The UN Secretariat has many international operations for which it must provide total or partial logistic support. Arrangements and provision must be made for about 500 conferences each year in various parts of the world. Support must be provided for the numerous offices of the Technical Assistance Board. The 35 information centers and the regional offices of the Economic and Social Council all place regular demands for support on the Secretariat. Support has been required for the many special political and peace-keeping missions—to mention a few, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the Korean Reconstruction Agency, the UN Truce Supervisory Organization in Palestine, the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, and visiting missions to trust territories.

The thirteenth session of the General Assembly met at UN Headquarters from September 16 through December 13, 1958, when it was adjourned. It was decided at the Assembly's 782d plenary meeting to reconvene on February 20, 1959, to consider exclusively the question of the future of the trust territories of the Cameroons under French administration and the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration. At the opening plenary meeting, Mr. Charles Malik (Lebanon) was elected President of the session, having obtained 45 votes to 31, which were cast for Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub (Sudan). At its 755th plenary meeting, the Assembly adopted the recommendation contained in the report of the General Committee that the Assembly reject the request of India for the inclusion in its agenda of the question of the representation of China in the UN and decide not to consider at its thirteenth session any proposals to exclude the representatives of the government of the Republic of China or to seat representatives of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.

To be criticized for not laboring the obvious should perhaps be regarded as a compliment. As careful readers of my article will undoubtedly be aware, I do not assume that governments enter into the United Nations political process “only as objects or implementors of United Nations action after the outputs have been determined by the Organization.” (Kay, p. 952.) My point is quite different: that outcomes in international organizations such as the General Assembly depend not only on governmental interaction but also on the context within which such interaction takes place. Organizational variables help to define that context. Since so many writers have ignored organizational variables in analyzing international organizations, I have attempted, as I said, to “redress the balance”—”without denying the less-onesided formulations of realist theory.” (Keohane, footnote 3.)

The 26th session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was held in Geneva from July 1 through July 31, 1958. Mr. George F. Davidson (Canada) continued as President of the Council.

Case concerning the “Compagnie du Port, des Quais et des Entrepôts de Beyrouth” and the “Société Radio-Orient” (France v. Lebanon): On February 13, 1959, an application instituting proceedings before the Courtagainst Lebanon was filed by France. The application noted that in accordance with the terms of their constitutional instruments, the Compagnie du Port, des Quais et des Entrepôts de Beyrouth and the Société Radio-Orient enjoyed certain customs and tax exemptions in Lebanon during the life of their concessions. The Lebanese government, it continued, having, on July 26, 1956, enacted a law providing for the imposition of income tax and other fiscal and municipal taxes on all companies enjoying an exemption under agreements ratified by special legislation, the French government considered that this constituted a unilateral alteration of the position of the companies concerned, which was contrary to the Agreement of January 24, 1948, between France and Lebanon.

The 31st session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was held in Rome, June 15–24, 1959. At the onset, the Council was reminded of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the UN Technical Assistance Program under which FAO had received about $60 million for participation in its operations. At present the Program was facing constrictions due to a deterioration of its financial position causing, in turn, curtailments in FAO's part of the program. The Council also was reminded that since its last session the UN Special Fund had commenced its activities and had requested FAO to be the executing agency for five of its projects—the survey of the Volta River flood plain in Ghana, a pilot project on ground-water development in Greece, one on watershed management in Israel, and two in the United Arab Republic: one for draining land, and another for conducting a soil survey. The Council heard reports concerning and discussed the developments of the Freedom-From-Hunger campaign, the control of foot-and-mouth disease, and FAO's joint programs with the UN Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). A report from the Committee on Commodity Problems emphasized the continued growth of surpluses and the unfavorable terms of trade which were causing hardships in agricultural exporting countries. The resolutions passed by the Council pertained to administrative and financial matters, e.g., the scale of contributions, the establishment of a publications revolving fund, and so on.

In terms of the opening phrase of the Charter of the United Nations—“We the peoples of the United Nations”—the dominant image which comes to mind is that of Asia. Though not all the countries of Asia are Members of the United Nations—notably Korea, Vietnam, and now Indonesia—the Asian peoples of the United Nations (including the Chinese) not only greatly exceed in numbers those from any of the other major areas of the world but considerably outnumber all the peoples from these areas taken together.

