I was a member of two Quaker (Society of Friends) meetings during the 80s, and there is much to recommend both their approach to personal responsibility, commitment to social justice and structuring of power. But one of the more salient reasons I resigned from those memberships was that decisions affecting the entire meeting had to be arrived at by total consensus, which sometimes left important decisions hanging for years, even about slight matters. A single cranky or oddball member who's personal mission in life was tied to a self-concept of opposition for its own sake could thereby gain the power to grind things to a halt. Which is why, even with its own inherent flaws, majority rule is preferable. Your exposition of this issue is brilliant, Diane. Many thanks.
The irony of Hungary, apparently anti-Soviet Union when NATO came together, is now pro-Russia, after Russia co-opted the permanent Security Council seat from the same Soviet Union. That alone should have forced Hungary out of NATO, no?
Th Western world / liberal democracies always try and see the good in people or count on the fact that when you are nice with people they will reciprocate. Clearly this has not worked. They now have to find a way to make changes to rules and regulations governing the UN, NATO and the EU and while they are at it to revise the definition of asylum and the laws surrounding it.
A great assessment of the moribund status of the UN, EU and NATO, although referring to the U.S.’s destructive incursions into Vietnam and Iraq as “misadventures” is, I humbly submit, a mischaracterization.
Because he wants to make deals with Putin. Like the fact that he has relaxed sanctions on the export of airplane parts to Belarus. There are no borders between Belarus and Russia, so where do you think those parts will end up?
Agreed. A number of writers, former analysts, and folks with eyes do provide illumination as to drumpf's, ehm, 'fascination' with the most dangerous, most vile being walking about upon the planet; here's a few: Craig Unger, Sarah Kendzior, Elizabeth Graham, David McKay, and Whitney Webb (if you can wade through the litany of recurring names there; she's like reading a Russian novel for the names). The Man has long been corruptible for his greed and insatiably greasy 'appetites', and he's been corrupted. I awake every day in quiet hope that all that leads only to his predictable collapse and those hitched on to him, and that I can still plan my gardens for next spring. I'm not traveling anywhere I couldn't imagine bicycling home from.
I appreciate Diane's eye for this awful story and this awful place in history. Hold fast. Winter's coming.
Excellent. It has been obvious for years that the U.N. is not only broken but unsalvageable. It fails to reflect the reality of our planet and rejecting reality allows for pure fantasy to interfere with the immediate necessary action we need to change course and salvage what remains of “our” civilization. Aside from the hypocrisy of the present structure of the Security Council the Saud family, Emir of Qatar, and King Hussein have as much of a vote in the General Assembly as the democratic countries of Canada, India and Australia and this does not begin to reflect the clear illegitimacy of an institution whose founding was so well intentioned.
Our planet must immediately divide into a “block” of regions and nations (countries) that embrace Western values and recognize those “others” as unworthy of inclusion in a new International order. It will certainly wake up the despots and their populations to a reality they can become a part of by reforming their “governance” or be regarded as enemies of a system that has provided endless benefits to humanity…. At least it will quickly define who our ENEMIES are and force a resolution to their behaviour. These enemies are presently engaged in World War 3 and “our” societies are engaged in a never-ending fruitless debate!! I shudder to think who will come out on top if “we” don’t awaken RIGHT NOW!!
We can certainly lament the obvious governance design flaws so ably outlined by Diane in our global organizations. But lets not cry over spilt milk. We should be working on new bypass solutions. Lets stop expecting that some version of a "good" world government will bring in "lasting peace in our time" . Any world government will have exactly the same faults as the current continental empires. We have five of these already, and they are acting to promote their own best interests while at the UN. But some of them are clearly morally and politically superior to the others. Lets get real and support the better ones.
Canada has finally appointed a special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Now if only Trump could stick to a consistent strategy?
The UN is an anti-semitic organization. According to unwatch.org "from 2015 through 2023, the UN General Assembly has adopted 154 resolutions against Israel and 71 against other countries." Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East. Since 1948, Israel has needed to defend itself against the Palistinians and their appeasers and supporters. The UN should be abolished.
Thank you, Diane. You always bring clarity to complex situations. I absolutely agree with your observation, "The reality is that as long as Russia remains on the Security Council, the UN will be irrelevant and damaging." Someone has to step in and change the role/rules of the Security Council, and maybe the ability to veto should be removed, requiring a majority vote from all its members. An individual's ego should not take over the role of peaceful organizations like the UN, NATO, the EU, etc. The World has changed materially over the past 50+ years, and especially the technology that drives us. Drone warfare, coupled with AI technology, has levelled the playing field.
