The US Congress is on a collision course with the United Nations by threatening to cut its annual budget by tens of millions of pounds, which would disrupt its work on the ground. Henry Hyde, the Republican chairman of the house international relations committee, is circulating an 80-page draft bill suggesting cuts to UN programmes congressmen regard as inefficient or worthless. Republican senators have waged a long campaign against the UN, much of whose work they oppose on ideological grounds. Their case has been aided by recent scandals, ranging from sex abuse by UN peacekeepers in Africa to the mishandling...