In George Orwell's Animal Farm all that finally remains of the animals' plans for a brave new world, a farm without Farmer Jones, a farm to be run by and for the animals themselves, is the slogan “Four feet good; two feet bad.” As one reads the reports from Lake Success and Flushing Meadows one is tempted to say of the brave new world projected five years ago at San Francisco, the world of sovereign equality and greatpower unanimity, that all that is left is the slogan “United Nations good; power politics bad.” But here the analogy ends; for there is no agreement in the United Nations as to who is being good by supporting the spirit and the language of the Charter and who is being bad by playing power politics.

During the last five years the United States has been an active participant in the work of the United Nations. During this period the most vital international issues have come before various organs of the United Nations, have been discussed, and in various ways have been acted upon. The question naturally arises what has been the impact of the United Nations on the foreign policy of the United States?

It would be idle speculation to try to guess what course Soviet policy might have adopted and pursued after World War II if no United Nations had been created. The purpose of this article will therefore be to try to answer some detailed questions centering around the main one of whether the creation of the United Nations, the USSR's participation in it and some of the actions of the organization influenced Soviet policy and, if so, where, how and to what extent.

The uninstructed expert has in recent years lost ground to the governmental representative in international organization. One of the most striking indications of this trend is to be found in the decision of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations to establish the principle that its commissions should be composed of persons representing, and instructed by, their governments.

The fifth regular session of the General Assembly continued during January, February and March 1951. The remaining items on its agenda were generally concerned with the situation in the far east, including the intervention of communist China in Korea, the complaint of the Soviet Union concerning aggression against China by the United States, and the question of Formosa.

This issue covers the work of the Security Council from its 531st meeting on January 31, 1951 to its 540th meeting on April 2, 1951. Following in alphabetical order the presidents were the representatives of Ecuador (Quevedo), France (Lacoste), India (Rau) and Netherlands (Balluseck). Sir Benegal Rauceded the presidency to D. von Balluseck during March as the India-Pakistan question was under discussion in the Council during that month. New members welcomed at the meeting on January 31 were Carlos Muniz (Brazil), D. von Balluseck (Netherlands) and Selim Sarper (Turkey) replacing the delegates of Norway, Egypt and Cuba. During discussion of die India-Pakistan question, Sir Zafrulla Khan (Pakistan) was invited to the Council table.

The twelfth session of the Economic and Social Council, which opened in February 20, 1950, in Santiago, Chile, represented the first meeting of a major United Nations organ in Latin America. Its agenda of some 35 items included several new topics for discussion, among them consideration of the General Assembly's policy decisions on the draft Covenant on Human Rights and measures for its implementation, the question of relief and rehabilitation for Korea, and possible emergency action by the Council and the specialized agencies to assist in the maintenance of international peace and security.

The Trusteeship Council met in a special session on November 22 and decided not to hold its ninth session away from permanent headquarters. The Council also decided that it would consider the annual reports for 1949 and 1950 on the six African trust territories at the ninth session, thus expediting the examination of annual reports and reducing the time interval between submission to, and examination by, the Council.

On December 22 the Secretary-General, Trygve Lie, together with his advisors departed for Europe to choose a site for the 1951 General Assembly meeting. Prior to his departure he named a staff committee composed of Col. Alfred G. Katzin, A. H. Feller and Dragloslav Protitch to coordinate the work of the Secretariat in connection with the program of united action for peace. Dragoslav Protitch was named to serve as secretary of the Peace Observation Commission and Henri Vigier was selected to serve as chairman for the Committee on Collective Measures.

Following the decisions of the International Court of Justice on November 20 and 27, 1950 on the question of asylum for the refugee, Victor Raul Haya de la Torre, the government of Colombia (on December 13, 1950) instituted new proceedings before the Court against the government of Peru. The applicationof Colombia requested the Court to adjudge and declare, in pursuance of Article 7 of the Protocol of Friendship and Cooperation of 1934 in force between Colombia and Peru, the manner in which effect should be given to the Court's judgment of November 20, 1950, and in particular whether Colombia was or was not bound to deliver Victor Raul Haya de la Torre, a refugee in the Colombian embassy at Lima, to the government of Peru. As an alternative claim, in the event that the principal claim was disallowed, Colombia requested the Court to declare in exercise of its ordinary competence whether, in accordance with the law in force between Colombia and Peru and particularly American international law, the government of Colombia was or was not bound to deliver Haya de la Torre to the government of Peru.

The eleventh session of the Council met in Washington on November 13 and 14,1950. In accordance with the decision of the special session of the Conference providing for the continuation of the Committee on Commodity Problems, the Council agreed to invite the following governments, representatives of which had been serving on the committee, to continue as members of the newly constituted committee: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Indonesia, Pakistan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay. For economy reasons it was decided that the headquarters for the committee should be transferred to Rome simultaneously with the transfer of the headquarters of the organization; only then would adequate servicing for the committee be available.

