The World's Ledger  ·  Vol. I  ·  An Open Record Compiled March 2026  ·  Ongoing
The World’s Ledger
As It Is.

A record of what actually happened. Who killed whom, and how many. Which institutions protected the powerful and abandoned the rest. Which laws applied, and to whom they did not. The ledger does not editorialize. The figures speak.

4 Documents
80+ Years covered
300+ Primary sources
1946 Record begins
At a glance
93 US vetoes cast 51+ to shield one state from binding accountability
159 Russia / USSR vetoes 14 on Syria alone as 500,000 died
800,000 Killed in Rwanda In 100 days. The mandate to stop it was vetoed.
158–9 UNGA Gaza ceasefire vote The world's view. Non-binding. Ignored.
The Record
4 documents  ·  primary source data
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Document
Scope
Period
Open
01
Veto Record · Accountability Gap
The Veto as a Weapon: Israel, Iran, and the Accountability Gap
53+ US vetoes shielding Israel from binding UNSC action set against seven binding Chapter VII sanctions resolutions passed against Iran. Same council, same rules, opposite outcomes. Includes UNGA comparisons showing the gap between formal power and the world's actual vote.
US veto record
Iran sanctions
UNGA analysis
Accountability bypassed
1972 – 2025
Open
02
Institutional Failure · All P5 · 1946–2025
The Five Kings and a World Left to Burn
A complete era-by-era record of every major conflict where P5 veto power or deliberate inaction enabled mass atrocities, genocide, or sustained war. Korea, Vietnam, Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza — thirty conflicts, eighty years, all five permanent members.
Cold War era
Post-Cold War
Contemporary
All P5 members
1946 – 2025
Open
03
Comparative Index · State Violence
State-Sponsored Political Violence: A Comparative Index
A comparative index of documented state-sponsored political violence — measuring direct killings, sanctions deaths, and conflict fallout across actors and decades. Weighted by scale, directness of responsibility, and verifiability of attribution. Primary sources throughout.
Direct killings
Sanctions deaths
Conflict fallout
Weighted index
1953 – 2025
Open
04
Casualties · Verified Data
Documented Casualties: Direct Killings, Sanctions Deaths & Conflict Fallout
A data breakdown of documented casualties from state-sponsored political violence. Aggregate totals and event-by-event records with primary source citations. Sources: UN OCHA, WHO, ICRC, and peer-reviewed scholarship. Conservative floor estimates used throughout.
Aggregate totals
Event breakdown
UN OCHA / ICRC
Conservative estimates
1953 – 2025
Open
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Rose Tinted Glasses
Counterfactual · Hope · What could still be
The document below departs from the primary record. It asks what the same evidence suggests was possible — had the architecture of impunity not been built into the system from the start. Grounded in sworn testimony, documented votes, and reform proposals already on the table at the UN General Assembly. The ledger records what happened. This section asks what still could.
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Document
Scope
Period
Open
R1
Counterfactual · Reform · Evidence-Based
A World the UN Could Have Built
Twelve conflict scenarios — Rwanda, Syria, Bosnia, Vietnam, Gaza and more — examined through four documented reform models. Central evidence: General Dallaire's sworn ICTR testimony that 5,000 troops with a mandate could have stopped the Rwandan genocide. The 270 who stayed without one saved 20,000–30,000 anyway. The capacity existed. Only the political will was vetoed.
12 scenarios
4 reform models
Dallaire testimony
Live proposals
1946 – 2025
Open
The veto was designed as a safeguard. It functions as a license. No state has ever faced binding UN enforcement for actions its patron chose to shield. The record of eighty years is consistent: the system does not fail by accident. It performs exactly as constructed — protecting those who built it, at the cost of everyone else.
Primary Sources UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library — Veto Dataset 1946–2025
UN Security Council Report (securitycouncilreport.org)
UN Press Records S/2023/773 through S/2025/353
UNGA ES-10 Emergency Session Records 2023–2025 Casualties & Verification Gaza Ministry of Health (verified UN OCHA)
WHO Gaza Health Cluster · ICRC
ICJ — Provisional Measures, South Africa v. Israel (Jan 2024) Expert Testimony & Reform ICTR — Gen. Dallaire Testimony 1998, 2004
UN Independent Inquiry on Rwanda — Carlsson Report S/1999/1257
HRW — Leave None to Tell the Story (1999)
US State Dept. — Voting Practices in the United Nations 2024

The World's Ledger  ·  Five documents  ·  All data from UN primary records and verified scholarship

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