Folks, a lot has happened for over a year or two now to make us wonder whether the United Nations Organization is still alive and kicking as a potent force to solve global problems of intransigence on the part of those who value might over right and the poor ones who just want to live their lives by asserting their right to survival on this sickened and troubled earth.

No need to talk about the history behind the UN or why its supplanting the League of Nations after World War I is anything to cherish. The truth is that the UN has stood up mas a force to prevent another global catastrophe, which explains why so much has been pumped into sustaining it.

Those conversant with the operations of the UN and the goodwill that has sustained it so far will know what the organization has stood for. Questioning its neutrality, Libya’s former leader (Muammar Gaddafi) did all he thought he could to re-orient it, only to end up being a victim of his own over-ambition.

There is a lot more behind it that I am not interested in exploring or expatiating on here. Once Gaddafi bit off more than he could chew—and once the UN itself endorsed moves to snuff him out—what else can one say?

He is fit to be written off as a victim of circumstances that he least expected, even if he wrought it himself—coming to the US as a victor after being bombarded in 1986 and exposed as a vulnerable target to be squashed.

Pitting camps of his Bedouin type in the US territory even when denied territorial capacity, he succeeded in exposing himself to the forces seeking to get rid of him. The events leading to his being killed clearly explain the futility of his ambitions to be what his fate didn’t design for him. So much for that sordid aspect.

But after throwing Libya into turmoil and considering President Obama's admission of guilt in the failed Libya experiment, what is the UN saying to the world? And how will it prevent any recurrence?

No matter what we might make out of this Libyan situation in the context of the UN’s weaknesses, there is a lot more to contend with. Take happenings in other parts of the world, particularly what has been happening in Syria since 2013 when the so-called Arab Spring began in Tunisia.

Some farcical success in Tunisia and Algeria when the cowards ruling the system ran away to save their own lives and accumulated wealth stashed away in safe havens but not that of the system that they had put in place.

An attempt to spread that uprising to Egypt and other areas in the Middle East didn’t accomplish anything significant to serve the purposes of those spearheading such moves or their supposed beneficiaries after their martyrdom. The implications for the world are still being grappled with.

In the midst of all that, the UN has remained a puppet, being manipulated by those propping it up with their substance and dictating to it. When they pull the strings, the UN dances to the rhythm enacted.

Too much to worry about. Why is the UN under the South Korean Ban Ki-Moon so emaciated and unfulfilling?

Happenings in our time call for proactive moves to stem the tide, but the UN under Ban Ki-Moon is evasive and woefully ineffective even in reaction. What a disappointment!!

In earlier times, the UN was strong in its efforts to prevent such catastrophic happenings. It didn’t have to wait for them to happen before reacting or failing to react at all. Why is it that under Ban Ki-Moon now everything about the UN is mired in nothingness?

Of course, we are free to say what is on our minds because the UN isn’t meant to behave the way it has been doing for some time now, especially after helping its paymasters set its parameters to get rid of those considered as an affront to their authority and hegemonistic agenda. Too bad for global politics.

Terrorism is the main scourge of the world in our time. Sordid terrorist attacks in Brussels, France, Germany, etc. are depressing. The latest horrific one is worse than disgusting (See http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36892785)

The steps being taken by the US and its NATO allies to extend their war-mongering devices to the backyard of Russia threaten world peace; but the UN is silent as if it doesn’t know the implications of the militarism going on. Is it waiting for the sparks to start flying before reacting?

What is the UN doing to validate itself in our time? Where is Ban Ki-Moon in all that our world is experiencing now? How can we be assured that we have a world body that isn’t interested in global warfare as the solution to existential problems? Will Ban Ki-Moon and his team rise to be counted? Where is Ban Ki-Moon himself now?

Too much happening without anything coming from or being done by the UN to assuage doubts and fears. Is the UN any more relevant at all?

We haven’t seen Ban Ki-Moon in public or heard of or from him. Is he now ensconced in a cocoon, enjoying his tenure in comfort after being manipulated by the powers-that-be to do their bidding? His comfort, our woes!!