In a statement of February 1, 1951, the International Bank reported on its financial status and operations for the period from June 30 to December 31, 1950. Net income for the last six months of 1950 amounted to $7,574,631 as compared with $6,672,667 for the first half of the year. Placed in the General Reserve against losses on loans and guarantees, this income increased the reserve to $34,572,901. Gross income for the period was $13,370,710 after deducting loan commissions of $3,114,702 which were appropriated to the Special Reserve which, as of December 31, amounted to $16,851,907. Applications for membership were received from Burma, Indonesia, Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan and Sweden but final action had not been taken on these applications by the Board of Governors. Since September 30, 1950, three additional countries authorized the Bank to use part or all of their eighteen percent currency subscription for loans; this eighteen percent of a member's capital subscription could not be lent without the member's permission under the Articles of Agreement of the Bank. In December 1950 the Bank sold without its guarantee the following bonds from its investment portfolio: $50,000 of Credit National (France), $50,000 of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, $50,000 of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and 2,650,000 Swiss franc bonds of the Herstelbank of the Netherlands. Loans totalling $206,900,000 were made in the last half of 1950 and an additional $65,000,000 was lent early in 1951, bringing to $1,088,375,000 the total of loans made since the Bank began operations.

Eleventh Session of the Council: In the period from September 15 to October 15, 1950, the Council, meeting in the second part of its eleventh session, devoted a major portion of its time to the study of the 79th report of the Air Navigation Commission containing the commission's recommendations on the notification by states and the dissemination by the secretariat of divergencies from ICAO standards, practices, and procedures. No decision was reached on the question during the Council's discussions. During the same period the Council approved in principle the transfer of responsibility for liaison with certain areas in central and south Africa from the European and African (Paris) regional office to the middle east (Cairo) office, and for certain states and territories in the Caribbean from the South American (Lima) regional office to the North American (Montreal) office. The Council then granted a request from the Civil Aviation Board, as agents of the Allied High Commission for Germany, to participate as observers in regional and special meetings of ICAO that discussed the provision of facilities or introduction of procedures for civil aviation in areas including territories under the Allied High Commission's control. In addition the Council accepted from the government of Switzerland an offer of 200,000 Swiss francs towards the maintenance of various north Atlantic safety services. The Council in the closing meeting of the eleventh session: 1) approved some 21 recommendations of the Meteorology Division's third session; 2) took note of specifications for a 1:500,000 Chart Series of Europe and directed that the specifications be brought to the attention of the contracting states for appropriate action; 3) granted a request from Pakistan for an advisory opinion and interpretation of the Transit Agreement and of Article 6 of the Convention regarding the right of an aircraft of a contracting party to fly without landing over the territory of another contracting state; and 4) set the opening date of the next Council session.

The 113th session of the International Labor Organization Governing Body convened in Brussels on November 13, 1950. The agenda of the meeting included the following items for consideration by the Governing Body: 1) action to be taken on resolutions adopted by the International Labor Conference at its 33d session; 2) record of the conference on Rhine boatmen (July 1950); 3) arrangements for the fifth ILO regional conference of American states; 4) arrangements for the regional conference for the near and middle east; 5) first report of the Committee on the Working of the Governing Body and its Committees; 6) methods of associating all members of the organization more closely with the work of the Governing Body; 7) reports of the Finance Committee, the Allocations Committee, the Staff Questions Committee and the manpower committees; 8) reports of the Committee on Industrial Committees, the Technical Assistance Committee and International Organizations Committee; 9) composition of committees; and 10) report of the Director-General (Morse).

In the period from November 20, 1950, to March 20, 1951, the Fund was consulted in connection with the modification of foreign exchange systems by three of its member governments. On November 20 the Fund announced its agreement to certain modifications proposed by the government of Iran. Iran was to continue to retain in effect three foreign exchange rates: 1) an official rate, 32.5 rials to the dollar, for governmental transactions and transactions with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company; 2) a certificate rate, 40 rials to the dollar, for essential imports; and 3) a third rate for exports other than oil and for nonessential imports. The latter rate, which formerly had been permitted to fluctuate in a free market, was fixed at 48.75 rials to the dollar and all transactions were to be conducted through official banks. The Fund and the Iranian government were to continue consultations towards the eventual unification of the Iranian foreign exchange system. Agreement was announced on March 3 to the proposed devaluation of Paraguayan currency from 3.09 to 6 guaranies to the dollar. Consultations between Paraguay and the Fund had also been held, according to the announcement, on the modification of the country's multiple currency system. A further announcement of March 20 revealed that Columbia had proposed to the Fund measures to simplify its foreign exchange system and reduce its restrictions on imports. The new system, to which the Fund gave its approval, would not involve a change in Columbia's par value as fixed by the Fund. A new exchange rate of 2.50 pesos to the dollar was established for all foreign exchange payments and all foreign exchange proceeds other than those for coffee exports. For a period of not less than six months, 25 percent of the coffee export exchange would operate at the new rate and the remaining 75 percent would operate at a buying rate of 1.95 pesos to the dollar. All licensing restrictions on imports would be removed, with the exception of a prohibited list of specified luxury products, and the differential exchange taxes, other than a uniform stamp tax, and all mixed rate arrangements would be abolished. The Fund announced on March 19 the establishment of the initial par value for the Pakistani rupee at 3.30852 rupees to the dollar, the rate proposed by the government of Pakistan.

