NATO, THE UNITED NATIONS.... OR

SHOULD WE GET RID OF EITHER OR BOTH?

IN EITHER CASE, IS THERE A NEED FOR  ANOTHER?


With the world going to 'Hell in a Hand-basket' both of these organizations have come under withering attack.

NATO had become more of a Generals' arm chair organization -- that is to say, all talk and no action and certainly no serious money to support its Mandate.

NATO came into being in 1948 as a bulwark against the USSR but more latterly has been much more ineffective in stemming Russia's Aggression.  In-so-far-as Islamic Terrorism is concerned, NATO has been a non-player.

It officially requires its member states - most of which are democracies by the way, to allocate a mere 2% of their GDPs to defence.  Sadly, only four of its 28 member states attain that goal; the US is the leader at 3.7%* followed by the UK, Estonia and Poland.

   *The United States would of course be spending lots on defence regardless of the NATO requirement but of interest, when Obama first became President in 2008 it was spending 6% of GDP on Defence - nearly twice what it now spends.

So is it time to send NATO packing?

No way !! The world is more dangerous now than at anytime since the end of WWII.  NATO, although it took its time, did eventually stop Russia in its naked bid to seize the Ukraine and several of its former satellites in Eastern Europe.  And we still have the Islamist idiots as well as the reawakening giant - China which has made made clear its ambition to take over lands of others in the far east.

NATO is needed more than ever along with better and coordinated weapons  and a membership that voluntarily pays its annual dues...and if they don't ...boot them out..


THE UNITED NATIONS

If NATO is sputtering along, the UN is virtually paralyzed.

For all intents and purposes the UN is governed by its Security Council which in turn operates at the whim of each of its 5 'veto' members - the US, UK, France, Russia, and China. All have vetos and 2 of the 5 are totalitarian states.  Nothing gets accomplished unless all 5 are in accord.

And then there is the General Assembly containing reps from all 193 Member States - only 20 of which are True Democracies representing less than 9% of the world's population.  Another 59 are considered 'Flawed Democracies' and together consist of less than 40% of the entire population.

As such the UN General Assembly is inundated with countries that can best be described as led by Henchmen.  It is comes as no surprise therefore that the only country in the world which they continually wish to condemn is Israel...itself the only Democracy in the Middle East and a Beacon in that part of the world which comes under authoritarian rule.

Given the General Assembly's overall membership, it means that its various Committees are controlled by non-democratic countries.

In sum it is a joke.

The UN does have some uses and as such should be kept although monetary support from democratic countries should be given judiciously.

It has been able to get countries together to pass important international agreements in the areas of Health, Criminal Law, Trade, Refugees and even with respect to Human Rights.

It also provides a useful body for nations to talk, ...as Winston Churchill so ably put it - "better to jaw, jaw than to war, war.

Okay - so we keep them both - flaws and all. Do we then need another.

I think we do.

I was shocked to learn that out of nearly 200 countries in the world - only 20 or about 10% are classed as True Democracies.  No wonder things are so bad.

And while NATO can be considered the Military Arm of Democracy - we are in desperate need of more democratic countries.

But I am not naive enough to think that one can just wave a wand and presto country x becomes democratic - it takes time - education and the building of institutions including a functioning judicial system. And all that takes mentoring and money.

What the world lacks in my opinion is a body of True Democracies - let's call it the Original Twenty (20) which Mandate is to encourage other nations to crossover and join the Democratic Team.  Focus should first be on those 59 Countries deemed to be 'Flawed Democracies' with the ultimate goal being  to have all 193 World States ...classed as True Democracies.

Only then will the basic Freedoms be protected - Speech, Religion, Political as so on.  Only then will Human Rights be protected around the world.  Only then will poverty be eliminated.  Only then will the daily slaughter of innocents end.

As I see it...

'K.D.  Galagher'