- Viper Skills
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- Exalted Legendary Member
Marine Corps.
Semper Fi.
Posted by: Wikked Navajoe
My problems [with Reach] are basically just full parties, mlg, and people who go out of their way not to get killed.
Posted by: Vgnut117
Posted by: Viper Skills
Yes, that's the reality of the situation. But the UN is by far the single most idiotic organization ever created. It was started with the best of intentions and now all it has amounted to is a complete stalemate of lame-duck politics and wasted money.
Seriously, the US contributes 22% of the budget to an organization comprised of 192 nations!
22% of 192 nations is an absolute joke. And even more if you want to factor in military costs in UN peacekeeping missions such as Somalia and believe it or not, Iraq. All at the same time France, Russia, and China all play the game of, "Which dictator gives us the cheapest oil?" and cast their votes accordingly.
There's a few things here. One is the complaint that the US pays so much. You're taking a single number and going "we'll the US pays for a fifth of the UN this is so unfair" rather than really thinking about it. Why does the US pay the most? Because it remains by far the biggest economic power in the world. What is that actual number amount to and what is it as a percentage of GDP? Then compare that to other nations. Always scale numbers rather than taking them at face value.
As for the UN there are two ways of looking at it. There's the idealistic view, which there's nothing wrong with, and the one that involves reality. The reality is, like we've discussed, forfeiting that kind of power to other actors is pretty dumb. Especially for the Americans who have abused the veto for some very morally questionable things. Let's not pretend the other four members are playing dirty and the US isn't. The US is the dirtiest so they're really not quitting the UN.
I'm not arguing against you my post agreed with you. I'm saying that by being in the UN the US gets NOTHING in return. Yes, the US is the worlds largest economic power and should obviously contribute more than, say, Uganda. But what's the return on our investment?
It's an organization that if we're not in, Russia and China get the say in the world. But if we are in, well, nothing at all happens.