mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (03/26/85)
I made what I thought was a fairly non-controversial statement: The U.N. is the world's political forum. To which mck@ratex.UUCP (Daniel Kian Mc Kiernan) replies: NO! NO!! NO!!! The U.N. is NOT the WORLD's political forum; it is a forum for the OPPRESSORS of the world! Now, there are somewhere around 145 member countries of the U.N. Included in these are certainly some pretty ugly characters. But it seems pretty silly to describe an organization which includes as members virtually every nation in the world as a "forum for the OPPRESSORS of the world." So they get to spout rhetoric in New York; our ambassador does that every now and then, too, you know. Ignored in this is the good work the UN does. It attempts mediation of world conflicts. It does a lot of transnational research that only an international organization could do. It funds relief efforts all over the world. If we are to have a world forum, we must include at it all the nations of the world, even those the rest of us don't like very much. If you are against having a world forum, then you should say so. There are many in the U.S. that like the approach of "Look, we're the United States and you will listen to us, not the other way around. If you don't like it, we'll just blow you away." Personally, I think the UN, although clearly very limited in its abilities *because nations are unwilling to surrender any significant sovreignity*, is a better approach to mediating world problems. Mike Kelly