- Renowned human rights lawyer and author Geoffrey Robertson has written a highly informed critique of the United Nations over the last hundred or so years since its inception. He doesn't hold back. In fact he eviscerates the organisation, particularly the Security Council, neutered as it is by the world's five most powerful aggressors whose vetoes continually undermine its power to confront atrocities, particularly against democratic nations.
- The book was completed in late October 2025 so is fully up to date. He delves into Putin's war on Ukraine, Netanyahu's genocide against the Palestinians, the crisis in Sudan, and other brutal and criminal wars over the decades.
- He damns Putin and his fear of Ukraine's ambition to join NATO as a 'threat' to Russia as an absurd overreaction. The perceived threat was non-existent. His 'persistent accusation of genocide - he alleges that Ukraine threatened to eradicate the 4 million inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk - is pure fantasy...Ukraine did not attack Russia and was not equipped or capable of attacking Russia, even with the help of NATO, of which it was not a member'.
- The UN Security Council is worthless. It has become the main obstacle to accountability. Its five permanent members - the US, Russia, France, the UK and China - are able to veto any resolution which runs counter to their national interests.
- ‘The prospect that those who bomb civilians, starve populations and unleash drones upon cities will ever be held to account is as distant as ever.’
- Robertson argues persuasively that major reforms are needed to make the UN the powerful international organisation the world now desperately needs in our age of horrendous wars.
- I wholly recommend this detailed, highly informed book to anyone who is, like me, in a state of despair over the current state of the world.
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