The UN

It's weird - criticism of the UN by Americans is often touted as neoconservative, hawkish, chest thumping. And maybe there is an element of that. But it's worth reading this article, if you care about the UN, and what role it is supposed to have.

The question of the UN boils down to what we think it ought to be:

1. An institution that protects human rights world wide, at whatever the cost

or

2. An instution that checks the power of big countries, like the United States.

Some may argue that these two questions are tied together. I think, of course, they are wrong.

In either case, we should agree on the first question first and then measure the behaviour of the UN against that goal to see whether it works and if it doesn't, how it can be fixed.