ukraine. Across Africa, civil war tears through the DRC and Sudan while religious violence bleeds northern Nigeria. Gaza lies in ruins, and Israel’s bombs now fall on Lebanon. Where is the UN in all these?
Why has diplomacy become so elusive? States no longer settle disputes through dialogue. Instead, they expand their arsenals. No wonder Iran resists US policing of its uranium programme, while nuclear-armed North Korea and Israel remain untouchable.
