Right as the United Nations was about to be born, with war in the Pacific still raging, the Soviets forced a painful dilemma on the Truman administration. It was increasingly obvious that the Soviets were not going to allow free elections in Poland. In the Truman administration, there were those, like Averell Harriman, who were not prepared to sell Poland out, and insisted that if the Soviets wanted to be part of the U.N. they should be held to standards of membership. Hence the dilemma: Either limit membership to law-abiding, peace-loving states–and deny membership to the Soviets–or let them join and drop all pretense that the United Nations would have any standards for membership at all. Because the U.N. was to be a Parliament of Man, in the conception of Truman and most of his administration, universality won out over standards.

In the great proliferation of states that emerged from decolonization, standards of recognition were lowered to only the most brutal facts on the ground: Whatever group of criminals happened to establish control of a nation’s territory would now be accorded sovereign recognition–and membership at the U.N. Before long, the U.N. had turned into a club of anti-democratic dictatorships.

Congratulations, Palestine: You are being admitted to the club.