Madam, - The United Nations is slowly but surely becoming emasculated and sidelined, especially under pressure from the Bush administration's ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, who represents the US neo-conservatives' thirst for unilateralist global power.
As with previous attempts to have a collective and democratic world body responsible for global security, the UN is thus caught in a Catch-22 situation as it is continually being blamed for being ineffective in achieving global security yet is not being given the necessary powers to be a relevant global force for good. Thus we have the disgraceful situation where, at the world summit at the UN, nuclear and conventional non-proliferation is off the world agenda as a global priority thus ensuring a continuance of the arms race and vast profits for the world's armaments industry. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER, NGO Peace Alliance, Phibsborough Road, Dublin 7.