It makes no difference, KB, whether or not a smaller country has democracy within its own borders...it would still want an equal voice and an equal vote alongside other countries in an organization like the U.N. if it could get them.

No one wants his OWN freedom and voice to be restricted, regardless of how he treats his underlings/citizenry/etc. ;-) Leaders just like others' freedoms to be restricted if it gets in the way of something they want done (or not done).

In fact, I would argue that those MOST likely to restrict their own citizens' freedom are those MOST likely to intensely desire total freedom of action for themselves and their government. It is the very definition of a dictator to be like that.

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The USA, for instance, wants total freedom to attack anyone in the world that it decides to, any time it decides to, and assumes that it has the absolute right to, regardless of U.N. approval or not...but it accords no one else such rights, except Israel.

Interesting. One has to wonder why? Is it sheer blind hubris or is it a carefully ordered plan of action? Or is it both?