RE: What about the UN? - Longish

	I always thought of the UN, and its attendant organizations, the
UN Space 
Command (UNSC) and UN Ground Forces (UNGF), as a rather large, powerful 
organization, probably on par with any one of the Major Powers, if not
more 
powerful.  There would be a balance there, in that if the UN tried to 
expand militarily, the combined might of the Major Powers would defeat 
them, and if a Major Power decided to attack the UN, they could be
defeated 
1-on-1, and the offending Major Power would probably be invested by the 
other Major Powers, acting out of self-interest.  The area (volume?)
that 
the UN controls is probably the economically richest in Human space. 
 Nobody wants to see fighting on Terra or the Core Systems anymore - too

much to lose.
	As the UNGF are more technologically advanced than the Major
Powers, I 
would assume the UNSC is as well.  Possibly Heavy Beam Weapons & EMP 
Weapons a la EFSB, lots of advanced-combined fighters 
(heavy-fast-interceptor Ace group, anyone?).  ER-SMLs, Class 4 & 5 beam 
batteries.  Real nasty stuff, and tough troops.  Grav vehicles almost 
exclusively, with lots of plasma/fusion weapons and Superior GMSs and
HELs.
	The UN does not have a mandate to police outside the Core
Systems.  They 
may venture out on show-the-flag missions, or intervene in a
peacekeeping 
fashion after most problems have died down.  Most of what the UN does is

show-the-flag; they're pretty intimidating (or reassuring, depending on 
your POV).  The UN seems to be on it's way to becoming a power of it's
own. 
 It would have tax powers in the Core Systems (how do you think they
paid 
for these fleets & PA troops?  Donations?), and most, if not all, of the

Major Power capitols are now outside the Core.	This would have taken a
lot 
of the old-style political influence with them.  The old nations on
Terra 
would be important, but much less so than before the moves.  As the
Outer 
systems grow in power, the influence of Terra will wane.  More and more 
power is being transferred to the Outer Systems.
	The Megacorps will have a love-hate relationship with the UN -
their big 
economic bases are safe & secure, and they can sell materiel to the
warring 
parties at a safe distance.  But the UN is also rather harsh when it
comes 
to other matters - anything that it feels threatens it's security & 
dominance of the Core, such as advanced technology.  I would also expect

the UN to be rather fierce ecologists - they've only got a few worlds,
and 
while the richest, they;ve been used pretty hard.  What goes on outside
the 
Core is not the UN's concern, mostly.  This bargian would be accpeted by

the Megacorps - keep your room clean, but you can play in the dirt
outside. 
 The UN has been known to sortie out into nearby systems, in order to
keep 
(or make) the peace.
	The UN forces would have their own infrastructure, command
system, etc.  A 
totally separate military from the forces of the other Powers.	Thus 
guaranteeing a neutral attitude towards any enemy.  Most UN 
workers/employees would be career employees, and many would be of
multiple 
generations of UN workers.  They would be beginning to think of
themselves 
as UN citizens, as opposed to belonging any other Power.  This would not
be 
inaccurate.  The UN would be the only government for many settlements in

the Core - giving the Un a large voting bloc in itself.  The Core is 
probably very crowded; space habitats, asteroid communities, Jovians & 
their moons - people everywhere.  The UN would spend a lot of money on 
internal colonization and population deveopment - creating a bigger tax 
base and voting bloc for themselves.
	On the older colonies and in Terra, the attitude towards the UN
would be 
mixed.	Some would see them as oppressors, and want greater ties to the 
Outer Systems star nations - like the good old days, while others would 
decry nationalism , and urge for a joining of the Core nations together 
under the UN banner.  Popular opinion is somewhere in between.
	The UN ROE would have varying levels of response.  Outside their
direct 
mandate, they would be rather circumspect, not wanting to spark a bigger

fight.	Inside their mandate, their response is usually swift and
violent. 
 Piracy in the UN mandate is very short-lived.	Disputes between member 
nations inside the mandate are usually handled by asking nicely at
first, 
with a cruiser of two backing up the request.  Most people get the
point, 
and everything else is handled by the lawyers.	Those who do not get the

point are crippled quickly, but the UN tries not to just blast them into

atoms - it's bad PR towards the belligerent member nations.  it also 
depends a lot on the commander on the scene.  Some are scrupulously just

('I don't care how much you yell, sir, you fired first, and we are well 
within our mandate.  And you're losing atmosphere, yelling won't help
that, 
either'), some are painfully fair ('I don't care who started it.  I'm 
burning off both your drive sections, and that's that').
	To keep scenarios interesting, I'm sure that there would be many
low-level 
incursions into UN territory, rather often,  UN convoys & cargoes are 
particularly lucrative, and while the UN could shut these down for good,
it 
allows them to happen to keep its crews and troops blooded.  This would
be 
a secret, and used by the UN media to show how dangerous and lawless the

Outer Systems are; Wouldn't you rather have a nice condo on scenic
Titan? 
 Imagine the view, and in perfect security!  Not like the brutal
frontier, 
where they have those nasty wars - and aliens, too!  How can they ever 
stand it?  (BTW: the Core is also beginning to get a little insulated,
and 
insular...)  As far as atrocities go, they're rare inside the mandate,
but 
if they are far enough away, the UN just uses them as another example of

the sorry state of affairs outside their nice, protected area.

Noah

-----Original Message-----
From:	Thomas Barclay [SMTP:Thomas.Barclay@sofkin.ca]
Sent:	Wednesday, July 22, 1998 03:25 PM
To:	FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Subject:	Re:[OFFICIAL] No Good Guys, what about the UN?

<SNIP response to other post>
To bring this back OT, a question for Jon or the list. Do we suspect
that the UN has enough power to curtail most attrocities in the
future? Or are the terrible wars of the future the horrors one would
imagine, given a small and far stretched UN? Can they police the far
colonies well enough to stop ethnic cleansings and the like? Or is
the UN just a watchdog for the Sol system and pretty much whatever
awful strife goes on in the colonies is what it is with no
interference from the outside world? This makes a difference to the
types and levels of restrictiveness that would be placed as ROE on
the forces of the various nations. And do some people limit their
folk because of fear of the UN or principle whereas others due to
power or disagreement with UN authority ignore conventions or do not
limit their forces ROE? And what about the Megacorps? Do they (being
econo powerhouses) ignore UN ROE? (Reasoning they can buy off or just
ignore any implications because they are so big?)

What say thou, list members? What say thou on the UN, Jon T?
/************************************************
Thomas Barclay
Software Specialist
Police Communications Systems
Software Kinetics Ltd.
66 Iber Road, Stittsville
Ontario, Canada, K2S 1E7
Reception: (613) 831-0888
PBX: (613) 831-2018
My Extension: 4009
Fax: (613) 831-8255
Software Kinetics' Web Page:
     http://www.sofkin.ca
SKL Daemons Softball Web Page:
     http://fox.nstn.ca/~kaladorn/softhp.htm
**************************************************/