Comments on: Why I (Sometimes) Hate the U.N.

By: ChrisWWW

ChrisWWW — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:55:28 +0000

Our use of veto power is not indecent, unlike the case with Russia and China.

Bull.

By: DLS

DLS — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:25:15 +0000

Our use of veto power is not indecent, unlike the case with Russia and China.

The UN, supposedly this great thing to rise above and end political strife among nations, is riven throughout with political strife and is viewed by normal people with ugly cynicism.

I'm surprised anyone still has naive faith in the UN. (Maybe the holdovers are the same kind that actually believe in or want world government, no doubt at the US's expense.) The wackiest people would say the UN is a “tool of the USA and the West, an evil instrument of oppression” and cheer Chinese, Russian, and French vetoes, and they are fans of the menagerie called the General Assembly, which in addition to being thoroughly politicized, often engages in faddish politics influenced by the degenerate radicalism of liberalism in the 1960s and later years. (Hence we still hear “neo-colonialist” nonsense and see Israel-bashing get-togethers by nations who also demand “reparations” from the West.)

By: ChrisWWW

ChrisWWW — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:32:31 +0000

We can complain about China and Russia's veto power, but we have to be fair and complain about our own indecent use of that same power.

By: Don Quijote

Don Quijote — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:45:29 +0000

I was just running an errand and listening to a report on torture prisons in Russia

Funny, I have been listening to the radio for the last few month and I keep hearing discussions of US torture in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib & Bagram Air force base, not to mention Extraordinary Rendition and archipelago of secret prisons, Civilian weddings getting a few tons of American Bombs dumped upon them. We aren't exactly standing on the moral high ground here.

Of course it's not surprising that the Russions couldn't care less.

It's not that the Russians couldn't care less, it's a cheap and easy way of expressing their displeasure at our foreign policy in their Near Abroad. basic tit for tat.

By: Jim_Satterfield

Jim_Satterfield — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:47:13 +0000

Sorry, DQ, but this is not a U.S. problem. It goes way past that simple outlook. Of course it's not surprising that the Russions couldn't care less. Never think that they are anything but a tyranny right now. I was just running an errand and listening to a report on torture prisons in Russia.

By: onleyone

onleyone — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:19:03 +0000

i think the very idea of a U.N.-type organization is a good one, but the reality suffers from some pretty severe design flaws, one of the notable ones being that it isn't a democracy.

By: Jazz

Jazz — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:50:02 +0000

It can be frustrating to be sure, but remember that it works both ways. We've ticked them off (along with many non-members of the permanent security council) by using our similar position to veto each and every incident where the rest of the coucil wanted to condemn something Israel did. When you all get veto power, this sort of thing is just going to happen I guess.

By: Don Quijote

Don Quijote — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:42:26 +0000

I am amused.

The US goes out of it's way to piss off the Russians by putting missile defenses in Poland and the Czech republic to protect Europe from Iran ( like anyone is going to believe that ) and then the US expects the Russians to help them out when It has a problem.