[RoadTest]

"I'm not sure that it's time to close the book on the UN"

Then when?

[listenhillary]

Personal freedom for citizens must be fairly high for membership. Dictators and authoritarian regimes need not apply for membership.

[mmccarroll]

I just think there's something to be said for an all-encompassing organization, if (and it's a big IF) it is reformed. Oppressive, obnoxious, unpleasant, repressive, belligerent states like, well, most of those out there, should be in the UN but shouldn't have all the privileges. Give them one more incentive to reform.

Now, I realize this is a pipe dream. Can you imagine Kofi Annan, guns (or latte's) blazing, laying down the law for Syria or Iran? No way. A girl can dream, though, right?

[econjack]

I agree that it's time to close the book on the UN. Look back and see what it's accomplished over the years. It always seems like their solution is to divide the territory in half and establish a permanent buffer zone (e.g., N. and S. Korea, N. and S. Vietnam, Cyprus, Bosnia, etc.) which simply is an attempt to sweep the real issues under the rug. Place on top of that the scandals (e.g., oil for food program) and the out-right leftist agenda that we finance (e.g., UNICEF each Halloween), I don't understand why we've put up with the crap as long as we have.

Personally, I don't think we need to pull the plug on the UN, but let's at least pull out our "dues" at being a member and see how well they fare. Let someone else pay the lion's share of undermining our democracy in the eyes of the world.