By June 1, 1950 Austria had become the sixtieth country to ratify the International Telecommunication Convention of Atlantic City, 1947. Four additional countries acceded to the convention bringing the membership of the International Telecommunication Union to 64. The Hungarian People's Republic, the Republic of Poland, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, also during the period under review, ratified the European Broadcasting Convention, Copenhagen, 1948.

The fifth general session of contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade held in Torquay, England ended on December 19,1950. Prior ot adjournment, a Canadian proposal to create a standing committee to handle the problems arising between sessions was referred to the participating governments for their consideration. The session approved the circulation among the parties of a questionnaire designed to obtain by early 1951 information on the policy, technique, and effect of import restrictions being applied for balance-of-payments reasons, and information on discriminatory measures applied under exceptions made for the postwar transitional period. It was also agreed that due to the uncertain international situation, there should be an extension of the period for the use of exceptional import controls on scarce commodities and those of which there were large government-owned stocks. The conference in addition studied several complaints alleging that the benefits of some tariff concessions had been nullified by the actions of certain governments and accepted a code of standard practices on the administration of necessary trade restrictions.1 The code provided that: 1) the grant of an import license should imply that the necessary foreign exchange would be obtainable if applied for within a reasonable time; 2) if both import licenses and exchange permits were required the operation of the two requirements should be coordinated; 3) new restrictions on imports or exports should not apply to goods proved to have been en route at the time of the change or to have been already largely paid for; 4) goods proven to have been confirmed prior to the change in restrictions and not marketable anywhere else should receive special consideration; 5) the administrative formalities in connection with the issuing of import and export licenses or exchange permits should be designed to allow action on applications within a reasonably short period; 6) requests for renewal under exceptional circumstances should be given sympathetic consideration; 7) under a system of fixed quotas the period set for applications should be sufficient to allow for exchanges of communications for the purchase of the goods; 8) the control authorities, when apportioning quotas to importers on the basis of past participation in the trade, should give consideration to requests for licenses from new firms; 9) if an assurance on an import license would be necessary for consular legalization, a communication giving the number of the license should be sufficient; 10) authority given to customs officials should be sufficient to allow slight discrepancies from specifications of import or export authorization; and 11) when a balance-of-payments difficulty has occurred, transfers of exchange should give priority to goods already imported or licensed in preference to new orders.

During the period from October 1, 1950 to the middle of December, a total of twenty meetings of various subsidiary groups affiliated with UNESCO were held, eighteen in Paris and two in Havana—the regional conference of national commissions of the western hemisphere and the meeting of experts on exchange of persons.

The Executive and Liaison Committee of the Universal Postal Union, established by the Congress of Paris of 1947, held its fourth session at Montreux, Switzerland, May 15 to 26, 1950 under the presidency of J. J. Le Mouel, Director-General of French Posts. The first question dealt with by the committee concerned the representation of China; taking into consideration the technical character of UPU and the actual situation in China the committee recognized the representative of the People's Republic of China as the rightful delegate. The committee spent much of its time in discussion of air mail problems and it was decided to call a joint IATA/UPU conference in January 1951 for the purpose of attaining solutions to the problems. The recommendation of the delegate from Czechoslovakia that those governments whose air mail rates exceeded the rates fixed by the Paris Convention be pressed to reduce them, was adopted. A subcommittee consisting of France, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and the United Kingdom was appointed to consider a revision of the form and substance of the acts of Paris concerning the international exchange of parcels. The report of the subcommittee entrusted with the work of rearranging and revising the acts of the Universal Postal Union was heard and adopted by the committee; the proposals would be placed before the Congress of 1952 for its approval. The committee scheduled its fifth session for May 21 to June 2, 1951 at St-Gall, Switzerland.

On March 15, 1951 the International Meteorological Organization, which had existed nearly one hundred years as a semi-official body, held a conference in Paris to complete the arrangements for the transfer of its assets, activities, functions and obligations to the World Meteorological Organization. Immediately following the final session of the Conference of Directors of IMO, the first Congress of the World Meteorological Organization was to convene. The first congress was primarily concerned with administrative and organizational matters which would necessarily need affirmative action to insure the effective operation of the newly created organization. The provisional agenda included: 1) the election of officers; 2) the establishment of general regulations, rules of procedure, regional associations, and technical commissions; 3) the organization and location of a secretariat; 4) the appointment of a Secretary-General; and 5) the approval of a budget and a program of work.