Today is the anniversary of the ratification of the treaty that created the United Nations.  This international body was created at the end of World War II in effort to give the nations of the world somewhere to come together to work out differences peacefully.  It also had a mandate to prevent genocide and oppose aggressive war.  The UN started out with noble proclamations, such as a declaration of human rights. 
But it hasn’t stopped aggressive war, or genocide, or protected human rights.  Yes, it made a good start when the UN was used as an umbrella for forces fighting against Communist invasion on the Korean peninsula, but since then it’s been woefully ineffective in stopping those who want to take from their neighbors what they want.  As for genocide, one need only look at the graveyards of Cambodia, Sudan, Bosnia, or Rwanda to see how that went.  Even in Bosnia, where UN personnel in blue helmets dotted the landscape, and Rwanda, where UN observers were in the areas hardest hit by the genocide, the UN did next to nothing to stop the carnage.  In Bosnia, NATO finally stepped in to enforce separation between the warring factions, and in Rwanda, the slaughter pretty much burned itself out before anyone did anything to protect the innocent.   As for human rights, I don’t see the UN doing much to stop the international trade in human beings other than to cluck their tongues and make lurid Internet videos.  In a lot of cases, UN observers or peacekeepers are at least as bad as the warlords they have been charged with policing.
So what is the purpose of the UN if it doesn’t oppose aggressive war, stop genocide, or try to protect the rights of the defenseless?  To me, it has become a prestige organization for every tinpot dictator.  It is a place for those who oppose peace and freedom to have a bully pulpit to espouse their doctrine of post-colonial hate and grievance.  While turning its back on the abuses of China, Pakistan, and other “developing” worlds, it actively tries to meddle in the affairs of the United States.  What little good is done by the UN in its efforts to help refugees and to encourage health and education for children is overshadowed by the cover it gives bad actors.  Its headquarters in New York  is not much more than a money pit and debating club for criminals.
Coincidentally, today is also the anniversary of the signing of the last of the Treaties of Westphalia in 1648.  These treaties ended the 30 Years War, and were the beginning of what we consider the modern, autonomous nation state.  The sovereign of a country was guaranteed the right to choose the religion of his nation, but the rights of religious dissenters were supposed to be respected.  Other than that, it set about redressing some of the grievances that had either caused the war or sprung up during the conflict, and it set the national boundaries and forms of government for the European states.

Did the Treaty stop war in Europe?  Obviously not.  The past four centuries are soaked in blood, with each war more horrific than the last.  But it did set a precedent of the right of a nation to exist, and our own identity as a sovereign nation springs from that.  We are not a loose association of independent duchies, we are the United States, or Great Britain, or Australia.  Our rights are not based on the whim of a distant prince who has a tenuous geneological connection to our power structure. They are guaranteed with our blood, our spirit, and our stubborn refusal to allow anyone else to dictate to us what we will and will not do. 
I find it ironic that the treaty that created the idea that a nation is to be responsible for itself, without interference from an overarching imperium, would have been signed almost 300 years to the day before a treaty that created the body that is actively working to erode sovereignty of the great nations of the world.  Maybe the high potentates of the UN should attend a symposium on the Treaty of Westphalia.  It couldn’t hurt, and at least then we could say they have no excuse for not knowing what they are trying to destroy.