The UN is a diplomatic structure that exists to give state’s representatives a place to gather and talk. It’s not a world government. If it had been created with the intention of being one, no one would have signed on.

It’s not a world government.

Exactly. The UN is NOT a world government and we need to stop expecting it to act as one. That was never the intention of the UN.

That being said, a lot of people talk about the necessity for the “rule of law,” but there cannot be the rule of law without some kind of government with the authority to enact and ENFORCE laws. If nations are not willing to sign on to something like that, we cannot have the rule of law. Instead we will have the rule of whichever country has the largest, most powerful military and/or economic influence. I know a lot of Americans are fine with that arrangement because that position is currently occupied by the US, and has been for more than half a century, but the US might not always occupy that role. How would you feel about this arrangement if China, for instance, were the world’s hegemon instead of the US?

Its got to start somewhere, we have to agree on something, or its going to get a lot hotter in a lot of horrific ways. I hate the hair splitting, the “yes, but what abouts”- things are getting bad out there and it has to stop. There are 190 other countries that are putting up with this, isn’t that enough to enforce something??