cont'd ...

Dear runner,

An important element in any global co-operative
process is the international community and its
mechanisms for restraining conflict and gaining
co-operation among
its members. Trade, travel, and telecommunications
as I stated earlier, have made the nations of the
modern world more interdependent than ever
before. The United Nations provides a forum for
world opinion as well as a mechanism for conflict
resolution. We also have a growing body of
international law that specifies the right and
obligations that nations have toward one another.

Over the years, the United Nations has intervened
successfully in a number of wars as well as in
several situations that might have led to war.
Of course a major difficulty of course, is that
compliance with the resolutions of the UN and the
rulings of its World Court are voluntary, as no
country is willing to surrender its sovereignty
to an international body.

The United Nations is most effective, in fact,
when the superpowers are able to agree on a
course of action and mobilize their blocs to
support it. Even so, the organisation
provides an influential forum for world opinion,
and while it doesn't always prevent things like
war, it surely helps make it less likely.

Foxy

Dear runner,

Have you heard of the Saint Vincent de
Paul Society and the work that they do?
The Catholic Church certainly has its
share of problems but the total number
of people annually assisted by Vinnies
is an extraordinary 1.8 million in Australia.
They represent Catholicism at its best.

Could not agree more.

Dear Runner,
This is a true story from the north of England. A pastor from a denomination went to the local barber shop for a hair cut. His usual barber was absent so another cut his hair. The young man wanted to talk and asked him what he did for a crust so he told him that he was a pastor of a church, then the young man asked if he would be welcome in his church as he is a practicing homosexual. The pastor said that his answer astounded himself as he said that we only have people in our church and all are welcome. He was delighted to see the young man in church the following sunday, and personally went out of his way to to make him welcome after the service. Jesus loves sinners and if we want to be his disciple we MUST do likewise for you can chose your friends but not family. I have one sister who found Jesus at the 1956 Billy Graham crusades. Another was lead to the Lord by a catholic priest, and I found him in the cow shed and I have his assurance that we all belong to him. We do not major on our respective doctrines as we love one another and our mother taught us that Love covers a multitude of sins. If the devil is king division reigns. If Jesus is king unity reigns.
Ps. the blood of Jesus dealt with sin and we can save no one. If God is for us who can be against us so I try not to be an a ginner.

ALGORisRICH and has just done 90 pushups so Ludwig won't be able to mock him any more about being overweight. :)

The main thrust of the critics of my 'apocalyptic/beast' thingy is that we should basically follow "Do for others...." to be good global citizens.

CJ.. I think you blokes don't see the tongue in cheek side of me.. I wasn't talking about a literal millenium...but the supposed global harmony which is supposed to result when we all follow the UN conventions.

DO UNTO OTHERS.... is what most of you are saying. Even the Paine comment "My Country Is the World, my countrymen are Mankind"
has a nice ring to it, but in a way it's like "If your left hand sins..cut it off".. i.e.. a rather idealistic way of describing things.

IF..... Paines platitude is taken literally, then it leads to the issue of 'values' which bind that 'world' together. Otherwise Paine and those who think like him are islands in the sun. One person having noble values will not alter the evil values held by other people neccessarily, specially if those adhering to the evil values are strong... they just don't give a damn about the Paine's of this world.

WHY THE UN ? of course if being a 'global citizen' is just helping others out irrespective of self interest......then what is the UN 'on about' with all these conventions ?

Call me an intellectual drop kick but surely they don't write them for no reason... they are in fact established with the idea that those values will become part and parcel of the...

GLOBAL LEGAL SYSTEM...
Surely I don't have to dredge up specific documents which state that it is the desire of the UN that the conventions become part of our law and constitutions...do I? I can if I have to.

King Hazza, apparently you haven't noticed us trying to "democracize" Iraq and Afghanistan. Forcing culture upon another culture has not been "shelved" as you so quaintly put it, but is alive and kicking. Even our own country of Australia is inculcated with American culture, causing us to develop many similar attitudes as the Americans. And it is "forced" upon us in the form of coerced "free trade agreements" and the amount of American media that we MUST buy.

As far as the UN being a forum for "conflict resolution", though I agree that this is the concept that is spruiked by the UN, in practice however, I don't see it happening, and the Balkans War is a good example of how truly impotent the UN is, as is the current conflicts around the globe, besides Iraq and Afghanistan.

The UN is funded by member countries according to their GDP. America has the habit of non-payment until it has an issue it wishes to push, and then fees are paid. But it is not unusual for America to be a few years behind in its contribution fees.

Mugabe has been getting away with murder for over 20 years now in Zimbabwe, and what has been done by anyone? The Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe. That's it! The UN has done NOTHING, and the Commonwealth has done the same. Is there gold, oil or diamonds in Zimbabwe? No...so there's no interest by the UN, and more importantly, no interest by anyone that FUNDS the UN. It is dominated by dominant forces and economic blocs, not by an autonomous governing body. This is the political reality of the UN.

As residents of a Western country having this discussion, we can afford to talk of many altruistic ideals. However, were we all to be resident in Third World countries, I suggest the tone of this same discussion would have little to do with altruistic ideals about the UN, and much about impotence and facade. We enjoy the fruits of living amongst the dominant forces, so our collective perspective must be biased towards that end.

Mindless Cruelty- I was referring specifically to Iraq and Afghanistan;
hundreds of thousands of civilians killed as a result of our attempt to 'help'- and ultimately we just got displaced by local guerrillas.

The Balkan war was probably the last conflict an outside power picking a side to fight with actually succeeded- Iraq potentially one- but at the expense of stability in the middle east. Not saying that it was wrong (although I'm sitting on the fence on this), but future attempts to swoop down to a country and set it right will come with considerable consequences. North Korea could be a justified target because of it's aggression against the South- but that may well cause huge problems with China.

Terrorism also (eg IRA, ETA) reduces the appeal of nations to expand (democracy itself also prevents expansion and annexxation, because it means the annexxed get a say at the expense of the existing population's representation- the more mouths there are, the smaller the piece of pie they get)).

On the flipside, as I said before, most member states voted to make 'blasphemy' an offense- all western nations opposed it.

Hence why the age of imposition seems to be coming to a close, and for peace in the next millenium we will have to learn to tolerate the injustices committed within an individual country and interfere only when another country is being drawn into it.

Otherwise, the UN acts as nothing more than a conduit for nations to talk- which is all it SHOULD do.