The United Nations needs and deserves both America's support and its unpaid dues, a senior UN official told an audience of 80 at the Yenching Auditorium last night.

Shashi Tharoor--the UN's director of communication and special projects, and a senior aide to Secretary-General Kofi Annan--was scheduled to speak on "The United Nations in the New Millennium," but instead, as he freely admitted to his audience, he chose to focus on the current state of the organization.

More specifically, the Indian diplomat concentrated his efforts on debunking what he considers myths about the UN, painting the multinational body as more efficient and effective than many Americans believe.

Many editorial columnists, said Tharoor, think "the letters UN stand for 'unproductive nuisance.'"

"What's the difference between Jurassic Park and the UN?" he asked the crowd, repeating a joke he said he once heard.

"One is a theme park run by dinosaurs," he said, "and one is a Hollywood movie."

On the contrary, Tharoor argued, the UN has done many things that few people in America know about--from regulating air travel to ridding the world of smallpox to preserving tourist attractions throughout the world.

And the organization, with 188 member-nations, has been successful in bringing peace and democracy to a number of countries throughout the world--such as Mozambique and El Salvador.