Bennie, you views and high opinion of the UN, well that is your privilege, how much of the loot did they give you: that is the UN, anything other than understanding what it actually is: is Pantheistic psychobabble. I think you are a lot smarter than that, The UN is as corrupt and as criminal as was Stalin through to Al Capone or any of the fellow looters and parasites, and protect fellow looters, Parasites and terrorists, surly you concede that? There you have it, it is called the UN. Facts are on file and on line.

The UN has problems proportionate to its size, with many individuals and countries prepared to take advantage of funding and positions of responsibility. The current US representative has insisted there must be a cultural change within the UN and most observers, myself included, think it's overdue. Despite this I would suggest there exists no alternative forum to deal with conflict and suffering caused by the failure of politics at a national level.

The constitution allows some states a much more powerful say than others but 191 countries are never going to concur on anything, especially when the power weilded by some of them is used against the interests of the majority. How many resolutions have been ignored by key members? Consider any number of issues playing out between the developed and undeveloped world. The ethos of 'might is right' now permeates world politics.

We also get the humanitarian response to the Pakistan earthquake, the distribution of aid in war-torn countries, the attempted co-ordination of the settling of millions of refugees, and contributions like this from Olaru Ottunu. If you think it's all too much for the U.N. you'd be right. Huge budgets and manpower but inefficient control has led to corruption. Should we all be on our merry way without it?