In regard to the UN, while the public face we see of the UN is a political one, and is not a good on, Just as its predcessor, League of nations, however there are many parts of the UN that do a lot of good work and we never or rarely hear of it. Personally I believe the security council is not worth "2 lumps of rocking horse shit', why? because of the beauracy that runs it, and the fact that it is generally deadlocked along political line. So yes get rid of or at least have a major restructue of the whole thing, but don't forget the hard working people from such parts as UNICEF or the WHO, who do a great deal of good.
I regard to the question raised above, I do not see a double standard at all, Most Asian countries are quite poor and still developing, and most of these people would not even understand what is going on in the world on an international level, this is not to say they are stupid, merely that they are at a developmental stage in the main, and do not have the resources or the infrasturcture we have, we should help and should not even debate the above, mainly because in most cases we have the resources to help ourselves. This is not t say that we should ignor them, and if neccessary then we should help. We also need to understand that we have such services in our countries as INSURANCE, in most of these countries this is confined to the rich only, something we take for granted.
We do as civilised people have duty to help those less fortunate than ourselves, whether because of disasters or just in general aid. However we should also look at ways to help raise the bar so these people no longer need the degree of hep in the future. Of course we also have a duty to help without intrusion into the politics of these countries, otherwise these people will soon forget the good as they become cycinicalmabout our intentions, which then only serves to help the like of extremists.
I have to say that along with certain parts of the UN, I think another usless abomination in the world today is/are the World BAnk and IMF, which I was heartened to see were kept out of the loop in the aid process this time around, and I am glad to see that there is in most cases a Government to government aproach to the distribution of AID and Help, and in the main the exclusion of the UN, WB and IMF. Score one for sanity. Examples being, the analysis of, and the assessing of individule needs on a cases by cases basis, as opposed to the UN , WOrld BAnk and IMF getting involved. It heartens me to see the likes of Colin Powell going country to country to assess the needs of each and adjusting aid for each countries need, instead of just handing over millions, possibly millions to the above mentioned orginisations, the effect being more aid to those who need it, instead of lining the pockets of the employees of the above three orginisations. Finally the aid goes to those in need.
