Re: GZGverse UN

For all of you who consider the GZGverse UN to be a relatively weak, 
primarily peace-keeping force, I'm afrain I have some bad news :-/

SGII p.65 says:

"The United Nations, by now very much an independent body with its own 
resources and military forces, ..."

Nothing new really, but it does mean that none of the Major Powers have
a 
significant influence on UN operations in the 2180s.

What is new however is what the latest GZG publication has to say -
namely 
the 2001 catalogue:

"UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND:

 From its early years as a peacekeeping and policing force in the Core 
Worlds and Inner Colonies of the human sphere, with ships and crews
loaned 
from the various member states of the UN, the UN Space Command has grown

into an autonomous force with its own fleet assets, ship designs and 
construction yards. By the time of the First Xeno War against the
Kra'Vak, 
the UNSC fleet is as large as that of any of the main human power blocs
and 
its command structure is completely independant of the navies of the
member 
states, answering only to the UN Grand Council - which by this time is a

Terran World Government in all but name. During the Xeno War and the 
ensuing Siege of Sol, the UNSC fleet forms a major part of the defensive

forces protecting Earth and the Core Worlds from the alien advance. The 
ships of the UNSC fleet are powerful vessels designed with the cutting
edge 
of human technology, and make wide use of modular designs to simplify 
construction and repair."

Definitely not restricted to lightly-armed peace-keeping operations any 
longer... Note especially the bit about the UNSC fleet being "as large
as 
that of any of the main human power blocks" - IOW, by the late 2180s the

UNSC is one of the Major Powers.

Another interesting bit is the "...which by this time is a Terran World 
Government in all but name" one. How did the UN grow this powerful even
on 
Earth, where all of the Major Powers hold large chunks of territory?

Like John, I don't quite see how the small parts of Earth which haven't
yet 
been absorbed by the Major Powers could suffice to effectively wrest 
control of Earth away from the Major Powers on their own - which means
that 
the UN has to have a very solid power base somewhere else in order to
pull 
it off... and the UNSC's mandate from 2143 gives a pretty strong hit
about 
where to find that power base.

***
WRT whether or not Iran and AFghanistan are parts of the IF or not, John

has a very good point that there must be a land border between the IF
and 
the ESU somewhere which means that Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan can't
all 
be independent from the IF - or at least they can't be independent *with

their current (2002) borders intact*.

I still don't think that the (mostly secular) Turks or the
(predominantly 
Shi'ite) Persians would fit very well into the (essentially Sunni) IF, 
though; and there is the note about the House of Saud finishing "its 
suppression of its fellow ARAB States and creates the Islamic
Federation" 
(my emphasis). Neither Turkey nor Iran are Arab states, and frankly I
think 
that the EU and Russia would act to prevent them from being conquered by

the IF simply to keep the IF away from their own borders.

However... there is a people straddling the border between Iran, Turkey,

the (ex-USSR, will-be-ESU) Caucasus and the Arab territories which is 
currently fighting to establish its own state. What's more, their
history 
is so intertwined with that of the Arabs that most people consider their

best-known heroes to have been Arabs. (Heck, Saddam Hussein loves to be 
portrayed as one of these non-Arab heroes while still fighting the
people 
from which the hero came!)
What if this people succeeded in getting their independence, only to be 
absorbed into the IF?

Later,

Oerjan
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

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