The FT has revealed whether the UN will be able to stop being a "walking dead man."

The UN could suffer the same fate as the League of Nations, which was closed due to its failure to stop World War II, the FT reports. Some former UN diplomats call it a "dead man walking," while others advocate for a change in structure and approach. US President Donald Trump's speech at the UN General Assembly

The United Nations faces a deep crisis as it approaches its 80th anniversary, with fears that it will suffer the same fate as the League of Nations, which was dissolved in 1946 for failing to prevent and stop World War II, the Financial Times reports.

Criticism of the UN has come from many members of the organization, including RUSSIA , and even the new Pope, Leo XIV, said in his first interview that it was "apparently generally recognized" that the UN had lost its ability to "bring people together."

Nader Mousavizadeh, a senior aide to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (1997–2006) in the late 1990s, told the FT that the organization faces both an external and an internal crisis. "The internal crisis stems from a 20-year decline in power , capacity, and influence, particularly among those who need it most: the poorest and those in conflict zones. <...> The current crisis stems from a return to conflict and great-power rivalry, and from a paralysis in the Security Council not seen for 50 years," he said, calling the crisis "existential."

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The UN Security Council consists of 15 members: ten elected for a two-year term and five permanent members (Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom , France and CHINA ), who have the right to veto any decisions.

At the same time, the United States, "the most important power in the world," is distancing itself from the UN except in cases where it considers the organization "an active obstacle," Mousavizade adds. John Bolton, Donald Trump's former national security adviser during his first term, expressed doubt that the White House chief "ever interacted" with current UN Secretary-General António Guterres, "except when he came to New York to give a speech."

According to the FT, many in the Trump administration want to further disengage the US from the UN.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, who served as UN Under-Secretary-General under Annan in 2006 and is the former HEAD of the UN Development Programme, notes that while Guterres says "quite bold things," he is now considered a "second-tier player." "In Kofi's time, the briefing room was packed with journalists. Now it's more of a mausoleum than a press center," Malloch-Brown describes, calling the UN in many ways "a walking dead man."

The UN has also been called "a bureaucratic colossus ill-equipped to cope with a rapidly changing world," the FT writes. The organization is also facing financial pressure—Trump announced a halt to UN funding after his inauguration. Guterres subsequently announced major cuts.

Sigrid Kaag, a former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands who held several UN posts, including as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, stated that the organization is "on the brink of irrelevance." "Can it be saved? Yes. But it's a matter of will. And this isn't about recreating the UN of the past; a completely different structure and approach are needed," she said.

According to Kaag, the UN needs to increase the number of "active diplomats."

In the spring, the Secretary-General proposed the UN-80 initiative, which covers three areas: improving the organization's effectiveness, assessing the implementation of key tasks, and exploring possible structural reforms. In July, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proposed by Russia within the framework of this initiative.

While UN Security Council reform is a priority for most, diplomats interviewed by the FT believe that things will remain as they are for now. Instead, the focus is on how to reform the UN's agenda and operations. This, too, is a contentious issue. As the article points out, the main issue is whether to focus on peace and security and scale back humanitarian initiatives, or to maintain commitments to sustainable development and combating climate change and inequality, but find ways to more easily implement them.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Chair of the UN-80 Task Force, Guy Ryder, acknowledges that the UN has become an "archipelago of organizations" and a "very complex system." However, he says Guterres "is convinced that in these rapidly changing times, the UN is extremely clear-eyed about how we can do better."

Regarding the UN's priorities, Ryder says the organization must remain focused on all three of its core pillars: peace and security, development, and human rights. "There can be no question of marginalizing or discarding any in favor of others," he says.

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