Kosovo to delcare independance tomorrow

[Harovan]

So, what are your proposals to "fix" it? Mine is to lift the veto power, which is the reason for the blockade of lots and lots of important resolutions. Of course this is not going to happen, because the major powers are not going to give up their privileges, moreso they do not want a powerful UN which could dictate them what to do, at the countrary.

Since it is bound to be a useless P.O.S. it would be best to disband it and may be, refound something like it a while later, based on more democratic principles.

[Wezil]

I'm not sure it can be fixed. It is broken at the foundation.

There will be no functioning international security body for the forseeable future. None of the major powers will join a new body w/o their vetos in pocket.

I'm just tired of hearing "the UN says" b/c quite frankly it doesn't matter what this group says. They lost any semblance of credibility they may have had a very long time ago.

[Wezil]

wrt Kosovo - The Canadian government is still deciding what to do. The Conservative strategists apparently haven't fininshed their polling on the subject.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Wezil
I'm not sure it can be fixed. It is broken at the foundation.

Then why not be so honest and put it to rest? Same goes for the Nato and, gasp, the EU. The Nato has outlived its purpose and is literally desparate for a new one (seems to have found it in promoting drug production and distribution now), and the EU was far overexpanded before it had rules to keep it working even if not all members agree to 100%, which may have been possible when it had six members, but is impossible now.

There will be no functioning international security body for the forseeable future. None of the major powers will join a new body w/o their vetos in pocket.

May be, not entirely sure though. If all other countries left with a heartly "**** you" toward the major powers and built a new international body I have my doubts that the powers would not join too.

Of course, and before you tell it to me, this is not going to happen either.

I'm just tired of hearing "the UN says" b/c quite frankly it doesn't matter what this group says. They lost any semblance of credibility they may have had a very long time ago.

Again, not wanting to repeat myself but you literally force me, lets get rid of this useless **** and be done with it.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by BeBro
Wasn't it the policy of the US to call for the creation of a Palestinian state, for example in the so called road map?

Through negotiation and not through being the PLO's air force against the IDF.

I knew someone would like to jump on that UN thing

What's funny? We have a coalition of countries engaging in an "illegal" invasion of another sovereign nation over the objections of the Security Council. Which conflict am I refering to?

[Harovan]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
What's funny? We have a coalition of countries engaging in an "illegal" invasion of another sovereign nation over the objections of the Security Council. Which conflict am I refering to?

It's sad but you're right here.

That's of course why I call both invasions illegal.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Again, not wanting to repeat myself but you literally force me, lets get rid of this useless **** and be done with it.

You schedule the funeral and I'll attend.

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Through negotiation and not through being the PLO's air force against the IDF.

And still US support for the idea could be interpreted as "reward" for terrorism on the Palestinian side, even without the USAF bombing someone.

What's funny? We have a coalition of countries engaging in an "illegal" invasion of another sovereign nation over the objections of the Security Council. Which conflict am I refering to?

I already conceded to Ralph that Kosovo was not legal by strict application of intl law. I still dispute that the main justifications given for it beyond the legal aspect were generally wrong, while in case of Iraq there is a certain problem in this matter....and it was kinda funny because I knew you'd go into that point

[Harovan]

Originally posted by BeBro
....and it was kinda funny because I knew you'd go into that point

Well... He's using this argument since the very invasion of Iraq, no surprise here. And sadly he's right, if the airstrikes against Yugoslavia were right, so is Iraq (again, of course, both were wrong). That's what you get when you bend the law yourself, a tu quoque is waiting for you behind every corner.

Same by the way with the dreadful term "War on Terror". Just listen around, every tinpot dictator and regime around the world is calling their opposition "terrorists" now and is shouting loudly, if you have the right to hunt your terrorists, we have the right to hunt ours.

[BeBMan]

But it's not that those wouldn't opress their opposition without the formula of a "war on terror" being in the air. They may jump on the bandwagon and (mis-)use the term "terrorist" now more, but even that is not a new phenomenon.

Re bending the law, well, one could go into die-hard Realpolitik mode and say that intl law doesn't matter anyway, because states do what they want according to their capabilities, limited only by the actions of other states using their capabilities. It's not something I would subscribe to, but questions about intl law and what it really can be remain.

BTW, I think getting rid of everything like UN, etc would just promote more of those pure power politics.

[Heraclitus]

Originally posted by BeBro

BTW, I think getting rid of everything like UN, etc would just promote more of those pure power politics.

QFT

[LordShiva]

BTW, can someone fix teh spelling mistakes in teh thread title?

[Harovan]

I have a link for Bebro, sorry for you all others. It's called The Kosovo lie and was produced by WDR (West German Radio), one of the public radio/TV stations in Germany.

How do you judge about the airstrikes and especially Germany's involvement after reading this? Or are they all liars in WDR?

[BeBMan]

I knew about the Monitor thing. It was shredded later by other media, which accused the Monitor thing of being one-sided, inaccurate and ignoring or even deliberately leaving out and distorting facts. Some of the content is still highly disputed, though, and you have various versions.

Here's a link in German from the Tagesspiegel that reflects (at least to some extent) the debate: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/1915262

[BeBMan]

Here's the WDR page that refutes the criticism

http://www.wdr.de/online/news/kosovoluege/stellungnahme.phtml

But I can't find anything of the original material from FAZ or Sueddeutsche (the WDR page has links to them, but they're outdated or you have to register to access archives).