Iran's Black Day in Perspective

Interesting opinion piece

John first of all my compliments on starting the China Support Network.  This is a great post and definitely provides food for thought.

Today a few students did get together at the University of Chicago and offered help to their fellow students in Iran.  Perhaps you could give them some advice

The University of Chicago/students alumni have set up an alternative to Twitter in case it is blocked  by Iranian authorities. Below is the groups message:

001 773 321 0202  We will post any faxes we receive at iranfax.org

Kofi Atta Annan, GCMG (born 8 April 1938) is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventhSecretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.

Annan Tried to reform the UN so this sort of thing would no longer be possible by making the UN a real democratic power with out the five veto rights, he tried to create some thing like your idea of a group of Citizen so no massacre or genocide would ever happen again. The US and China where his greatest opponents and Annan eventually left the UN, however the Massacres are still going on and the reforms needed are father away then ever before.The US, China, the UK, Russia, and France failed the World miserably and Civilians are more vulnerable today then they where a generation ago.

You miss understood Roy or I failed to make my self clear, It does not mean Annan to be President of the World nor does it mean that UN Soldier will be patrolling the US, it does mean that they would be a permanent UN Force and that all members vote will count, further it means that the UN will be ruled by a majority and not by five Veto Powers.

I also means that all National Armies can only be used for the self defence of their country and not for aggressive action against another country. 

If some one should become a rug state such as North Korea for instance it would be up to the international community and the UN forces to deal with them.

Same in the Case of Iran or Israel and Palestine.

The US contributes so far 22% followed by Japan with 17% and Germany with 9%

No one is asking the US to do more and give more, Countries such as China and India as well as Brazil and South Africa will have to start paying their due, same for Russia and Australia as well as others.

The US have Veto Right so far and are on the security counsel as permanent member that comes with a prise tag attached to it as well, The US have been the greatest Vetoer from 1966 till today. Prior to 1966 the Soviet used their veto more then the US and in the last 12 month there is a tendency by China to us the threat of their veto right.

There has been discussion of increasing the number of permanent members. The countries who have made the strongest demands for permanent seats are Brazil, Germany, India and Japan. Indeed, Japan and Germany are the UN's second and third largest funders respectively, while Brazil, the largest Latin American nation, and India, the world's largest democracy and second most populous country, are two of the largest contributors of troops to UN-mandated peace-keeping missions. This project has found opposition in a group of countries called Uniting for Consensus.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked a team of advisors to come up with recommendations for reforming the United Nations by the end of 2004. One proposed measure is to increase the number of permanent members by five, which, in most proposals, would include Brazil,Germany, India, Japan (known as the G4 nations), one seat from Africa (most likely between Egypt,Nigeria or South Africa) and/or one seat from the Arab League. On 21 September 2004, the G4 nations issued a joint statement mutually backing each other's claim to permanent status, together with two African countries. Currently the proposal has to be accepted by two-thirds of the General Assembly (128 votes).

The idea is to give the people more democracy not less.

A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, or United Nations People's Assembly (UNPA), is a proposed addition to the United Nations Systemthat eventually would allow for direct election of UN Parliament members by citizens of all over the world.

Proposals for a UNPA date back to the UN's formation in 1945, but largely stagnated until the 1990s. They have recently gained traction amidst increasing globalization, as national parliamentarians and citizens groups seek to counter the growing influence of unelected international bureaucracies.