----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 12:03 AM Subject: Re: The UN
> Dan Minette wrote: > > > > >Where in the UN charter does it say that a country must gain permission > >before defending itself? Your suggestion, that a country should wait until > >its borders were crossed would fail the Chamberlin test. That is to say, > >by that rule, England should have done nothing while Hitler took over > >Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. > > > Note here that the UN _did_ vote to act against Iraq when they invaded > Kuwait, a situation analogous to Germany's invasion of > > Czechoslovakia. It is somewhat analogous, but not fully. It did so because the UK, France, Russia, China and the US all thought it was a good idea. To first order, the Security Council does whatever these five agree upon. Yes, 5 of the 10 temporary members have to concur, but it is likely to happen if these 5 agree. In my analogy, I had Germany and Japan as two veto powers: corresponding the USSR and China being veto powers during the Cold War. It is true that the UN backed defending S. Korea, but only because the USSR made the mistake of boycotting the UN after the PRC was not given China's seat at the UN. Given that scenario, it is unlikely to impossible to conclude that they would have let the UN take action. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
