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Originally posted by ktsnake
RA, sorry to shift the scope of the argument here, however, I'm a little worried that foriegners feel that the US is wrong for not giving to an organization that seeks to weaken it. The US and all countries have a duty to first protect their own interests. Once those are taken care of, then perhaps the rest of the world's interests can be important as well.
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Hey no prob... and your arguement is one that I have heard alot from friends of mine in the US. Basically it boils down to the arguement of looking out for yourself or looking out for the community... remeber the old game-theory arguement in "A Beautiful Mind" where co-operation is ultimately more successful than confrontation or competition.
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The problem is, that recently, the UN has been remiss in its duty. It has become corrupt, unweildy and far too accepting of its member nations violating things like human rights.
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I agree that the UN has been hamstringed by nations advancing their domestic policies on an international scale... hopefully that can be corrected by some of the proposed changes to the security council - such as expanding it and eliminating the power of one member to veto any motion - making it more parlimentary basically. Hopefully that'll curtail some of the politcal abuse of the system...
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It's no wonder countries like the US and Britain have opted for this go-it-alone strategy. They are accomplishing things while the UN sits on its hands and watches the people in Sudan being massacred.
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Actually according to the policy papers leaked in the UK over the past year and half, the UK is concerned about the unilateral actions of the US as a destablizing factor in international politics - basically they hinted that Blair joined with Bush only to reign him in or keep the system from being completely upset... but again these were papers leaked by departments of the party and government not exactly friendly to Blair and/or Bush so take them with a grain of salt. However I tended to agree with the bent of the papers, in that it expressed concern that the actions of the US and UK in taking unilateral action could encourage other countries to do the same... a situation that was not considered desireable by the Foreign Office.