United Nations officials remain in a panic about President Donald Trump’s budget cuts. For decades, the United States talked about reform and even took aim at its contribution to the U.N.’s budget, but most administrations used a scalpel. More populist politicians recommended taking a cleaver to U.N. bloat. Trump’s team comes armed with an axe in one hand and a chainsaw in the other.
Trump and the U.N. could save billions by eliminating failed peacekeeping operations.
Some peacekeeping works. In Liberia, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Côte D’Ivoire, peacekeepers provided space for governments to solidify and turn the page on conflict and civil war. Other missions, however, are not only expensive failures but may actually preserve conflict. Take the Western Sahara, a sparsely populated territory on the northwest coast of Africa. The U.N. Security Council established the…
