So it is with the UN, which is now basking in the shine from its operation in East Timor.
First reactions
The first reaction to the UN-sponsored referendum on whether or not the territory should remain part of Indonesia seemed to be a decision by the high command of the Indonesian army to punish the populace by any means at hand (for which atrocity the ex-chief of the army, General Wiranto, has now paid the penalty this week of losing his cabinet seat).
It was the quick deployment of UN authorized peace enforcement troops, led by Australia, which quickly stabilized the situation. Early estimates of massive and widespread deaths were revised steadily downwards.
On Tuesday, the enforcement troops handed over to a UN peacekeeping force led by the Philippines.
And now in East Timor the mood, once so sour and angry, is upbeat and largely positive. The task of restoring the economy and preparing it for independence is going better than anyone dared hope.
Perhaps Western politicians in particular will now begin to recall the other UN successes of recent years to offset their hitherto unhealthy fascination with failure. Namibia, Mozambique and Cambodia, all countries beset by horrifying continuous warfare, in the latter country the worst since the Second World War, have all found peace through UN mediation and have now been put back on their feet. (In the case of Namibia and Mozambique impressively so -- the latter is presently the fastest growing economy in the world.)
Conflict mediation carried out by the UN, on many occasions by the Secretary General himself, is often unsung.
A conflict prevented is not news, and often not even a provable historical episode.
But if the UN is to continue forward with this renewed momentum much hangs on the outcome of the US presidential election and its present campaign. During the Clinton presidency the UN was wrongly denigrated and it was cruelly sabotaged, as on the occasion of its urge to head off the Rwanda genocide, which Bill Clinton later apologized for.
If there now looks to be a turn for the better, recent history teaches us to cross our fingers. Still, compared with this time four years ago, it is almost the difference between night and day.
Jonathan Power is a freelance columnist based in London.
RSS