United Nations
The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when the UN Charter had been ratified in San Francisco by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories. One of its primary purposes is to maintain international peace and security.
The United Nations Headquarters Building, although it is situated in New York, is considered International
Territory, and not part of the United States. This is where most of the official UN meetings are held.
Flags of all UN member countries are flown along the First Avenue edge of the grounds.
The General Assembly Hall, shown here, is where meetings involving all member nations are held. The order
in which national representatives are seated is kind of interesting. In the beginning, the seating order
was done alphabetically by country, according to the English alphabet. Thus, representatives of Afghanistan and Albania sat
in the front row, and those from Zambia and Zimbabwe sat at the back. Since then, each year a country is chosen at
random to move up to the front, and everyone else does a "one-seat shift" toward the rear. I personally
think this is a lousy way to do it (Why not just do it by random lot on every seat each year?), but what do I know?
The UN Security Council is comprised of five permanent member nations, and ten non-permanent members. The
five permanent members are basically those that played the biggest part in defeating the Axis countries in
World War II: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Security Council has
a huge responsibility in the UN, and each of its members must have a representative present in the UN Building
at all times.
The picture above shows the empty Security Council chamber. In the one below, it looks as if a diplomat has suddenly appeared on the scene. (Note the official-looking ID tag.)
Many member nations have chosen to give a gift, often of the artistic variety, to the United Nations. This mosaic, based on a
painting by Norman Rockwell, was given by the United States to the United Nations on its fortieth
anniversary in 1985.