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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Heba Aly and David McNair

The answer to attacks on the UN is to revitalise it – not sideline it

There are decades when nothing happens, and weeks when decades happen, so said Vladimir Lenin.

The start of 2026 has brought too many of the latter. The US abduction of the president of a sovereign country in Venezuela and threats to annex Greenland have exposed just how little power the United Nations has to enforce the rules of international law.

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