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submitted 7 months ago by FenrirIII@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
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[-] veniasilente@lemm.ee 57 points 7 months ago

Someone remind me again why does the US, or any country, have veto power in the UN?

A veto power basically makes the entire institution useless.

[-] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 61 points 7 months ago

Because without it there would be no UN, and as useless as you think the current UN is, I promise you no UN is even more useless.

It's bleak but the fact that we can even get everybody in the same room is remarkable. Like it or not, a UN where Monaco and the US (or, Russia, China, etc) have the same power at the table is a UN where the big players reject its authority and form their own clubs.

[-] veniasilente@lemm.ee 21 points 7 months ago

Justify how there would be no UN without such veto. Because, honestly, an agreement council where you can only agree as a group to do something if the big players don't say otherwise to me looks like it just compounds the eternal problems we already have and is nothing more than just another flavour of "feel free to protest in a way that does not importunate me" Capitalism.

[-] huginn@feddit.it 27 points 7 months ago

Because there isn't a UN without America, China and Russia.

France and the UK could leave and the UN could exist but those 3? Not a chance.

Each of those larger nations carries so much weight that their influence on global politics would outshine any body that tried to legislate without them.

The UN could exist technically but it would have no teeth at all. It has few enough as is.

[-] veniasilente@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

Still, doesn't sound like a good argument to give those nations veto power over all decisions. Like, currently the way things are reading a motion could come it to have the UN acknowledge that, say, Palestinians are still human beings, and the US could veto that - and then what?

[-] huginn@feddit.it 2 points 7 months ago

That can't happen - go read the declaration on human rights. The question is never if they're humans: it's if the state is recognized. Their rights as humans aren't contested.

Taiwan is still not recognized as a country only because China refuses to do so.

This is better than the alternative.

[-] takeda@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

Wasn't that why the League of Nations failed?

[-] 520@kbin.social 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The League of Nations failed because it was toothless, and basically did have extreme veto powers built in for world powers.

Countries weren't abiding by their obligations to directly intervene with attacks on member nations when a world power was an aggressor because doing so would create severe political problems for them. To this end the UN have their own armed forces for such issues.

[-] _tezz@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago

Do you honestly think the UN is that effective when it concerns international human rights? They approved a ceasefire in Gaza and nothing happened. There's a two-year long genocide in Ukraine and the UN just let's the Russian Ambassador carry on, and they've done nothing to stop them.

Things like food aid and whatnot they're obviously helpful with, but if the League of Nations was toothless then the UN is wearing dentures in my mind lol

[-] Copernican@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

See league of nations.

[-] charonn0@startrek.website 5 points 7 months ago

US, China, Russia, France, and the UK have veto power over Security Council resolutions because they are the ones who are called upon to actually enforce Security Council resolutions.

[-] veniasilente@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

if that were the argument, China, Russia, France and the UK could now act to enforce the resolution if the US is not doing it. After all, they have veto power too, right?

[-] charonn0@startrek.website 2 points 7 months ago

A veto means the resolution does not pass in the first place.

[-] young_broccoli@fedia.io 1 points 7 months ago

The threat of violence.

this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2024
636 points (100.0% liked)

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