US HOSTILHY TO UN 63 compelled to take anti-US positions on occasions. Further, the UN provides an opportunity for the Third World and the socialist countries to interact closely. Such factors have forced even some of the OECD countries to support the Third World on several occasions, leading to the thorough isolation of the US inside the UN. This is exactly what troubles the US ruling circles, and has led to their adoption of arm-twisting methods. It is not the first time that the US is trying this; it pulled out from the ILO in 1977, alleging that ILO was bacoming increasingly 'political', but quietly came back within two years. An opinion poll conducted in the US from the year 1951 to 1975 shows that 75 per cent of the opinion was in favour of US staying in the UN system.13 This shows how the Reagan Administration is isolated not only from the people of the world but even from the people of the US. G JAYARAJ Formely a research scholar at the School of International Studies, Jawaharial Nehru University, New Delhi. Presently, Activist, All India Lawyers' Union. 1 See the letter dated December 28, 1983, written by US Secretary of State to the Director-General of UNESCO, and also to the Secretary-General of UN. Department of State Bulletin, Vol 84, February 1984, pp 41-42. 2 John W Holmes, "A Non-American Perspective", in David A Kay (ed), The Changing United Nations'. Options for the United States, 1977, p 32. 3 Ibid, p 33. 4 See, Resolutions 3201 and 3202 of VI Special Session of the General Assembly, Yearbook of the United Nations, vol 28, 1974, pp 324-332. 5 Jeane Kirkpatrick, "Regulation in the United Nations: Global Paternalism", Current, No 252, May 1983, pp 38-45. 6 Time, October 26, 1981, has branded the letter as undiplomatic "letter bomb", 7 The Hindu, November 14, 1983. 8 Development Dialogue, 1980. I, p 29. 9 For a discussion on the conditional! ties attached to the Indian loan. see. The IMF Loan; Facts and Issues^ Government of West Bengal, 1981. 10 Patriot, February 23, 1984. 11 The Hindu, February 24, 1984. 12 Recently, Reagan stated: "The IMF has been a cornerstone of US foreign policy under Republican and Democratic administrations for nearly 40 years, and it remains a cornerstone of the foreign economic policy of this Administration." Department of State Bulletin, Vol 83, October 1983, p 44. 13 Alfred C Hero, Jr, "United States Public and the United Nations", in David Kay (ed), op cit, p 18.