One Vote Against Fourteen
On 18 September 2025, fourteen of the fifteen members of the UN Security Council voted for a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages and the lifting of restrictions on aid.
It failed. The United States voted against it, and as a permanent member, that single vote was enough. It was the sixth time the US had vetoed a Gaza ceasefire resolution. Its envoy said the text failed to condemn Hamas or recognise Israel’s right to defend itself.
This isn’t a story about one country. In 2022, Russia vetoed a resolution condemning its own invasion of Ukraine. Russia and China have blocked action on Syria and Myanmar. Every permanent member has, at some point, used the same power.
So the obvious conclusion is that the veto is the problem. Remove it, and the world’s peace machinery starts working.
But there’s a problem with that conclusion. The veto wasn’t an accident. It was designed in 1945, after the League of Nations collapsed partly because major powers left it or never joined. The veto was the price of keeping them in the room.
The Global Peace Alliance, a book by Kizzi Nkwocha, takes this tension head-on. It argues for a peace force whose decisions couldn’t be blocked by any single nation, with governance built on broad consensus and an equal voice for smaller states. It also recognises that the countries with the most military power are precisely the ones with the most to lose from such a system, and devotes a full section to how their resistance might be overcome.
Whether that’s achievable is an open question. Whether the current arrangement is working is a rather more pointed one.
Which is more dangerous: a peace system the most powerful countries can block, or one they might simply walk away from?
The Global Peace Alliance by Kizzi Nkwocha: https://a.co/d/07HzuID1
#UnitedNations, #SecurityCouncil, #Veto, #Gaza, #Ceasefire, #Ukraine, #Geopolitics, #InternationalRelations, #GlobalGovernance, #WorldPeace, #GlobalPeaceAlliance, #KizziNkwocha
Want more like this?
Get an occasional email when there’s something new worth reading. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
By subscribing you agree to receive occasional emails about new releases. Unsubscribe anytime by replying to any email.
