- The UN is weak and has little power because its made up of states, and states do not want it to infringe on their sovereignty and so cede very little territory to it. This is why it is an INTERNATIONAL organization, not a SUPRANATIONAL one.
- I don't get the heat about an anti-US bias in the UN. The UN was formed by the US. The US has veto power. Anything the UN does is at the very least implicitly accepted by the United States. A lot of funding is from the US. Much of its staff is from the US. It is in the US. Up until the 70's it was more or less a rubber stamp for American power projection (except for those pesky Russian vetoes) until poor decolonized countries started outnumbering the US-led West. If the US decides to do something that the UN doesn't agree with it... Well, it does so anyway (as do the rest of the P5 members) and it's not like the UN can do a thing about it. The only anti-US things that occur are from General Assembly resolutions with are non-binding and don't mean virtually anything. It's as though you people expect the US position to be worshiped and accepted by everybody in the Universe as god-given instructions. Part of proper functioning in any community (i.e. the world) is accepting that people aren't going to agree with you all the time.
- Speaking of the GA, I find it amusing that many here do a lot of posturing indignation about those "evil dictators" at the UN, considering that through most of its history, half of those dictators were American puppets regimes, funded, supported, and backed by American diplomacy and dollars.
- The Entire UN budget is remarkably tiny. The UN itself counts with less than $2 billion dollars operating budget. This is less than the Tokyo fire department. And the ENTIRE UN system, all the agencies, all humanitarian aid, all peacekeeping forces, everything, runs about $15 billion, which is close to the NYC Board of Education's budget. Not to mention that, yeah, the US provides most funding because its so huge, but every member state has to contribute, and many contribute more in relation to GDP (i.e. Japan and Germany, the second and third largest contributors).
- A number of UN specialized agencies have been absolutely crucial in post-war reconstruction, humanitarian aid, and refugee care over the past 50 years. The WHO, WFP, and UNICEF have been some of the most successful organizations in their fields, ever, and have helped countless of millions of people both directly through their services, and indirectly through the generation of expertise and knowledge.
Yet, in spite of ALL this, I agree many that the UN is corrupt and ineffective. That's why the UN needs reform, desperately. It needs much more accountability, it needs transparency, it needs structural reform. The GA needs to be made relevant, and the Security Council updated to reflect the realities of a changing world. The Economic and Social Council is a joke, and it is necessary to make it a serious player if duplication is to be avoided among the many agencies. In short, there's a lot to be done and its not perfect (nor is it every going to be), but it can be better. But if its a thorn on your side you better get used to it, cuz it's not going anywhere.