They Can't ... or Can They?

Any time there's an international conflict involving one of the "Big Five" -- the US, the UK, France, Russia, or China -- the United Nations Security Council is effectively powerless to act because each of those "Big Five" regimes has a permanent seat and veto power over all resolutions.

Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy says that Russia should be "removed" from the Security Council.

If I'm not mistaken, the portion of the UN Charter relating to the Security Council can't be amended to remove any of the "Big Five" from it.

BUT! There is a way.

Russia was not one of the original "Big Five." The Soviet Union was. Russia was recognized by the UN as the Soviet Union's "successor state" in 1991 and given the Soviet Union's Security Council seat.

But just because they were recognized as the "successor state" then, that doesn't mean they always will be.

This has happened before. Until 1971, China's seat was held by the Republic of China, aka Taiwan. But then the UN General Assembly decided that the People's Republic of China was the "rightful representative of China."

So there's precedent. The General Assembly could just up and decide that, say, Ukraine rather than Russia is actually the "successor state" and/or "legitimate representative of" the Soviet Union.