I hate to admit it, but having watched Donald Trump's bloated and overlong speech at the UN yesterday I couldn't help but find myself agreeing with him on one point. It is something I have wanted to write about for a long time and I guess this was the final push.

However, before I get into that did anybody notice his unintentional admission of incompetence. He said that he oversaw the redevelopment of the UN building just after he bemoaned the fact that the lift didn't work properly and his beloved Melania would have fallen had he not saved her (my hero <3 ) and how he complained about haw the $500m project become bloated to $3bn (I think that was his figure) due to corruption and incompetence. Well Mr Trump the buck stops with the boss).

Additionally, Mr Trump you are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, on merit as decided by the committee, and not given it on request. Self-seeking and self-aggrandizement are not qualifying criteria, and even more so with your claims to be the stopper of seven wars is spurious.

Now to my point.

Was it his claims about

• Climate Change - NO!
• Tarrffs - N0!
• Comments about Putin - NO!

So what was it?

He basically described the UN as corrupt and failing and in this there is at least some truth, although I would hold back on what he said about the UN being an intentional sponsor of illegal immigration, while inadvertently doing just that by financing refugee support.

Let me illustrate. I found myself living in Kosova/o almost immediately after the 1999 War and even the small town I was placed in (Klina) was full of international organisations all vying for position in building the new power structures to avoid the formation of a power vacuum. There was the UN who had umbrella control of the place under UNMiK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) and as well as some of their other sub organisations including the UN Police Force and UNHCR as well as the World Food Program. The EU was present through the OSCE and the KPS (the newly formed Kosovo Police Force). Concerning policing it was unclear who had jurisdiction UNMiK Police entirely made up of internationals or KPS made up of locals under the close supervision of EU Police Officers. In the meantime the local NATO contingent (Portuguese and Italian) provided the muscle and would drive around in their Armoured Personel Carriers (often with a manned machine gun port on top although apparently it was not armed) and trucks,

As for me I was working for a small non-aligned NGO and once a week we would all get together for a weekly briefing.

The country was still a hotbed and very dangerous. While I was there a local politician was gunned down in a stairwell. War was breaking out in neighbouring Macedonia. I was actually passing through Tetovo during hostilities The tank fire was literally shaking the Land Rover I was in. Then there was the moment when Macedonia stood on the brink after Macedonian forces shot a father and son in the street who'd they mistakenly thought was armed (turned out to be a mobile phone). On another occasion I wanted to go out for a walk one evening and just as I opened my door the distinctive sound of machine gun fire rung out. I decided to stay in. Similarly I was in a restaurant one evening and there was another burst of gunfire outside only this time i saw the flash of the muzzle. Now, even to this day I insist on sitting with my back to a wall and facing the doorway so I can see what or who might come in.

While the KPS was a fledgling organisation, it was being effectively led by a contingent of experienced officers from EU countries with reputable police forces. I affectionately called the senior officer Gerald the German. The UN Police was another matter, on the one hand there was Charles from Ghana who was really great and from a country with a good human rights record, but on the other hand there was an officer from Mugabe's Zimbabwe whose institutional ethos was violence and repression. While the officer in question never did anything that stood out he would have inevitably brought with him the culture that Mugabe's regime created and all the time they drove round in the brand new Nissan Landcruisers (admittedly donated by Japan) with little seeming care other than a personal conscience. In the meantime KPS were driving around in far more modest vehicles and while I can't remember exactly what they were they would equate to a modern Dacia Duster.

Conditions were lavish and excessively comfortable for UN personnel but they were also largely effective. During the influx of Macedonian refugees it was I, and not UNHCR, who found them through my contacts on the ground (not my job I was providing directed economic aid - for example the first thing we did in Klina was to get the local bakery up and running again with the original owners by providing funding and flour so to alleviate the international community's need to provide even the most basic of foodstuffs). It was I, with a local person from the village of Ujemire (literally Good Water) who provided their food on HIS tractor. Tractors really do only have one seat and it made for a very uncomfortable ride for the passenger - namely me! The WFP did provide the food but where were the logistics. It was all a bit haphazard.

Money was spent at best inefficiently and, more to the point, ineffectively.

On this Mr Trump I agree. I also agree that the UN is totally toothless. It has failed to stop any war to my knowledge. It can shout Genocide in Gaza or tell Putin to stop being a naughty boy, but it is just grandstanding and makes no difference at all. Their peacekeepers protocol to only defend themselves under fire was a direct factor in the massacre at Srebrenica, the largest known individual act of genocide, in Europe since the end of WW2. To be effective the UN needs both teeth and a willingness to use them. Mr Putin and his cabal know they have been naughty boys and just telling them makes no difference. While Trump was too kind and welcoming to Putin in Alaska there is some validity to him saying that somebody needs to start talking to the Russians, even though it ultimately failed and may have actually increased Putin's international confidence.

Nevertheless, meaningless declarations of outrage and sanctions do not work.

And so while reluctant to do so, I must begrudgingly agree with Mr Trump on this one.

As always stay safe and well my friends.