“Bitter Disappointment”

On December 8, 1979, the French “Journal des combattants” voiced its disappointment about the U.N.’s inability to establish peace: “Having undergone a ghastly slaughter [in 1914], men​—especially the fighters on the opposing sides—​decided to form a sort of ‘international team,’ inspired solely by a spirit of peace, and holding almost absolute power to settle any issue between peoples. . . . The League of Nations (i.e., of all the nations) was born, and there was no doubt that, with it, strife would no longer be able to bring men to lock horns. . . . Twenty years later, alas, by the will of one individual, the whole setup collapsed. . . . After 1945, with the return of peace, men’s hearts once again nurtured the idea of an international peace organization. Hence they created UNO. . . . Armed forces were also formed to prevent a renewal of such cataclysms. Their function was to enforce the decisions taken at New York. One would expect to find a dove and olive leaf adorning the United Nations troops. Alas, since UNO was set up, the world has undergone more armed conflicts than ever before, many occurring or having occurred simultaneously. We have already seen Indochina, Algeria, Angola, ex-Spanish Morocco, Korea, the Greece-Turkey duel, South Africa, Mozambique and Portugal. And, sad to say, we have omitted some. . . . All execrators of war are [once] more bitterly disappointed by the blatant uselessness of this new pro-peace organization.”