Guest, petr I share your feelings about the importance of the UN especially after the horrors of WWII, and about taking the long view.

I don't necessarily agree that it was the UN that kept the world out of major warfare, that IMHO was due to nuclear threat and counter threat. With the USSR gone and only one (rapidly eroding) superpower left, we are in a more 'interesting' state of world development.

As a loyal US citizen, I feel that the world was always meant to 'catch up' with the US economy, the idea was never for us to be the one and only biggest kid on the block. I would like to see long term stability and the swords and tanks beaten into space stations and interstellar colony ships, while we still have the energy for those sorts of things. I think the UN is the natural conduit for the political transformations necessary to accomplish all this.

Having got the idealism out front, I am still loaded with cynicism and misgivings for the foxes in the henhouse aspects of the affair. I know that a lot of folks would classify the US as the 'wolf' in the henhouse, but I would say the goal is to be a fox-eatin' wolf.

Hence I'm not totally outraged by the idea of Bolton thought I think Bush 41 would've been a great example of creative nepotism.

Cheers