Protesters outside the United Nations headquarters criticize Washington's complete bias towards Israel in its massacres in Gaza (Anatolia)

Director of the International Crisis Group at the United Nations, Richard Gowan, said that the United States’ use of its veto power three times against Council resolutions, which call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, prompted its opponents to accuse it and its European allies of not caring as much about the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza. Their concern for the suffering of Ukrainian civilians.

Guan explained - in a report published by the International Crisis Group website - that Russia, in particular, angered American officials by playing on double standards, and representatives of the two countries exchanged accusations regarding that.

He stated that the United Nations is supposed to be a bastion of high ideals, but it is also a place of low politics.

Ambassadors can strongly condemn each other's moral failings, while making deals when their interests align.

Damage

Although Russia's invocation of American double standards may be ironic, Gowan continues, many Western observers agree that Washington has done itself a disservice diplomatically because of its handling of what is happening in Gaza.

Since the outbreak of the Russian war on Ukraine in 2022, American officials in New York have been keen to describe Russia as an “imperialist” power, and they have mobilized great support for Kiev within the United Nations General Assembly.

Now, the United States is receiving harsh criticism even from those who stood by it in the Ukraine crisis, as they accuse Washington of inciting the continuation of “Israeli colonial violence” and ignoring the General Assembly’s calls for a ceasefire.

As a result, Gowan continues, the crisis in Gaza had a dampening effect on discussions regarding Ukraine at the United Nations;

When European foreign ministers met at the United Nations in late February to commemorate the second anniversary of the Russian war, it was notable that Ukraine did not submit a resolution proposal to the General Assembly to mark this event, as it did in 2023.

Western diplomats admit that one of the most important reasons for this is the Ukrainians’ certainty that they will find it difficult to muster the largest number of votes to support Kiev in the Assembly as they did in 2022.

Drawing lessons

Guan added that UN talks on other issues such as Ukraine are continuing outside the Security Council, and explains that it is too early to say that the UN has returned to normal.

He continued that as long as a "decisive end to the hostilities against Palestine" was not reached and a political horizon or framework for the establishment of a Palestinian state was not established, the Security Council and the General Assembly would continue to disagree over the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Guan wondered whether policymakers were able to draw any constructive lessons from discussions about the double standards followed by the United States in relation to Gaza, Ukraine and other crises.

The Director of the International Crisis Group at the United Nations expressed his hope that today's sequence of crises will inspire some members of the United Nations to invest more energy in preventing conflicts and protecting civilians, as they did toward the genocide in Rwanda during the 1990s.

However, he added that the geopolitical environment has changed, and it is difficult to see the United States, China and Russia putting aside their strategic differences in order to implement real reforms.

Source: International Crisis Group