Law for All, Power for Five: The United Nations at a Crossroads

Carlos Taylhardat | September 22, 2025

A Ceasefire Stopped by One Word

Last week in New York, fourteen of fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council raised their hands in favor of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Only one — the United States — said no. With that single veto, the resolution collapsed.

The moment was painfully familiar. Russia has used the same power to block condemnations of its invasion of Ukraine. China has used it to protect allies in Syria and Myanmar. Again and again, the will of nearly every country is erased by the “no” of one.

For millions watching from Gaza to Kyiv, the question is obvious: how can the world demand peace if peace can be vetoed?

The Story Begins in Ashes

To answer, we need to step back.

World War I was called the war to end all wars. It wasn’t. Within twenty years, the world was on fire again. By 1945, more than 60 million people were dead.

When the smoke cleared, leaders met in San Francisco to design a system that would prevent another global catastrophe. The United Nations was their answer: a kind of world parliament, a chamber where disputes would be settled by law instead of by tanks.

But there was a catch. The five great powers of the day — the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, China, and France — demanded a special guarantee. They would only join if they had the right to block any decision that threatened their vital interests. Without that guarantee, they said, there would be no UN.

That guarantee became the veto.

The Button That Stops the World

Here’s how it works, in plain language.

The UN Security Council has 15 members. Ten rotate every two years. The other five, the P5, are permanent.

To pass a resolution, at least nine must agree. But if even one of the P5 votes no, the resolution dies.

Imagine a classroom where everyone votes on what to do, but five students each hold a stop button. If they press it, the decision is cancelled, no matter how many others said yes.

Narrative One: The Promise of Stability

When the UN was created in 1945, the veto was seen as a necessary evil.

• Keeping the giants inside. After World War I, the United States refused to join the League of Nations, and that institution collapsed. The veto was designed so that no great power would ever feel forced into a decision and walk away.
• A brake on world war. If a major power felt cornered, it could block action instead of risking nuclear conflict. The veto, its defenders argued, would prevent wars between the giants themselves.
• A safeguard, not a weapon. It was meant to be used rarely, only for matters of survival.

And for a time, that bargain looked wise. During the Cold War, the veto froze action, but it also kept Washington and Moscow at the table instead of at war.

Narrative Two: When Consensus Isn’t Enough

But the veto has not stayed rare. Over the decades, it has become a blunt instrument of national interest.

• Israel and Gaza. The United States has repeatedly used its veto to block resolutions critical of Israel, most recently stopping a ceasefire supported by 14 out of 15 Security Council members.
• Ukraine. Russia has vetoed condemnations of its invasion, despite near-universal support for such resolutions.
• Syria. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed attempts to hold the Assad government accountable for chemical attacks.

For smaller nations, it feels like betrayal. They debate, draft, and vote overwhelmingly for peace, only to see a single word — “no” — erase their work.

The United Nations, they argue, was meant to be a law for all. Instead, it looks like law for all, but power for five.

Narrative Three: The Silent Story — Between Rhetoric and Reality

In 1961, John F. Kennedy told the General Assembly: “Until all the powerful are just, the weak will be secure only in the strength of this Assembly.” He wanted the United States to see its interests bound up with the survival of a world institution larger than itself.

Two years later, at American University, he went further: “We seek to strengthen the United Nations… to develop it into a genuine world security system… insuring the security of the large and the small.”

But here is the silent truth: no American president — not Kennedy, not his successors — has offered to give up the veto. Nor have Moscow, Beijing, Paris, or London. The rhetoric of equality endures, but the structure of privilege remains.

Donald Trump said it out loud. In 2017, he told the General Assembly the UN had become “a club for people to get together, talk, and have a good time.” For him, the veto wasn’t a flaw. It was leverage.

And so the contradiction holds: the UN preaches one nation, one vote, but its most decisive chamber still runs on hierarchy. For people under bombardment in Gaza or under tanks in Ukraine, that contradiction is not abstract. It is life and death.

Why It Matters

The veto was designed to keep the strongest nations inside the system. In 1945, that compromise kept the UN alive. In 2025, it leaves the UN paralyzed.

• In Gaza, near-universal calls for a ceasefire collapse at a single “no.”
• In Ukraine, the world condemns an invasion, but Russia’s veto blocks action.
• In Syria, chemical attacks go unpunished because of vetoes.

Each time, the world sees the same picture: equality in theory, hierarchy in practice.

The United Nations is still the only global stage where all nations speak. But the veto raises a haunting question: when the many call for peace and the few can block it, how long before people stop believing in the institution itself?

Key Takeaways

• The UN was founded in 1945 to prevent another world war.
• Five permanent members — the USA, Russia, China, Britain, and France — hold veto power in the Security Council.
• One veto cancels any resolution, no matter the global support.
• The veto was intended as a safeguard to keep great powers engaged, but has been used to block action on Gaza, Ukraine, and Syria.
• The UN now faces a crisis of trust: equal nations in name, unequal power in practice.

Questions This Article Answers

1. What is UN veto power in simple terms?
2. Why was the veto created after World War II?
3. How is it being used today in Gaza and Ukraine?
4. What did JFK and Trump say about the UN?
5. Why does veto power matter for ordinary people?