indeed. basically this isnt a threat for war mongering or peace mongering so keep it out or dont post.

basically as a world, a global culture, we decided after the failure of the league of nations we needed a global police force and governing body, and we formed the united nations. now the united nations was great in certain applications, it can deal with small countries misbehaving very well, the problem comes when larger countries are involved. countries on the security council or even worse permanent members of the security council. take vietnam, korea, tibet as just three examples, china , russia and the usa involves and theres no chance of the un doing anything. it cant because the very members of the security council that can approve or veto action are those that are involved.

the problem is the same with iraq, look at the security council, we have germany whose govt got into power on a promise to not go to war under any circumstances and theyre putting economic pressure on other countries to back their stance. france wont agree because of their trade links with iraq, and russia the same.

so it seems we have a problem, we obviously need a coherant and effective international policing system but the only countries with the power to manage it nobody wants to because they have vested interests. what countries could provide the force? russia are a spent force and couldnt operate outside their boundries for extended peroids, china dont want the job and dont have the money although they are far richer now then they used to be, the usa has the power and ability but no one wants them to do it, the uk doesnt really have the power on the same scale, the french dont have the money and have far too many dodgy links, germany hasnt the power, india and pakistan are too busy fighting over three hills and a goat and dont have the power.

the un has become ineffective, and theres only really one country with the might to be effective force wise and thats the usa, but the usa have vested interests in oil amongst other things, remember half the dictators they hate they put in power one way or another.

so what can we do, we have a long list of countries that need sorting out, north korea, china, zimbabwe, iraq, to name but a few off the top of my head.

That's quite interesting post. You have identified the problem very well: vested economic interests. the only solution to this problem is coming out of those vested interests. but how can we achieve that when we can think of our self only even if we have to kill someone. :(

too true, but then again all some people understand is violence. not that i condone innocent deaths, but take mugabe, the man is clearly insane. ask him to relinquish power and he will laugh in your face, sanction his country and he will win a popularity war against the nasty west trying to kill his country. if we cut off trade links then he blames his starving people on the west.
remember zim was a great farming country, and now its peoples are starving, ideals dont feed mouths :( i certainly dont condone racism, and south africa seems to have done the best of a bad job of getting some equality but mugabe is wrecking his country for his ideals. a once thriving farming and tourist economy is in the grip of famine and rioting.
the only thing that will remove him is force which hurts the very people we are trying to protect.

so , do you have any suggestions ar are you just pointing out the state of the world
we have been fighting trade wars since Troy and people have become very rich during trade wars since then
so what can we do anyway ? seeing as we aren't a member of the less than 100 very wealthy oil barons and armaments manufacturers, what voice do we have ?

I know, for one, that I'd find it uncomfortable to give up the luxuries that exploitation of other peoples has brought me ..luxuries like my house, its electrical goods, my fresh food transported in daily, the ability of others to pay me for services that they don't really need but that they want, and what would I do without my computer?

the UN has nothing to do with peace and harmony it is a police force dedicated to protecting the interests of a few and even this police force is taken aback at the determination of the US oil men to seize and control the property of others

I don't know how there could ever be a coherent international policing system -- unless some aliens landed and took over

i was kind of erring towards the fact we have to just settle for the fact the usa is the best one we have.

this was more a request for other peoples ideas as well, see what other people though the future should consist of, sure were not gonna change the world, but we wouldnt have anything to debate about ever if we took that attitude.