RE: [FT] UNSC (emotional rant)

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment here...

Matthew Smith wrote:
>
> My take on the UNSC:
>
> The UN are the good guys, in a universe without good guys.

IMO there's no such thing. There ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad
guys, there's only you and me and we just disagree...

> I don't care what the UN is like now, or what anyone else has to say
> about them, no sane person can deny that the fundamental principles of
> the UN are 100% laudable.

...and the laudable ends justify the means?

> With regard to the UNSC themselves - I have to agree with those who
> said the UNSC is an independant, non-national force.

A nation by any other name is still a nation. They have to own some
land,
space station(s), and/or bits of rock in the solar system that aren't
part of any other nation. Granted they're not going to have a large,
contiguous landmass on any of the major planets (unless there are such
things as "UN colonies"), but they're going to perform the same
functions
as any other nation, i.e. "...establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general
welfare...."

> As for money, the UN can make cash through taxation on space travel in
> the core systems, occasionally through sanctions on major powers,
> through commercial means (they probably mine asteroids for metals and
> suchlike).

The first is a form of piracy, and the second is a form of blackmail,
both
of which try to hide behind a thin veil of legitimacy. :)

-- Rick "Bulletproof" Rutherford