Russian expert on situation around Iraq, U.N. crisis and bipolar world

The situation around Iraq bespeaks not a crisis in the United Nations but a clash between the interests of the USA and the interests of the overwhelming majority of the world's countries, including the majority of the UN members, Andrei Granovsky, the head of the International Organisations Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a RIA Novosti press conference.

According to his words, the world is becoming a "bipolar" place, with the USA and its closest allies placed on the one pole and the overwhelming majority of countries who refuse to accept this kind of world order on the other.

"It is important to lead the UN out of this crisis, but this can only be done with the support from the USA," said the diplomat. "Instead of heading towards a conflict, it is necessary to have the USA back in the collective security field based on the UN Charter." In the present-day global world, the USA "is unable to tackle a whole series of important tasks, including efforts to liquidate hunger, maintain peace, etc., despite its military strength and political influence," Granovsky explained. "Besides, the USA is eager to legitimise its unilateral actions some way or another, but this can only be done through the UN and its Security Council." He recalled that having performed its unilateral intervention in Iraq, the USA was nevertheless back in the Security Council proposing a draft resolution on the postwar settlement in Iraq.

"Good or bad, the UN is only one," stressed the diplomat. "It is the only organisation uniting the majority of the world's countries, both large and small, who all are on equal terms and have one voice each in the General Assembly." Granovsky thinks the UN is a unique organisation. In his opinion, it is wrong to say the UN has exhausted itself and might as well delegate its powers to the G-8. "The decisions made by the G-8 concern only the G-8, while the decisions made by the UN Security Council have a legally binding character," he emphasised.