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Introduction
Established immediately after World War II, a then fledgling institution called the United Nations was promoted as that of 'peace-loving' nations combining "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." Many of my generation clearly remember seeing the UN flag standing proudly with the American flag from our classrooms. It was seen as a hopeful time guaranteeing that all wars would finally end.
The potential of the United Nations and its Charter remained a dominant subject in schools and communities into the 1950s, focused especially on those Charter promises to protect member states "against violators of the peace." Chapter VII dealt with enforcement action: Article 39 first authorized the Security Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression"; Article 42 was designed to respond with "air, sea or land forces as may be necessary"; and Article 43 committed all UN member states "to make available to the Security Council, on its call, armed forces, assistance, facilities, including rights of passage necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security." Although much hope for the future was placed in the ratification of Article 43, it was never implemented.
Yet, current and unsettling security demands once again dictate Article 43's ratification and implementation to ensure the conservation and enforcement of global peace and security.
The Cold War: Death Knell for Article 43
Despite the promises of the Charter, major UN Charter benefactors quickly became cautious of it. Even before the UN Charter was adopted in San Francisco in 1945, Korea, occupied by Japan during the war, was divided at the 38th parallel along communist-capitalist ideological lines. Although the 1945 Yalta Agreement argued for consensus on the anticipated postwar world order, it eventually settled on two contradictory agreements: one declared respect for democracy throughout Europe, and the other recognized the Soviet Union's expanding Cold War 'sphere of influence' in Eastern Europe. Within a year, the postwar idealism was shattered by EastWest antagonisms. The US policy called for 'containment' of Soviet expansionism, labeling the Soviet Union as a rival rather than a partner in peace. Winston Churchill's famous Iron Curtain speech and Truman's pledge to officially establish anti-communism as a "vital national security interest" put...