Why On Earth Do We Let The UN Boss Everyone Around?

Great Debates
1

Why do we let the UN into other nations business? They should have no duty in international security.

They are corrupt and inefficient (Dallaire, Rwanda 1994). After 10 Belgian soldiers are killed, the Belgians sound retreat and compromise many other soldiers in the area. They failed to realize there is no reward without a risk. Thousands of Tutsis were killed right infront of UN peacekeepers WHO DID NOTHING! Why? They weren’t mandated to! There is no justice. Obviously protocol is more important to them than human lives.

UN Representatives are just appointed and not elected. Therefore it is safe to conclude that they will do everything in their power to ensure that they can make their bosses happy. In otherwords, they fail to complete the task at hand before completing the interests of their respective governments. Example: An American UN delegate would lobby to protect Saudi Arabia before any other OPEC country because of the oil incentive. Yet, we know that Saudi Arabia is a country run on substandard human rights and abusive policies. Another example is China. The Falun Gong and Christians (just to name a few) are being persecuted. The UN does little, if nothing to protect these minorities. The UN has failed to protect the population of it’s members.

Canada is the most active peacekeeping force. Yet, we don’t have nearly as much funding towards projects as the United States do or any other of the 5 veto seats do. Once again, if a smaller player in the game such as Canada contributes this much, it just goes to show how much the UN organization has failed. The little players are doing the jobs of the bigger countries, yet we don’t even recieve recognition?

(Getting ready for a debating tournament on Tuesday
:frowning: and I’m a tad worried.)

2

For largely the same reason we let all citizens boss all other citizens around, I’d imagine.

3

Well if my country spends all their time and money supporting campaigns that do more harm then good, don’t you feel that we should abolish the security council?

4

If I saw that the two were inexorably linked it would be a good start.

5

Oh yeah, I’m thinking of getting about 512 MB RAM, 64 MB Graphics Card, and a processor of 1.5 GHz or higher. Though I’d take anything decent if it’s a good grab.

6

Oops, wrong thread. I feel so stupid.

7

I can see the point of having a “United Nations”, but I wish they would move it out of the US and into some country that really gives a rats ass about the UN, such as France.

8

The current structure of the UN is skewed. We’re supposed to believe that everyone is equal but it really goes like so:
US > 4 Other Veto Seats > Security Council > General Assembly.

9

I thought the GA and the SC were more or less independent?

10

Origin of the United Nations

Purpose of the United Nations

How our troops got involved

The inherent cussedness of humankind and inveterate itch to boss each other around may have separated the U.N. from the ideals under which it was founded, but it started out as a good idea, a strong international body to enforce peace, led by the victors of WWII who knew what letting aggressive tyrants run loose might mean. It was made as strong as it was in reaction to the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations, in much the same way as a strong Federal government under the Constitution supplanted the ineffective Congress under the Articles of Confederation.

Hermann, the reason I’m an only child is that my father spent five years overseas when he and Mom could have been having children, and I was conceived about two weeks after her last monthly period – ever. People of his generation were dead opposed to ever letting the world get into that kind of all-out war, ever again, and put the U.N. in place as part of their defenses against it. I don’t know about you, but with all its faults, this is one American that gives far more than a rodent’s hindquarters about the U.N. and what it could be.

11

I find this comment intriguing. You see the point of the United Nations, but you would prefer that its physical location was elswhere?

Why? What difference does it make? Are you that tight for office space?

Or is this just a backhanded way of saying that you think the US should not be part of the UN?

12

I’m curious as to who exactly foots the majority of the U.N.'s bill?

13

The inherent cussedness of humankind and inveterate itch to boss each other around may have separated the U.N. from the ideals under which it was founded, but it started out as a good idea

I’m glad to see that you agree.

14

We don’t let the UN boss everyone around, and in fact the UN doesn’t boss anyone around. The sovereign states of planet Earth pretty routinely ignore the UN. On occasion, some of the more powerful of those states–mainly the US–will use the UN as political cover for their actions (the Korean War, the Persian Gulf War), but it’s still not the UN “bossing everyone around”, it’s the sovereign states, mainly the US, “bossing around” (that is, bombing the heck out of) certain other of the sovereign states (North Korea, Iraq). The name United Nations actually goes back to World War II, as a synonym for the Allies. Although after WWII there was an actual organization created under the name “United Nations”, complete with a permanent bureaucracy, that organization and bureaucracy have little power and certainly nothing like an army. (Some of the member states of the UN assign some of the troops in their national armies to various peacekeeping missions which are done in the name of the UN. These missions have varying success at actually keeping the peace anywhere; mainly they “monitor” cease-fires in which the participants have already agreed to stop fighting.)

15

Well lets at what you said:

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by d12 *
Why do we let the UN into other nations business? They should have no duty in international security.

…and…

The UN “peacekeepers” in their white APCS and blue helmets are not cops or actual enforcers of the peace. They are simply lightly armed observers.

The UN does not “boss any nation around” because it is not a world government and has no real power. It is simply a forum for nations to air their greviences.

I don’t see that France gives a rat’s ass about anything other than France.

16

Why do people complain about UN intervention? is it more evil than domestic intervention?

Can a UN police officer kick your door down, kidnap you at gunpoint and take you to a prison? The domestic police can though. Why not remark on that?

I used to argue pretty strongly in favor of the International Criminal Court, and it never stopped to amaze me how many people (americans mostly) who felt violated that the UN asked american leadership to sign a document saying we wouldn’t commit war crimes. WHen did being asked to sign a treaty saying you wouldn’t commit war crimes constitute being ‘pushed around’?

The UN has no power, each specific countries domestic military (the police, secret police, etc) and international military do. They are the ones that should be reprimanded for interfering with other people’s rights.

17

How does the UN boss anybody around? OTOH, the US has been trying to push the Security Council in letting them attack Iraq.

18

Rather than filing, what, another five or six resolutions?

25th Resolution: “blah blah, bad stuff, and if you don’t do something about it we will be really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really upset.”

I don’t know that I’m a huge fan for war, in fact, wait, I’m not a for war at all in this case, but I’m not a member of the UNSC and if the Security Council is going to pass resolutions that make ultimatums of some kind, it seems a little silly to not act on them.

Any regular criminal would laugh at a cop like that. If they don’t want to police the world, then I guess maybe its usefulness has ended; that wouldn’t bother me much at all. If it is there to police the world, or at least the part it likes, then of course we’re going to have politicians/representatives trying to get action taken. That’s politics. Doesn’t bother me much either.

You want a forum for politicians but no politics, or a forum for politicians with politics but no action, or what? Should we tighten down on the food for oil program and starve more people? Should we let it all hang loose and forget about it? Honestly, I’m interested. I freely admit I have no solution.

What is the security council for?
What would you have it do that it hasn’t already done before in this case?
Would you change it if you don’t like what it is for?

19

Why On Earth Do The UN Let The US Boss Everyone Around?

20

Why On Earth Do We Let The US Boss The UN Around?