Once again, Trump proves he is nothing but a narcissistic, loudmouth bully on steroids. Except this time his audience wasn't just the American public. This time it was there for all the world to see.
I don't think you could find anyone who agrees that the UN is a truly effective international organisation that is respected by all for its ability to carry out the actions for which it has been given agency.
For the UN to work it requires the agreement and cooperation of all nations that make up the UN. Nations cannot pick and choose what pleases them and expect an organisation like the UN to survive. The likes of the US, China & Russia, all choose to ignore those Agencies that they do not agree with. A small sample would be the IAEA, ICC, IMF, WHO, WMO, UNFCCC(IPCC), World Bank, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to name just a few.
The UN Security Council has become or is a toothless tiger, with any of the 5 permanent members holding the right to veto any decision made by the Council. This right of veto must be removed and the Council expanded. An expanded Security Council must have the ability to impose sanctions and if necessary, take military actions with all UN members having a stake. Not just the poor ones
Funding of the UN must be made compulsory for all members, in accordance with their ability to pay. No one nation should become the crutch on which the UN relies. Any nation that does not pay its dues should be expelled. One nation, one vote. The ability to ban a nation should be able to be achieved through a majority vote.
There are many issues within the UN which it has to resolve, but a world without a UN organisation or one where it is ignored, will doom the us to the Law of the Jungle, not the Rule of Law.
Europe needs to show that it is worth supporting, allow Ukraine to join the EU & NATO, ban all Russian involvement in EU nations, bring majority rules to the table, do not rely on 100% consensus to reach decisions, troops on the ground in Ukraine, show some backbone. If this done, then more of the world's nations may take them seriously, maybe even the US.
As you say, there seems no way to reform the Security Council to kick out Russia or any other member. After all, any one of the five can veto its own expulsion. A side point, however. As I am sure you know, for many years the Soviet Union had three memberships in the UN, the Soviet Union itself plus Ukraine and Byelorussia, under the fiction that they were both independent countries. Both Ukraine and Byelorussia are founding members of the UN, Ukraine actually ratifying its own membership before Canada did.
I was a member of two Quaker (Society of Friends) meetings during the 80s, and there is much to recommend both their approach to personal responsibility, commitment to social justice and structuring of power. But one of the more salient reasons I resigned from those memberships was that decisions affecting the entire meeting had to be arrived at by total consensus, which sometimes left important decisions hanging for years, even about slight matters. A single cranky or oddball member who's personal mission in life was tied to a self-concept of opposition for its own sake could thereby gain the power to grind things to a halt. Which is why, even with its own inherent flaws, majority rule is preferable. Your exposition of this issue is brilliant, Diane. Many thanks.
The irony of Hungary, apparently anti-Soviet Union when NATO came together, is now pro-Russia, after Russia co-opted the permanent Security Council seat from the same Soviet Union. That alone should have forced Hungary out of NATO, no?
Yes
I should have said the hypocrisy, rather than irony.
Th Western world / liberal democracies always try and see the good in people or count on the fact that when you are nice with people they will reciprocate. Clearly this has not worked. They now have to find a way to make changes to rules and regulations governing the UN, NATO and the EU and while they are at it to revise the definition of asylum and the laws surrounding it.
A great assessment of the moribund status of the UN, EU and NATO, although referring to the U.S.’s destructive incursions into Vietnam and Iraq as “misadventures” is, I humbly submit, a mischaracterization.
Superb article. So can anyone explain why the nut case Trump does not attack Putin? The media has not been revealing this.Why?
Because he wants to make deals with Putin. Like the fact that he has relaxed sanctions on the export of airplane parts to Belarus. There are no borders between Belarus and Russia, so where do you think those parts will end up?
Agreed. A number of writers, former analysts, and folks with eyes do provide illumination as to drumpf's, ehm, 'fascination' with the most dangerous, most vile being walking about upon the planet; here's a few: Craig Unger, Sarah Kendzior, Elizabeth Graham, David McKay, and Whitney Webb (if you can wade through the litany of recurring names there; she's like reading a Russian novel for the names). The Man has long been corruptible for his greed and insatiably greasy 'appetites', and he's been corrupted. I awake every day in quiet hope that all that leads only to his predictable collapse and those hitched on to him, and that I can still plan my gardens for next spring. I'm not traveling anywhere I couldn't imagine bicycling home from.
I appreciate Diane's eye for this awful story and this awful place in history. Hold fast. Winter's coming.
Tim Long, Just Up the Hill from Lock 15
Why? Perhaps it would be the pot calling the kettle black.
