A road map with blank spaces

The UN summit on the Pact for the Future was a success in that the overwhelming majority of 165 nations (with 143 in favor, 7 opposed and 15 abstentions) approved the effort to revive the United Nations so that they can respond adequately to the great challenges of our age. However, Russia's attempt to postpone the Summit, so that 23 of the Pact's 56 proposed actions could be amended, underlines the difficulties faced by every effort to shape collective institutions. Just as the League of Nations was hobbled by the absence of the United States in the leadup to World War II, a major reason for the UN's inability to impose International Law and its Charter is the excessive power granted to the five permanent members of the Security Council, with their veto. And so, the UN's actions are aligned with the interests of its most powerful members and their allies. 

"From now on, we...