UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 22 -- The United States is preparing to pay the United Nations $725 million, which is a large sum, a welcome one for an organisation that spent this year rationing cash, and less than a fifth of what Washington owes.

The money appears in a State Department notification sent to Congress on 4 August, first reported by Reuters, and is expected to move before President Donald Trump addresses the General Assembly in New York next month. The timing is not incidental. A head of state arriving to speak from the world body's rostrum while his government is its largest debtor invites a particular kind of question, and a payment in transit changes the answer.

It is also not the first instalment. In February the United States t...