Is The United Nations Obsolete? Open To Debate
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/09/21/is_the_united_nations_obsolete_open_to_debate.html

Via Open To Debate (https://www.youtube.com/@OpentoDebate) -- As the world's attention descends on the United Nations General Assembly, Open to Debate is once again casting a critical lens on this over 80-year-old global organization. As the UN confronts ongoing wars and humanitarian crises, intensifying climate change, the rise of AI, and growing calls to reform its own institutions, it's also facing a question about itself: whether an institution created for the world of 1945 is equipped for, and can effectively meet, today's challenges.

Those who say no point to its promotion of peace and stability in an increasingly fractured political landscape, its devotion to human rights, its addressing of climate change, its commitment to multilateralism, and its widespread delivery of humanitarian aid as evidence of its value. The system is not perfect, they say, but its achievements are many and are often unsung. Yet those who say yes question its usefulness in addressing a radically different global environment than the one in which it was formed and critique its promotion of globalism. They also cite corruption and a lack of accountability regarding the very populations the body is charged with helping.

So, in light of these questions, we ask an especially timely question: Is the United Nations Obsolete? Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates:

ARGUING YES:

- Rajan Menon, Political Scientist & Spitzer Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the City College of New York

- Nile Gardiner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow at The Heritage Foundation

ARGUING NO:

- Angela Kane, German Diplomat and Senior Fellow at Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation; Former UN Under-Secretary-General

- Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, Scholar & Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania