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AFTER THE DEATH

on Aug. 18 of former

U.N. Secretary-

General Koi Annan,

it’s an opportune

moment for a

closer look at the

organization he led. How valuable is

today’s U.N. in a G-zero world with a

startling lack of global leadership? Is the

institution still a guiding force for good?

The Security Council charged with

overseeing international peace and safety

remains dysfunctional, but that’s hardly a

new story. The willingness of

the ive permanent members

to veto the plans of others and

protect their allies is decades

old. The G-zero problem

was evident in the Security

Council long before it became

obvious everywhere else.

But the U.N. leadership

still makes a diference. The

current Secretary-General,

António Guterres, has won

well-deserved praise for a

willingness to speak plainly

on tough issues even if it

aggravates powerful member

states. He has sharply criticized the

government of Myanmar, an ally of

China, for crimes against Rohingya

Muslims. He said U.S. President Donald

Trump’s ban on immigrants from some

Muslim countries “violates our basic

principles.” He has spoken of defense

for Palestinians against U.S. ally Israel.

In August, he used a visit to Nagasaki,

Japan, to implicitly criticize both the U.S.

and Russia for the slow pace of nuclear

disarmament. And somehow he has

helped the U.N. avoid (so far) the sort

of destabilizing attacks that Trump has

launched on NATO, the E.U. and other

multilateral institutions.

Where the U.N. really proves its value,

however, is in the work of its agencies.

Peacekeeping operations in Africa, Asia,

the Balkans and elsewhere prevent

conlict where outsiders are reluctant to

get involved. The U.N. Refugee Agency

helps millions of displaced people. The

World Bank provides grants, credits

and low-interest loans to help poorer

countries build the roads, bridges, ports,

schools and hospitals they badly need.

The World Food Programme, funded

entirely by donations, has fed tens of

millions of hungry people globally. It

trains large numbers of people to boost

food security and nutrition standards

and helps build clinics and health

centers.

The World Health Organization is

at the front lines of health crises, but

it’s also battling long-term

to meet the U.N.’s health-

related development goals. It

has contributed to dramatic

reductions in infant mortality,

deaths of mothers during

childbirth and fatality rates

from HIV and malaria.

UNICEF treats malnourished

children and provides access

to safe water, education,

vaccines and mental-health

care for millions of kids.

In a world where so many

countries are erecting barriers

to people in need and building

explicitly my-country-irst foreign

policies, who else will do these things?

Not every government seems to

appreciate this. In July, Guterres notiied

each of the 193 member states that the

U.N. faces an unprecedented cash-low

shortfall due to delayed contributions.

Budget cuts are coming, he wrote in his

letter, if member states can’t be relied

upon to pay their share promptly.

Whatever governments of the

wealthiest members think about U.N.

values, they should see the worth of an

institution willing to police so many of

the world’s danger zones and ease so

much human misery. “An organization

such as ours should not have to sufer

repeated brushes with bankruptcy,”

Guterres wrote. “But surely, the greater

pain is felt by those we serve when we

cannot, for want of modest funds, answer

their call for help.” □

THE RISK REPORT

In a G-zero world, we need a

robust U.N. more than ever

By Ian Bremmer

Whatever

member

states think

about U.N.

values, they

should see

the worth of

an institution

willing to

ease so much

human

misery

The courage to

come out

Josie Totah, 17, who

previously acted under

the name J.J. Totah in

ilms and TV shows,

announced that she

is transgender. She

describes how people

often assumed that

she was a gay boy and

how she had been too

scared to correct them.

“I almost felt like I

owed it to everybody,”

Totah writes. “But that

has never been the way

I think of myself.”

Washington’s

lessons for

Trump

George Washington

was “far from being

blessed with innate

equanimity,” writes

former U.S. Senator

John C. Danforth. But

his “constant struggle

to maintain the dignity

that was his model

for the presidency”

contrasts sharply with

what the American

public now sees in the

White House.

Studying the

sounds of sex

“It can be a way to

be focused ... on

what’s going on for

you,”a therapist told

Mara Altman, while

she researched her

new book,Gross

Anatomy, to explain

why she was naturally

quiet during sex. The

search for an answer

turned a concern into

empowerment.

SHORT

READS

▶Highlights

from stories on

time.com/ideas