The United Nations Charter was signed on June 26, 1945, seven weeks after the end of the Second World War in Europe. The war against Japan was still raging in China and the Pacific, but with the Philippines liberated and Japan in retreat on all fronts, the shape of the post-war world was already becoming clear. The map of Europe had been redrawn in February at Yalta, the map of Asia would be restored to the status quo ante, and the process of decolonization would soon begin (starting with Japan’s surrender of its colonies in China, Korea, and the Pacific). A decidedly unrepresentative Security Council with real teeth would replace the impotent Council of the defunct League of Nations.
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