The buck may be slowing down at the UN, and
a range of vanilla reforms are underway in the moribund organisation in a
belated, but important attempt to clean house and regain some
relevance.

The Economist sees the UN’s
approach as necessarily conservative and points out that the usually aggressive
US Ambassador John Bolton is playing his role in the reforms with
care.

“The usually outspoken Mr Bolton’s subdued language was echoed
in modest statements from other ambassadors as well. The reform document is not
a big leap forward. Perhaps it will be, at least, the alpha if not the omega.
But continuing reform of the kind Mr Bolton, Mr Annan, and others would like to see
will require, most of all, a continued engagement by the UN’s member states – and
especially its most powerful, often mercurial, one.”

Read more at the website.