Friday 6 September 2013

A multipolar world and no role for the UN





You know the world has really changed when America can't get its allies on board for a foreign adventure. Worse still the Russians, driven solely by realpolitik, can deliver China, Brazil, South Africa and India onto their team. The US get France and Canada.

Following David Cameron, who he pushed into acting too fast, Obama might even lose his own Congressional vote. Pity the people of Syria, left to die in a war between a mad dictator and Al-Qaeda jihadists. One would have thought in this new world, with a declining superpower and more evenly distributed wealth than ever before (well, since we all had equal access to caves anyway), that the UN would grow in stature and be used as the grand global bargaining institution it was meant to be. Sadly not a bit of it. Instead, like the League of Nations before it, its impotency is fully exposed by the weakness of the need for unity. The US vetoes anything attacking Israel, now Russia and China defend Syria come what may. A total impasse is reached and the G20 is used instead for politicking.

The UN does many good things, but the political element is a failure, we should stop funding it and use the money more productively than paying diplomats to sit in New York and shout at one another. We have our own parliament for that. We have the G20 that is by far a more rational forum in that it consists of the wealthiest countries and the only ones with any ability to use hard power beyond their borders.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

UN is run by extremists and left wing pedagogues, we should have ceased funding it decades ago. When 'special envoy' Robert Mugabe hides, no uses the UN cloak a mark of his 'legitimacy'.
When the UN sends a 'senior' Brazilian representative to investigate the British, its housing legislation - and the third bedroom row.

Then, you know it's time the UN was folded up and dumped in a very deep hole - on Venus preferably.

dearieme said...

(i) UN - a parcel of rogues. Ignoring the buggers is about the only meritorious conduct in this whole imbroglio.

(ii) "Cameron, who he pushed into acting too fast ...": how good is the evidence that Desperate Dave was doing O's bidding?

(iii) The delicate situation calls for patience and masterly inactivity.

rwendland said...

> how good is the evidence that Desperate Dave was doing O's bidding?

Ken Clarke (on the NSC) told us: Americans "wanted us to make this vote very quickly", besides there being no other obvious good reason to recall parliament a few days early.

Nick Drew said...

dangerous to walk away from a forum whose not-so-covert agenda is increasingly redistributive: 'reparations', 'environmental transfers' etc

they won't hesitate to 'legislate'

Anonymous said...

But the UK gov has surrendered most of its competences to Brussels so it is effectively one 27th of the EU.