UNITED NATIONS: "IT'S ALL WE GOT"

A5 a river of rented limousines flowed up to United Nations headquarters in Manhattan last week and disgorged delegates for the opening session of the General Assembly, a dour-faced old man stood across the street holding aloft a hand-lettered sign: THE U.N. is A FARCE. Nobody seemed to take notice except a group of high-school students waiting for a bus nearby. One of them tore out a page of notebook paper, scribbled a few words on it and hoisted his rejoinder: DON'T KNOCK IT. IT'S ALL WE GOT.

Among the representatives from 125* nations who launched the General Assembly's 24th session, a similar mixture of muted hope and outright despair seemed to prevail. Few expected the 13-week session to produce much progress in settling the world's major conflicts in Viet Nam and the Middle East. Still, there was always the possibility that some crises could be eased at private diplomatic meetings in the town houses and apartments of New York. At one such meeting, held in U.N. Secretary-General U Thant's 38th-floor office suite at week's end, representatives of the U.S., Russia, Britain and France agreed to resume Big Four talks on the Mideast after a ten-week hiatus.

Gradual Decline. For all the behind-the-scenes activity, many delegates voiced growing impatience with the U.N.'s impotence in the face of international crises. Some of the bluntest words came from the General Assembly's new President, outspoken Angie Brooks of Liberia (see box). Last year's General Assembly, she said in her acceptance speech, was "the opposite of dynamism." Delegates had "ignored or sidetracked" important world problems, she charged, thus accelerating "the gradual decline of the U.N. in the eyes of the public."

Despite Miss Brooks' scolding, the atmosphere smacked more of the first day at prep school than of a world body confronted with an awesome catalogue of crises. Delegates greeted one another cheerfully, applauded when the Swaziland delegates marched barefoot to their seats wearing brilliant red printed togas and feathers in their hair and openly ogled Mrs. Shirley Temple Black as she took her place for the first time with the U.S. delegation.

Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union, in their major speeches, offered much promise that the current session would be more dynamic or productive than its predecessors. President Nixon, in his first appearance before the General Assembly, emphasized that U.S. steps toward peace in Viet Nam, including the bombing halt and troop withdrawals, have been "responsive to views expressed in this room." Accordingly, he asked delegates of all nations to turn their "best diplomatic efforts" to persuading Hanoi to make a few concessions too. The delegates, apparently disappointed that the President had failed to unveil new plans for peace in his speech, applauded perfunctorily and did not accord him the standing ovation normally given to heads of state.

No Clue. Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko was low-keyed but also off-key; in a long statement on regional security, he demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Viet Nam and of Israelis from the occupied territories, but implied that North Vietnamese units should be allowed to remain in the South and Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia. Most disappointingly, he gave no definite clue that Russia was finally willing to begin talks with the U.S. on limiting strategic weapons. He even rejected Nixon's proposal to agree immediately to impose an embargo on arms shipments to the Middle East. Though Gromyko's speech contained few polemics, it was at least as unresponsive as Nixon's to urgent problems. Next week Gromyko and Secretary of State William Rogers will resume private bilateral talks on the Mideast; the most that can be expected, however, is agreement on a joint attitude toward peace negotiations, and few U.S. officials expect the talks to get that far.

The Middle East conflict will figure in scheduled debates on two subjects this fall: the condition of Palestinian refugees, who have been U.N. wards since 1948, and Arab claims of human-rights violations in Israeli-occupied territories. Other debates certain to engage the Assembly's time and temper include the protection of civil rights for Northern Ireland's Catholic minority and restrictions on chemical and germ warfare. There is every prospect that the U.N. will formally decide to enter the pollution-control field by setting up the first worldwide governmental conference on the protection of the environment, to be held in 1972. Almost certainly, given the Afro-Asian majority in the Assembly, strong resolutions will be passed during the sessions condemning the white-supremacist regimes in Rhodesia, Angola and Mozambique.

The perennial resolution proposing membership for Red China is almost certain to be rejected for the 19th year, despite oblique hints from Peking that it is ready, after just as many years of indifference, to join the roster. The Red Chinese are expected to receive support from Canada and Italy, whose envoys are currently negotiating diplomatic recognition of Red China. The U.S., as always, will lead the opposition. There are reports as well that East Germany is anxious for membership, and that East European nations will attempt a bit of backdoor maneuvering in order to gain U.N. status for Walter Ulbricht's regime. Neither Germany is now a member, although West Germany holds observer status.

Time Running Out. Secretary-General U Thant warned last May that the nations of the world have "perhaps ten years left" to solve their ancient quarrels and begin working together. In his annual report last week, he sounded even more pessimistic. Rather than reducing the level of nuclear arms, he charged, the major powers have assumed "the incalculable and unmanageable risks of pursuing a race which may end in disaster for all mankind." There has been "very little progress" toward peace and security, Thant said, and "time is running out." If the initial indications are accurate, Thant--and mankind--will be no closer to victory in their race against time when the current U.N. session ends.

* Haiti, the 126th member, was not present.

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