"It has no real power of its own."

Therein is the travesty. Dave (tam) mentioned above that the NATO model would be something to aim for. Leadership passes from one country to another on a rotating basis. IMO, we need something like that with this updated League of Nations.

There have been Canadian peacekeeping commanders who have rejected orders from the UN in New York. Romeo Dallaire comes to mind. If Sainthoods were handed out for courage, he'd qualify, IMO.

"Gen. Romeo Dallaire defied U.N. orders to withdraw from Rwanda. Without the authority, manpower, or equipment to stop the slaughter, he saved the lives he could but nearly lost his sanity.

In an indifferent world, Gen. Romeo Dallaire and a few thousand ill-equipped U.N. peacekeepers were all that stood between Rwandans and genocide. The Canadian commander did what he could-did more than anyone else-but he sees his mission as a terrible failure and counts himself among its casualties.
After a 100-day reign of terror, some 800,000 Rwandan civilians were dead, most killed by their machete-wielding neighbors. Dallaire had sounded the alarm. He'd begged. He'd bellowed. He'd even disobeyed orders. "l was ordered to withdraw...by [then-U.N. Sec. Gen. Boutros] Boutros Ghali about seven, eight days into it. .. and I said to him, 'I can't, I've got thousands' -by then we had over 20,000 people-'in areas under our control,"' Dallaire said in a recent interview with Amnesty Now. The general's hands, always moving, rose beside his face as if to block the memories. "The situation was going to shit....And, I said, 'No, I can't leave."'"

What price glory? I guess I don't really know, but there are 20,000 Rwandans who could attest to the price. There but for fortune . . . .

The article about Dallaire can be read at this site.


The UN is a screwed up organization because it has no teeth. Instead of getting rid of the only real method of nations/peoples communicating, maybe it's time to give it teeth. If some of the 'giant powers' don't want to play ball, f#ck 'em. There are enough of the rest of us who could, IMO.