Why Hasn't the United Nations Punished Russia for Ukraine?

Despite global condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations has done seemingly little to rebuke Moscow for starting the war. Why?

The explanation is two-fold. First, the premise is inaccurate. The U.N. has passed a number of resolutions calling for an end to the conflict and blaming Russia for initiating it. However, these resolutions have not received much attention precisely because they come from a U.N. body that does not have the power to issue binding legislation.

The second part is that Russia is standing in the way. The Security Council has the power to pass binding resolutions under international law. But there are five permanent member on the Security Council, and each has veto power. It just so happens that Russia is one of those states. So unless Russia leaves the Security Council on its own accord, it will be next to impossible to have the U.N. do more.

[PunmasterSTP]

Seeing these events unfold, I feel pretty powerless to do anything and that putting in my two cents won't help. I do just want to say that it seems to me like the UN is rather ineffective. When a bunch of people sit around agreeing on things and then any one person can stop them, it doesn't seem like a productive work environment. Maybe things will change at some point, but who knows. In any case, thanks for another great video William, and I hope the people of Ukraine will be in a much better situation soon.

[DaneReidVoiceOver]

What is punishment by the United Nations? What can they even do?

[jbstarkiller]

The UN: We will be very very angry with you and we will wright you a letter telling you how angry we are.

The UN is all talk, why do we even care what the UN has to say about anything? 😂

[KarthikAyyalasomayajula]

Do you think the UN will face some sort of crisis when a nation not in the permanent 5 gains enough power to be considered a Great Power? The way I see it it seems like the whole thing will fall apart if any nations not in the P5 get powerful enough and want to exercise that power

[davidhamilton]

As long as Russia is a member state of the UN with veto power, they will not be punished by the UN.

[SofieAndMe]

UN: universally neutered.
As the rep from Kenya pointed out, the UN does nothing about any conflicts anywhere. But hey, at least they are serious about their uselessness. In the most strongest terms. 🙄

[tangentreverent]

Before watching the video, because Russia has a permanent seat in the UN.
Edit: yup

[RoanShip]

Why didnt the UN punish the usa for illegally invading into:
1. Iran
2. Guatemala
3. Congo
4. Vietnam
5. Chile
6. Nicaragua
7. Panama
8. Grenada
9. Iraq
10. Afghanistan
11. Libya
12. Honduras
13. El Salvador
14. Dominican Republic
15. Philippines
16. Cuba
17. Korea
18. Lebanon
19. Cambodia
20. Laos
21. Somalia
22. Yugoslavia
23. Ukraine
24. Syria
25. Egypt
26. Brazil
27. Bolivia
28. Haiti
29. Angola
30. Zimbabwe

[iavang]

The Un just punished the small country or weak country only.

[leontaylor]

USA and EU dont follow UN but have their own Rules Based Order which allows them to be judge and jury

[covid]

I'll have to be honest here as a man from Asia that most people here don't even know the full details of the war and are mostly apathetic to it. When i asked someone that Ukraine was at war the just said that they had only realized it and most don't care and move on with their daily lives. The UN votes don't represent us because our countries just vote yes because we fear US sanctions, talk about a nation that preaches freedom when it uses tyranny to cow us into submission. To actually condemn Russia means that the UN must also condemn the US for invading Iraq along with its coalition members that also included Ukraine for waging war and death in Iraq and Afghanistan. It appears that the US won't take any responsibility for Iraq and Afghanistan. Remember Julien Assange? the guy that tried to reveal the truth by creating wiki leaks? yes the man is wanted by the US and he is in prison. In wiki leaks it's revealed the US has committed war crimes in Iraq. Did the UN ever move to condemn the US for it, did the innocents ever received justice for the actions of the US. Nothing, the US took no responsibility and the victims are only left with grief. So if the US can get away with war crimes why can't Russia do the same? the US set the standard for war and Russia is merely following it. Because the US didn't sanction Russia when it invaded Georgia nor does the UN condemn it. Wars just happen and to blame one party for it is myopic, both the actions of Russia and the US are bad but most don't care. The west preaches about morality when it is apathetic to the issues that the rest of the world are facing, when did the suffering of Libya ever be heard on news. When were the weapons used on children in Yemen ever get attention from the media. Nothing, again the US and its allies are hypocrites to preach about morality when they themselves don't give a damn. This is the standard for war and most in the west have been too sheltered to actually understand it. If you really want to get an idea of war then go towards it or listen to someone who has been there. My words here may be wrong and they may be disagreed because it's natural but i am merely informing on those who don't know how naive and biased they are towards nations in the East especially the ones that are autocratic in nature.

That is another debate entirely and if anyone were to read this, try to actually listen and provide sensible arguments against me. To do that look into other perspectives not on the bubble that most found themselves in. If you choose to argue against this than i implore to anyone to think critically and critique this in the reply section.

[ปีเตอร์ชอว์]

Russia was never given a place on the permanent security council, that place was given to the Soviet Union which no longer exists

[ThienHoang-trdh]

The United Nations also did not punish the US for invading several countries. The same applied to Russsia -One of the five permanent members of the UNSC

[voodooillusion]

Its the same reason why the un did nothing to amrica and uk during the Iraq war

[siddharthsahu]

When Putin came late to class, the teacher punished others for coming early.

[chikeh]

There shouldn't be any permanent UN Security Council members at all. The Security council members should be voted upon by UN member states and should be able to be removed thru a constructive vote of confidence.

[EarnestBunbury]

What power would a unitary vote by all members of the council, but russia have? Certainly, it would be non-binding, but wouldn't it be a strong signal, nevertheless? (Though, ofc, China would abstain)

[nlcrypto]

Russia should not have the UN Security Council because Kazakhstan was the last state of the Soviet Union for 4 days so they should get Russias permanent seat

[marcinnowakowski]

I mean sure but you also forget that most the world doesn't care. If you look at nations sanctioning Russia witch could be seen as a punishment only 16 country's and the EU have sanctions and thing isn't even in all sectors. So if a punishment was proposed in the UN it would just be voted down they will compline but wont so anything about it.

[hasanchoudhury]

UN has never stopped the USA or Israel or India or N Korea or Russia or UK Myanmar China Ethiopia Serbia ever !