Posted on 09/23/2004 3:54:54 PM PDT by HAL9000
Support is growing at the UN for a joint bid by four influential countries to increase the number of members of the Security Council.Germany, Brazil, India and Japan are seeking permanent seats on the council for themselves and one African nation.
France, one of five permanent members, backed the move at the General Assembly session and said the UK also backed it, though Italy expressed its opposition.
France also restated its disapproval of the invasion of Iraq.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told the meeting his country would not send troops to Iraq, despite calls from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for protection for UN personnel there.
"As everyone knows, France did not approve of the conditions in which the conflict was unleashed," he said. "Neither today nor tomorrow will it commit itself militarily in Iraq."
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also ruled out sending troops.
'Truly representative'
BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says UN reform is not only on the agenda of the General Assembly but in the very air, and there is a growing feeling that the UN needs to be recast.
Mr Barnier backed the four countries' bid, and said Paris was in favour of increasing the numbers of both permanent and non-permanent members of the council.
India and Germany also put forward their case for the reforms, saying it was essential for the legitimacy of the UN.
"The inclusion of countries like India would be a first step in the process of making the United Nations a truly representative body," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the reasons for the reforms "speak for themselves", as they would give the UN more authority.
Italy objects
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade called for two permanent and two non-permanent African seats, while Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo argued that his country was well qualified for permanent membership.
But Italy voiced its opposition to the move, saying it favoured only the inclusion of more non-permanent seats on the council.
"We do not believe the council's difficulties can be resolved through new permanent, irrevocable appointments," Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said, adding that Arab nations might feel excluded.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is known to favour an expansion of the council, to enable it to command greater respect - especially in the developing world - and to make it more effective.
Washington, meanwhile, has backed Japan's bid for a permanent seat, but reserves judgement on Germany, India and Brazil.
The council's five veto-wielding permanent members are the UK, China, France, Russia and the US.
The 10 other council members are chosen for two-year terms by regional groups.
France shouldn't even rightly be on the UN Security Council,de Gaulle blackmailed the Allies into letting them have a seat.They didn't do a damn thing to help win WW2,they even fought against allies in Norhtern Africa and tried to keep us from gaining their ships.
I wish we could initiate some action to get rid of the UN and tell them to move to France and run the world in their own minds from there and at their own expense. They are under the delusion that they matter or something.
As far as I am concerned they can have our seat. Why are we still fooling with these loosers? It is time to say good-bye to the UN.
My only reservation about that is losing our power to veto anything and everything. If we lose our veto power in this "reform" process, I think your suggestion will be widely supported.
Increase the size of the council, yeah, that'll make the bad men tremble! ROFL! And they wonder why they don't command greater respect right now.
Kofi Annan's definition of "more effective"=more chances to veto against the U.S.
Anyway, nothing is going to happen to increase the number of permanent members of the Security Council if the U.S. doesn't want it to.
Isn't it funny how the French and Germans want ONE foreign policy under the EU Constitution, but they still want 3 veto powers on the Security Council (if Germany were to be added to France and UK). I think the U.S. should propose that if the EU goes under one foreign policy, they get one vote in the UN.
Does he mean the crack french troops getting their butts kicked in the Ivory Coast? Who would want the french military to help?
By dumping the U.N. completely we have effectively 'vetoed' anything and everything this worthless organization deems important. There is a reason we are the world's superpower and every person on the planet who yearns for personal freedom ought to be reminded on how and why America got to be the way it is in such a short amount of time.
We couldn't even threaten to do that. The Constitution doesn't permit states to have their own foreign policies. It would be nice, though.
This is another anti-American move by the UN. Of the countries under consideration, only Japan can be relied upon as a true ally.
Kofi will back it because he hates this country and will do everything in his power to wreck our status as a permanent member with veto power.
With all of the interest at the UN in reorganization, it sounds like a perfect opportunity for the US to reorganize itself out of this waste of space and help the UN reorganize itself somewhere else.
That would be a purely symbolic veto, but it's not the same as controlling the organization with unquestioned veto power in the SC. We can contain the organization with our veto. We can veto it into irrelevance, if necessary. We cannot do those things if we leave now.
If we lose that veto power, there is a good chance that we will dump the UN. I believe we would aborgate the treaty in that case. But until that happens, I don't see a realistic chance of leaving the UN.
Also, as much as I think many Americans would like to see us tell the UN to take a hike(me included),I can just hear our enemies both within and without this country comparing such a move to Germany and Japan leaving the League Of Nations. The time may not be right in the present circumstances,but I hope the day comes soon.
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