“Carthage Must Be Destroyed” and the UN Dismantled

“Carthage Must Be Destroyed” and the UN Dismantled

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

“Furthermore, I think that Carthage must be destroyed.”

Cato the Elder

The second-century BC Roman statesman and writer Cato the Elder was known for his common sense and conservatism. He reportedly concluded his speeches in the Senate, regardless of the topic, with the categorical statement that “Carthage must be destroyed”—only thus could Rome enjoy enduring peace and prosperity.

Similarly, if Western countries are to be sovereign protectors of our civilization and its best traditions, it is high time the UN and its related entities were defunded and, ideally, dismantled. These entities are pernicious funders and promoters of detrimental policies and ideologies that undermine the most democratic and humane nations.

A case in point is the recent libelous statement that 14,000 babies in Gaza were about to die within 48 hours—a fraudulent UN claim, which created shock around the world and, once exposed, was quickly and quietly withdrawn from major leftist media without apologies or any attempts to mitigate the damage inflicted.

Nearly 80 years ago, Churchill delivered his legendary speech “The Sinews of Peace,” best remembered for the phrase “Iron Curtain.” In it, he commented on the then infant UN:

The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future. ….

A world organisation has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war, UNO, the successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that that means, is already at work. We must make sure that its work is fruitful, that it is a reality and not a sham, that it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words, that it is a true temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can some day be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel.

Churchill’s worst fears in this regard have not only been realized but far exceeded. Today, the UN and its satellite institutions are doing the bidding of Communist China, Islamic terrorists, and globalist leftist elites who despise American ideals and Western civilization.

These elites have circulated and perpetuated the absurd claim that if something happens to be global, it carries greater prestige and legitimacy than, say, a unilateral decision by countries like the United States or Israel. This claim is tantamount to suggesting that a decision made by a group of people, some of whom are honorable citizens and some violent criminals, has more authority than a decision made by honorable citizens alone. The majority of UN members today have a horrendous record regarding human rights and dignity. How can we expect better policies and decisions by such a group compared to those by sovereign democratic nations or, if so desired, a principled league thereof?

In a 2023 interview for the American Enterprise Institute, Brett Schaefer summarized the major problems with the UN at that time:

[L]ook at the principles of the organization…. [Y]ou’re supposed to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. You’re supposed to reaffirm the faith and the fundamental human rights and the dignity or worth of the human person, equal rights of men and women, …, to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.

Those are the principles of the UN as outlined in the UN charter. Over and over again, you see the UN not doing that…. Where are the biggest … violations of human rights in the world today? China. The Human Rights Council has never condemned China in its entire history. The UN General Assembly has never condemned China for its human rights practices. Historically, Cuba has been a terrible abuser of human rights. The UN Human Rights Council has never condemned Cuba. The UN General Assembly has never condemned Cuba. Instead, they condemned the United States for its sanctions against Cuba….

This is an organization that Donald Trump had stopped providing funding to because this was an organization that was extraordinarily compromised. It was promoting extremism, celebrating terrorism through its school books and school materials. It was allowing Hamas members to join it as an organization, as employees of the organization. It allowed Hamas, without complaint, to put tunnels and military facilities in close proximity to their schools and their hospitals so that they would be protected by the presence of UNRWA and UN facilities.

Out of all the condemnatory resolutions that were adopted by the UN Human Rights Council since it was founded in 2006, 104, or 36%, of all UN Human Rights Council condemnatory resolutions were focused on Israel. By comparison, Syria’s got only 43. North Korea’s got 16, Iran’s got 14, Russia’s got seven. China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia have zero.

But it just shows you how the presence of these countries distorts the work of the organization…, their efforts to try and deflect attention from their own flaws and foibles to other countries like Israel or the United States. And China’s been very effective in doing this, particularly over the last 15 years or so. It wasn’t so long ago that … there was a Washington consensus across the political spectrum that China, if we just brought them into the system, then they would become more like us. Well, we brought them into the system, and China has made the system more like China.

A mere two years after Shaefer’s podcast, these problems have only been exacerbated beyond repair. More and more voices on the right are advocating for defunding the UN and leaving its institutions. A recent Daily Wire article explains the financial implications of this defunding trend, which would shortly lead to the UN not being able to pay salaries and suppliers. Defunding the UN would go a long way toward neutralizing its deeply corrupt and subversive influence and would hopefully precipitate its dissolution.

In an impassioned plea for dismantling the UN, Melanie Phillips writes:

The United Nations was created after World War II to bring the world together to promote peace and justice. Yet most countries aren’t democracies and don’t uphold human rights. It’s hardly a surprise, therefore, that the world body does not uphold peace and justice but promotes the precise opposite.

Its institutionalized malice against Israel has spread evil far more widely than in the Middle East.

The lies and distortions about Israel regurgitated by the United Nations and its satellite institutions and NGOs, along with the courts dispensing international “human rights” law, are treated as unchallengeable truths by the West because this whole “humanitarian” infrastructure is treated as a veritable religion of peace and justice.

In fact, it’s an unstoppable geyser of moral and intellectual corruption. In teaching the West that lies about Israel are truths and truths are lies, it has turned what the West tells itself is morality and conscience into an agenda of evil.

This has ensured that the West can no longer distinguish more generally between victim and oppressor, reality and propaganda, right and wrong.

The United Nations should be dismantled. It’s the pivot of the apparatus that has twisted the Western mind. Treating it and international law as the moral arbiters of the global order is not just a sick joke. It has made the world sick, too.

If Cato the Elder were a U.S. senator today, he would probably keep reminding us: “Carthage must be destroyed, and the UN dismantled.”

Nora D. Clinton is a Research Scholar at the Legal Insurrection Foundation. She was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. She holds a PhD in Classics and has published extensively on ancient documents on stone. In 2020, she authored the popular memoir Quarantine Reflections Across Two Worlds. Nora is a co-founder of two partner charities dedicated to academic cooperation and American values. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and son.

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