Paul Zerzan

To meet 21st century needs, I think the United Nation’s headquarters on Turtle Bay in New York City should be moved to the Leo Palace Resort on the United States territory of Guam. New York no longer lies at the crossroads of great powers — Guam does.

Guam is not far from possible hot-spots, such as: the contested South China Sea, North Korea, China, Pakistan, Japan, etc. Delegates from the 195 member states — comfortably housed with their families at the spacious Leo Palace Resort — could convene in the assembly hall in minutes.

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Should some dangerous international incident occur, how long would it take for an emergency U.N. meeting to convene in New York, given that it is about 12 time zones away, and that the scattered delegates would have to wind through New York’s congested traffic in their chauffeur-driven limousines?

Powerful symbolic recognition

Power politics shifted long ago from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Moving the U.N. would provide powerful symbolic recognition of this new world order and convey an important message that the U.N. is still relevant in maintaining world peace.

If the U.N. stays in New York it has the same image problem as that of the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other 20th century organizations: that of a bloated and bureaucratic vestige from an earlier age incapable of responding to 21st century challenges.

U.N. long out-grew New York building

The U.N. was founded in 1945 with 51 members. It now has 193 active members and 2 observer-status states. It long ago out-grew its New York building that was erected almost seven decades ago and equipped with what is now very outdated technology and inadequate security in a very expensive location that does not meet 21st century needs.

Leo Palace offers excellent security and provides a cozy community where delegates would be neighbors and informally meet each other at the grocery store, the golf course, bowling alley, school, etc. This, plus a reduced commute, would increase personal interactions (even friendships) that would promote peace and understanding in powerful (even if informal) ways.

So, I think the U.N. should be relocated to Guam for reasons of symbolism, strategic location and security to give needed revitalization to this very necessary organization at a time when growing conflicts, shifting alliances and demographic changes threaten to destabilize our world.

Paul Zerzan is a resident of Barrigada.

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