Re: The GZGverse UN

John Atkinson wrote:

> >>True, but how big would the UN tax base be?
> >
> >Between 2145 and 2193 it'd be roughly two of the
> >three human Core systems,
>
>2 of the 3 human core systems are UN-owned?

Not necessarily "UN-owned", but very likely willing UN sponsors and 
participants. If you read between the lines in the canon timeline, the
UNSC 
looks very much like a "Core Colonies Defence League" which has managed
to 
get a UN role.

>I don't think so.  Far more likely that those are UN-flagged
>on the map because they were colonized by multiple powers.

Judging from the fact that the "several major powers" which attempted to

limit the UNSC's peacekeeping mandate in 2145 only managed to impose 
significant restrictions on UNSC ops in the Outworlds and the Inner 
Colonies but *not* in the Core, it looks as if these "several major
powers" 
didn't have that much control over the Core - and not because they kept 
each other in check (since this seems to have been the case in the Inner

Colonies and Outworlds, where they *did* manage to limit the UNSC
mandate), 
but because there were other powers which dominated the Core colonies.

My take on this is that most of the colonies in Centaurus and Barnard's 
were founded not by the major power blocs but by minor nations, 
corporations and NGOs - quite possibly with the UN lending a hand with
FTL 
transport etc. These smaller powers and organisations didn't have the 
individual strength to face down belligerent larger powers like the ESU
or 
NAC, so in order to avoid being gobbled up (or accidentally flattened)
by 
these major powers they wholeheartedly supported the creation of the
UNSC - 
which is why they gave it such extensive rights to operate in their
space 
(unlike the "major powers" whose main extraterrestrial territories are
in 
the Inner Colonies and Outworlds).

By the 2180s the "UN" is therefore effectively a confederation of Core 
colonies and minor Earth states. Although the "major powers" are
nominally 
UN members (at least prior to 2193) they only contribute symbolic sums
to 
it - and judging from the UNSC's success in protecting the Core, they no

longer have a veto on UN actions outside their own territories.

This explains why the UNSC acts the way it does when the Core is
threatened 
in 2193/4: it pulls back to protect its main sponsors, and leaves those 
worlds which haven't sponsored it to their fate.

>   What's your source?

Partly the same as your source for the NRE - ie. conjecture from the 
current canon and a vivid imagination :-)

Later,

Oerjan
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."