• Venia Silente@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    46
    arrow-down
    11
    ·
    11 months ago

    Someone remind me again why does the US, or any country, have veto power in the UN?

    A veto power basically makes the entire institution useless.

    • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      50
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      11 months ago

      Because without it there would be no UN, and as useless as you think the current UN is, I promise you no UN is even more useless.

      It’s bleak but the fact that we can even get everybody in the same room is remarkable. Like it or not, a UN where Monaco and the US (or, Russia, China, etc) have the same power at the table is a UN where the big players reject its authority and form their own clubs.

        • force@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          He didn’t say all nations have the same power in the UN. He said the opposite. Read the comment before you reply to it

          “Like it or not, a UN where Monaco and the US (…) have the same power at the table is a UN where the big players reject its authority and form their own clubs.”

          • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            11 months ago

            Ah I see. I misread. It still stands though that to bring the big guys to the table, we give them the chance to have it their way and therefore get nowhere with the big questions

          • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            11 months ago

            So the only way to get the big guys to the table is by giving them the option to have it their way by force

            I know that there are pro’s and cons to this but IMO its too much power

            Critics say that the veto is the most undemocratic element of the UN,[5] as well as the main cause of inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity, as it effectively prevents UN action against the permanent members and their allies.[6]

            (From wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power)

        • mkwt@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          11 months ago

          Only the five permanent members have a veto power on the security council. USA, China, Russia, UK, and France.

          No one else has the power to veto.

          In fact, I think grandparent was talking about a hypothetical and counterfactual world where every nation had the same powers at the UN.

      • Venia Silente@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        12
        ·
        11 months ago

        Justify how there would be no UN without such veto. Because, honestly, an agreement council where you can only agree as a group to do something if the big players don’t say otherwise to me looks like it just compounds the eternal problems we already have and is nothing more than just another flavour of “feel free to protest in a way that does not importunate me” Capitalism.

    • Melllvar@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      11 months ago

      US, China, Russia, France, and the UK have veto power over Security Council resolutions because they are the ones who are called upon to actually enforce Security Council resolutions.

      • Venia Silente@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        11 months ago

        if that were the argument, China, Russia, France and the UK could now act to enforce the resolution if the US is not doing it. After all, they have veto power too, right?