Good question. I will be writing about this in future.
Excellent. It has been obvious for years that the U.N. is not only broken but unsalvageable. It fails to reflect the reality of our planet and rejecting reality allows for pure fantasy to interfere with the immediate necessary action we need to change course and salvage what remains of “our” civilization. Aside from the hypocrisy of the present structure of the Security Council the Saud family, Emir of Qatar, and King Hussein have as much of a vote in the General Assembly as the democratic countries of Canada, India and Australia and this does not begin to reflect the clear illegitimacy of an institution whose founding was so well intentioned.
Our planet must immediately divide into a “block” of regions and nations (countries) that embrace Western values and recognize those “others” as unworthy of inclusion in a new International order. It will certainly wake up the despots and their populations to a reality they can become a part of by reforming their “governance” or be regarded as enemies of a system that has provided endless benefits to humanity…. At least it will quickly define who our ENEMIES are and force a resolution to their behaviour. These enemies are presently engaged in World War 3 and “our” societies are engaged in a never-ending fruitless debate!! I shudder to think who will come out on top if “we” don’t awaken RIGHT NOW!!
We can certainly lament the obvious governance design flaws so ably outlined by Diane in our global organizations. But lets not cry over spilt milk. We should be working on new bypass solutions. Lets stop expecting that some version of a "good" world government will bring in "lasting peace in our time" . Any world government will have exactly the same faults as the current continental empires. We have five of these already, and they are acting to promote their own best interests while at the UN. But some of them are clearly morally and politically superior to the others. Lets get real and support the better ones.
Canada has finally appointed a special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Now if only Trump could stick to a consistent strategy?
The UN is an anti-semitic organization. According to unwatch.org "from 2015 through 2023, the UN General Assembly has adopted 154 resolutions against Israel and 71 against other countries." Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East. Since 1948, Israel has needed to defend itself against the Palistinians and their appeasers and supporters. The UN should be abolished.
Thank you, Diane. You always bring clarity to complex situations. I absolutely agree with your observation, "The reality is that as long as Russia remains on the Security Council, the UN will be irrelevant and damaging." Someone has to step in and change the role/rules of the Security Council, and maybe the ability to veto should be removed, requiring a majority vote from all its members. An individual's ego should not take over the role of peaceful organizations like the UN, NATO, the EU, etc. The World has changed materially over the past 50+ years, and especially the technology that drives us. Drone warfare, coupled with AI technology, has levelled the playing field.
Once again, Trump proves he is nothing but a narcissistic, loudmouth bully on steroids. Except this time his audience wasn't just the American public. This time it was there for all the world to see.
I don't think you could find anyone who agrees that the UN is a truly effective international organisation that is respected by all for its ability to carry out the actions for which it has been given agency.
For the UN to work it requires the agreement and cooperation of all nations that make up the UN. Nations cannot pick and choose what pleases them and expect an organisation like the UN to survive. The likes of the US, China & Russia, all choose to ignore those Agencies that they do not agree with. A small sample would be the IAEA, ICC, IMF, WHO, WMO, UNFCCC(IPCC), World Bank, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to name just a few.
The UN Security Council has become or is a toothless tiger, with any of the 5 permanent members holding the right to veto any decision made by the Council. This right of veto must be removed and the Council expanded. An expanded Security Council must have the ability to impose sanctions and if necessary, take military actions with all UN members having a stake. Not just the poor ones
Funding of the UN must be made compulsory for all members, in accordance with their ability to pay. No one nation should become the crutch on which the UN relies. Any nation that does not pay its dues should be expelled. One nation, one vote. The ability to ban a nation should be able to be achieved through a majority vote.
There are many issues within the UN which it has to resolve, but a world without a UN organisation or one where it is ignored, will doom the us to the Law of the Jungle, not the Rule of Law.
Europe needs to show that it is worth supporting, allow Ukraine to join the EU & NATO, ban all Russian involvement in EU nations, bring majority rules to the table, do not rely on 100% consensus to reach decisions, troops on the ground in Ukraine, show some backbone. If this done, then more of the world's nations may take them seriously, maybe even the US.
As you say, there seems no way to reform the Security Council to kick out Russia or any other member. After all, any one of the five can veto its own expulsion. A side point, however. As I am sure you know, for many years the Soviet Union had three memberships in the UN, the Soviet Union itself plus Ukraine and Byelorussia, under the fiction that they were both independent countries. Both Ukraine and Byelorussia are founding members of the UN, Ukraine actually ratifying its own membership before Canada did.