Nato's unilateral intervention in the Balkans has frightened Russia, isolated China, and done little to help the million or so Kosovars in whose name Serbia is being bombed. Its principal achievements may be to ensure the death of the 'new world order' famously heralded by George Bush after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, and to destroy an institution that has helped to prevent international wars for over half a century.

In 1945, the United States and fifty other countries created an international organisation to ensure 'that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest'. Constructed in the aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations was designed to outlaw the unilateral use of force and provide an institutional framework for the collective maintenance of peace and security. Most important, it provided a veto to five countries - the US, the UK, France, China and the USSR - which enabled them to render any armed intervention illegal under international law, no matter what the motives, by withholding UN Security Council authorisation.

LRB 29 April 1999 | PDF Download