The contempt of the Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (currently under investigation for fraud and corruption)  for the UN Security Council has shown the international community that any UN member state can ignore Security Council Resolutions, such as UNSCR 2334, with apparent impunity.

Of course, the ability of Mr Netanyahu to dismiss the authority of the United Nations is facilitated by his close links with a compliant US Congress, with whom he has a symbiotic – but parasitic – relationship.  That means that any UN Resolution that is critical of the Likud Zionist government will automatically be rendered null and void by the automatic use of the veto by the United States. In return, Israel offers a strategic base to facilitate American control over both the politics and the oil-rich natural deposits of the entire Middle East.

It is, in fact, an odious relationship that renders void the democratic principles upon which the Charter of the United Nations was based. And that is a complete tragedy for the international community because the United Nations is the one international forum – the only international forum – that represents nearly all 193 nation states, globally. There is no other such body that has the power to intervene, militarily and/or diplomatically, in conflicts anywhere in the world and to mediate between opposing sides.

Now, thanks to two arrogant, aging, Right-wing politicians (who, although here today, will be gone tomorrow), the world is suddenly in dangerously deep, dark, nuclear waters. It is a time that urgently requires great care and diligence plus the emergence of true democratic statesmen, or women, of integrity to lead us into calmer seas where peace, freedom and human rights – not war, imprisonment and torture – will be the benchmarks of a civilised, world society.

Let us pray that we are not too late to avoid nuclear war and an irradiated  landscape where nothing and no one, will grow for the next hundred years:  for we are nearer to that dystopian scenario now than at any time in the history of mankind.