United Nations
From RationalWiki
There are two United Nations.
One is a great place, where leaders from around the world can come together and talk about issues like the adults they are. It is a neutral forum, where all are granted equal say, no matter the size or importance of the country. This UN is a complete fantasy.
The other includes not only parliamentary democracies, but also human rights abusers mainly concerned with their own power. Because unanimity among the Big 5 is needed for any action, things rarely get done, and everyone in the US just ignores the whole institution. On some small scale activities, it can do some good, but any attempts at actual peace-keeping usually fall apart. What should then be a cause for peace and brotherhood instead just becomes another bureaucratic nightmare.
Although the UN's peacekeeping efforts have not always been successful that does not mean the UN is worthless. For example, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change[1] could probably not have been created by any other organization - and address a problem which is more important than any existing armed conflict.
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[edit] UN and Conspiracies and Conservatives
Most conservatives hate the UN because they believe that it infringes on the U.S.'s sovereignty, or they imagine it is involved in a vast global warming conspiracy. What they apparently don't realize is that the UN, realistically, has very little power.
However, a new version of the UN Conspiracy Theory theory has come up, this time claiming that the UN is merely the pawn of George W. Bush. This seems to ignore the complete antipathy to the UN and other international organizations that Bush has shown in the past.[2]
[edit] UN and Liberals
Apparently, many liberals have a very rosy-eyed view of the institution, preferring to see the hypothetical instead of the real. Many liberals counter by pointing out that the UN in the only real international forum in the world, and suggest that if its many critics feel there are problems with the institution they should assist in modernizing it or suggest an alternative world body.
[edit] External links
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/laws/treaties/conv.htm
- ↑ For example, the appointment of John Bolten as ambassador to the UN, when he had in the past said that destroying five stories of the UN building wouldn't hurt anything.
