Thread by @HayesBrown

So something interesting that could be developing at the UN: Ukraine appears to be laying the groundwork to challenge whether the Russian Federation is the legitimate successor to the USSR’s seat and veto on the Security Council

Here’s the ambassador citing the part of the charter that deals with admission of members during his speech at the UN Security Council earlier tonight

And here’s his demand for the documents that show that the Russian Federation was welcomed to the body by the UNSC and General Assembly. Those documents don’t exist as he noted because the UN legal counsel made the call

The UN Charter was never amended after the USSR broke up. It still references the Soviet Union as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council. The Russian Federation just ascended to that seat after 1991.

So as @p_orchard noted the only other example of a member joining outside the usual method was when the PRC took over China’s seat from the Nationalist government in Taiwan. They did so via a UNGA resolution, which the US was uh not happy about

https://twitter.com/p_orchard/status/1496707787455594504

So that could (maybe??) be Ukraine’s goal? To have the UNGA pass a resolution declaring that either the USSR’s seat is empty or that some other state should be the -real- successor to the Soviet’s

Do I think it would work? Hell if I know but it’s fascinating and will be wild to see how it develops. Especially since it took IIRC ten years for the PRC’s supporters to overcome US opposition and procedural delays in the UNGA.

From 1961 - 1971, the US made sure the question of the China seat at the UNGA was an “important question” that required a two-thirds vote. It’s possible that Russia try a similar tactic, but will they have support for raising the bar in the first place? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Okay, everyone, stop retweeting this thread and start retweeting this article which goes more in-depth please and thank you

msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-…