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Forums - Politics - UN launches new attempt to control the Internet

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Mr Khan on 18 January 2013
Miguel_Zorro said:
Mr Khan said:
HappySqurriel said:
Mr Khan said:
An interesting case where American obstructionism in the UN is going to be helpful

Seems to be Russia and the Middle Eastern countries that are really pushing for these revised rules.


I can't think of a case where obstructionism in the UN would be unhelpful ...

Most UN Security Council resolutions are good ideas, but stunted either by the Americans or the Russians. Like with Palestinian full UN Membership, scuttered by American intransigience.

I don't get what people's issue with the UN is. Some of what they do is bad, like anyone, but generally they're a force for good.

The issue is that it's run by corrupt officials, much like most international bodies, including the IOC, FIFA, The European Union, subsidiaries of the UN such as the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN Security Council itself.  The membership of the UN Security Council is a joke.  China has a permanent veto even though that spot was earned by the former government that actually fought with the allies during the war, not the communists who overthrew that government.  Libya was a member of the Security Council under Gaddafi, and so on. 

There's also the issue that in many cases, members of these groups don't pull their weight - whether through funding or though participation in the resolutions they vote for.

You have to think from an international relations perspective. The UN has vastly reshaped diplomacy in a positive way. While bad regimes like Qaddafi's Libya getting exposure looks like a bad thing on paper, keeping the bad eggs in the international community is better than casting them out. If they are engaged, they can be exposed to development and other benefits that help enrich their peoples and enable them for future self-government. If they are cast out, they can lash out with war (The League of Nations' response to Japanese aggression in Manchuria helped cultivate the idea in Japan that the powers that be were out to get them, driving them diplomatically into the arms of Hitler and the other outcasts).

Is it perfect? No. But nothing is ever perfect if you get 194 people together with no-one who is definitively "in charge."



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

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Screamapillar on 18 January 2013
Mr Khan said:
Screamapillar said:

The UN shouldn't even exist. Waste of money.  No reason for us to sacrifice any of our sovereignty to a foreign body.

The institution has done a tremendous amount of good in the world. Obviously on the back of the initiative and goodwill of its member nations, but its symbolic power for good and institutional structures do a lot of good in small ways, and in somewhat larger ways. The very idea for a lot of countries that they are part of something bigger than they are helps keep them in line.


True.  There are some good intentions and decent things within a lot of organizations that should never have been to begin with.  I just shudder at the thought of these incremental baby-steps we are taking toward "NWO".  Not that people here are consciously trying to move us toward that, just that indirectly whether on purpose or by accident that is what is happening.  I mean just look at the IMF... what a complete abomination.



The Screamapillar is easily identified by its constant screaming—it even screams in its sleep. The Screamapillar is the favorite food of everything, is sexually attracted to fire, and needs constant reassurance or it will die.

Mr Khan on 18 January 2013
Screamapillar said:
Mr Khan said:
Screamapillar said:

The UN shouldn't even exist. Waste of money.  No reason for us to sacrifice any of our sovereignty to a foreign body.

The institution has done a tremendous amount of good in the world. Obviously on the back of the initiative and goodwill of its member nations, but its symbolic power for good and institutional structures do a lot of good in small ways, and in somewhat larger ways. The very idea for a lot of countries that they are part of something bigger than they are helps keep them in line.


True.  There are some good intentions and decent things within a lot of organizations that should never have been to begin with.  I just shudder at the thought of these incremental baby-steps we are taking toward "NWO".  Not that people here are consciously trying to move us toward that, just that indirectly whether on purpose or by accident that is what is happening.  I mean just look at the IMF... what a complete abomination.

The IMF i agree with you on. The World Bank is a better idea for an international monetary aid organization, although the World Bank does more developmental stuff, while the IMF is focused on actual finance, international balance sheets.

The IMF does impose some nasty neo-liberal stuff that often does more harm than good for the average worker. Like in Jamaica.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.