The United States insists that the issue of Puerto Rico was removed from the international agenda by a vote of the UN General Assembly in 1953. This insistence has not quieted the international debate. During the last decade, more nations have used more international organizations to pursue the decolonization of Puerto Rico. They have been assisted by moderate Puerto Rican leaders who are looking for a way to induce the United States to change the island's status. As an agenda-taker, the U.S. government has had to expend increasing amounts of energy, prestige, and resources—mostly diplomatic, but occasionally economic and political—each year to try to keep from being condemned as a colonial power. Agenda-setters, particularly Cuba, pay a small price but derive substantial benefits from raising the cost to the United States or increasing the number of turnstiles (actions in other international forums) through which the United States must pass each year. Other countries, whose UN vote is transformed by U.S. concern into hard currency, owe the agenda-setter a debt. Five specific changes in strategy could reduce the costs to the United States of being an agenda-taker in the United Nations

Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand): On October 6, 1959, an application instituting proceedings against the Kingdom of Thailand was filed in the Registry of the Court by the Kingdom of Cambodia. In its application the Kingdom of Cambodia alleged that since 1949 the Kingdom of Thailand had persisted in the occupation of a portion of Cambodian territory—the area surrounding the Temple of Preah Vihear, a sacred place of pilgrimage and worship for the Cambodian people—and that in 1954 it had sent detachments of its armed forces into the territory in question. The Kingdom of Cambodia alleged also that its tide to sovereignty over the land had been established by treaties, that it had effectively exercised territorial powers, and that the Kingdom of Thailand had not performed any acts of sovereignty which would displace them. The Court was thus requested to adjudge whether or not the Kingdom of Thailand was under an obligation to withdraw its troops, and whether or not territorial sovereignty over the Temple of Preah belonged to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Listed below is membership of UN bodies for 1959. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated.

The use of multinational institutional arrangements to control sensitive nuclear fuel cycle activities has interested policymakers since the dawn of the nuclear age. Several such ventures have been tried during the past several decades, largely for economic, commercial, or technical reasons, and they have enjoyed varying degrees of success. More recently, with the spread of sensitive nuclear technologies, multinational arrangements have received increasing attention as a means of reinforcing international safeguards which, together with political commitments on peaceful use, have been the principal components of the nonproliferation regime.

The political acceptability and efficacy of multinational arrangements is related to the historic experience with multinational ventures, the changed political circumstances of the 1970s, and the probable requirements for constructive future cooperation. As part of a comprehensive regime covering the development of sensitive nuclear activities, multinational arrangements can reinforce the regime in a manner that is widely acceptable. A political effort to win support for such arrangements is thus worthwhile.

Economic and social cooperation through the United Nations seems destined to face new challenges and alternatives in the coming years as a result of the changed composition of the United Nations membership, the increased bargaining power of the African, Asian, and other states seeking economic and technical assistance, and the precedent of UN operations in the Congo.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has played a central role in the regeneration of West Germany since die Second World War, with the accession of die Federal Republic to NATO in May 1955 marking the official return of Germany to the company of civilized nations. West Germany, in turn, has become a not inconsequential member of the treaty organization. The bulk of NATO'S defense forces is located in die Federal Republic; an increasing amount of NATO'S military contribution is German; and the most controversial issue in Europe confronting the organization stems direcdy from die division of Germany and the exposed position of Berlin.

The third Arab-Israeli war, June 5–10, 1967, has been variously described as the first major conventional war between a modern state and a not-yet-modern society, as an instance of Western imperial aggression by proxy, or as a tragic ritual of the ineluctable Middle Eastern war game. Some analysts see it is as a prelude to a Vietnam-style people's war of liberation or even a nuclear war, those more optimistic as an end to all war in the Middle East. The third Arab-Israeli war is thus likely to be studied with interest by historians, strategists, military sociologists, political scientists, and even by armaments sellers.

The Far Eastern Commission on June 9 approved a policy decision permitting the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, upon receipt of the appropriate invitation, to appoint members of his staff as observers at intergovernmental conferences where attendance would be of interest to the occupation. Japanese technical personnel might accompany any SCAP staff when it was deemed necessary and was acceptable to the country which was acting as host to the conference. On March 13 the commission had rejected by a vote of 8 to 1 with 2 abstentions a motion to censure the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (MacArthur) for sending a Japanese to attend the Geneva radio frequency conference of the International Telecommunications Union as technical adviser to General Mac Arthur's observer at the meetings.

Finding a satisfactory voting formula for an international organization of “sovereign” states, such as the Security Council of the United Nations, is a different task from establishing rules of voting for a national legislative body. In an international body both the character of the work to be done and the composition of the body are governing factors. If the body has to make decisions involving the use of force, full respect for sovereignty by requiring unanimity permits the exercise of a liberum veto that blocks action. Simple rules of “democratic” usage by which the members are assumed to be equal in strength, though in fact they are not, cannot be applied, for this might pit weak numerical majorities against preponderantly powerful minorities. On the other hand, frankly to acknowledge the overweening might of a few and to establish a “dictatorship” by giving the most powerful members exclusive voting privileges is politically unacceptable and probably impracticable in our times. Therefore, some compromise has to be found, with reference to the duties and responsibilities of the organization and its composition, that will strike a workable balance between the inequalities of the members and a decent respect for the views and interests of the less powerful.