Intro Bit

It has come to my attention that the idea of nations worldwide working to make the world a better place seems to be failing. We are increasingly seeing nations disagreeing with each other and breaking treaties and the UN and other countries seem reluctant to get involved.

The United Nations

The UN is a noble and brilliant idea. A place for countries to meet, discuss their differences and work together towards international goals. It takes under its wing various organisations like UNICEF. I believe it is also involved with the WHO (World Health Organisation). But it seems that these days the UN would rather not be involved in conflicts between nations. No action or indeed verbal comments have been noticeable in the USAs war on Afghanistan, the present crisis in Israel or the arguments and nuclear weapons testing of India and Pakistan.

All notable recent 'Peacekeeping' actions like 'Desert Fox' and the strikes on Serbia have been NATO operations with minimal UN involvement. The UN also stood aside and watched Grozny in Chechnya be pounded into rubble by the Russians and it was a force of UK troops that intervened in Sierra Leone to control the problems there. Did the events in the Yugoslavian civil war make the United Nations or its member states shy of direct intervention? Perhaps they should bare in mind that the lack of direct intervention was a major factor in the failure of the League of Nations.

But much of this behaviour can be traced to the desire not to upset the USA. The United Nations' goals in many way are similar to United States foreign policy and the US constantly attempts to steer it more so in this direction. NATO are allowed to do largely what they want mainly because the US heads up that organisation. So, the UN is in many ways subservient to the country that owes it around US$2bn in back dues, who at the same time boast of having the world's strongest economy.

George W. Bush and United States of America Behaviour

George Bush Jr. or 'Dubya' as he is known and his administration have been a major force in driving the US away from international cooperation and towards international dictation. He has wilfully broken many treaties like nuclear disarmament and atmospheric emissions and expects other nations to keep to those they have signed. Perhaps in Naivety he expects all other countries to unite behind the US in it's actions and aims to deal with those who dissent (like Iraq) in a way that will act as an example to others. He remains true to dealing with worldwide problems in 'the American Way' which usually involves blowing things up. Overall his actions make him more of a threat to world stability than any 'Rouge States', where rouge would appear to mean disagreeing with Mr. Bush. The world should bare in mind that bowing down to the demands of an aggressive leader lead to WWII, even if Bush has no plans of world domination.

Other International Organisations

The chairman of an international emissions organisation that criticised US behaviour has recently been replaced with an Oil Baron. The US and Europe are having major arguments within the WTO (World Trade Organisation) over US import taxes. This can be seen as evidence of increasing corporate control over the world, or of more political manoeuvring by the United States.

A Pinch of Salt

I am not involved in high level diplomacy. I am not aware of all the issues surrounding the events I have mentioned. All of what I have said here is based on information gathered from western media and the thoughts that have assembled in my own head. Just remember that when considering what I have said here. :)