A friend of mine finished his Ph.D. thesis in world politics, or better the East-West conflict, in spring 1989. His main point was that the Socialist system as seen in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe was "here to stay" and would remain active for a very long time.
One year later, it was all gone. He and I had great fun autumn 1989, each weekend a new Socialist country "fell". How he wished he had never finished his Ph.D.
So things can happen fast. That said, I have huge problems seeing the UN deciding anything like the present understanding, but things can be said and done in a very different way, and it can be one of the foremost examples of how prophecy is only understood afterwards.