The United Nations The World in One Building.ppt

The United Nations: The World in One Building Questions for Discussion The United Nations: The World in One Building Do you know the old Arab story about a bird called the phoenix? First it burned to death. Then it came back to life. That doesn’t sound believable, does it? But there is an example of the phoenix in our own time: The United Nations. In 1945, it brought the dream of world peace back to life again after World War II. Since the day of its birth, the United Nations has been the subject of much debate. Some people attack the organization because they think it is too powerful. Others think that it is too weak. We can better understand this debate if we learn more about the U.N. and its history. The U.N. was started for two reasons. First, when the idea was born, people all over the world were tired of war. They were tired not just of World War II, but of war itself. They felt that there must be peaceful answers to the world’s problems. They felt that only an international organization could keep world peace. The second reason was that modern science had developed new bombs and airplanes. These weapons made it almost impossible for a country to defend itself. National borders were beginning to lose their meaning. There was also a feeling that this was only the beginning. Science would develop even more dangerous weapons in the future. Only an international organization would be able to control modern science. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was President of the United States at the time，believed that the Allies should plan for peace before the war ended. On December 1, 1943, Roosevelt, Winston Churchill of Great Britain and Joseph Stalin of the former Soviet Union agreed to start an organization for world peace. They asked all countries, large and small, to join them. During the next year and a half, the idea of such an organization was debated in all the capitals of the world. Then came a big day in modern history. On April 11, 1