Veto power....an abuse of power?

The United Nations attempted to pass a bill that would have enabled severe sanctions to be brought against Syria.Almost every member nation was on board with this,that includes most of the Arab countries.
Most nations have had enough with watching the brutal dictatorship of Bassar Al Assad butchering his own people and wanted at least to attempt to try and stop or slow him down.
However one nation Russia,vetoed the bill and nothing now will be done.
How do you feel about a handful of nations having this power of veto? Is this democratic,and does this not in effect make the United Nations little more than a debating society,if simply by one nation passing a veto they can do nothing but talk?
The 5 nations that have veto power are U.S.A.,China,France,Russia,and the United Kingdom.Why do these 5 have special status,are they better than the rest of the member nations?

 

Russia likes Iran, and by extension Syria, just how they are, just like China likes N. Korea just how it is. Human rights issues aside, these countries serve as thorns in the side of western society and culture, helping China and Russia to compete by causing their competitors on the world stage to waste resources keeping rogue states in check. The leaders of China and Russia could give a rats ass about how many it's own people the Assad regime butchers, or how many of it's own people the N. Korean leadership starve.

 

I don't think the Americans can complain, they vetoed 30+ resolutions against Israel themselves.

 

Here I will do the unthinkable and actually agree with you. Why?...... because you are 100% right on this one.Vetos just plain suck,they are unfair and are abused by "ALL" the nations that have veto power.

 

Take away the veto power and you will have everyone complain about 57 Islamic nations voting in unison.

 

Russia vetoed the move because it didn't like what happened in Libya. It didn't like NATO picking sides and ensuring one side would win. They stated that very clearly and for once I agree with Russia.

 

@boblord666
O.K. all that hot Australian sun beating down on you,I get it.It appears to have blurred your perspective a bit. Allow me to provide some "shade" for you.
Russia has a 3.8 billion dollar arms contract with Syria.And Syria has just announced that it has agreed to buy 24 MiG-29M2 fighter jets."THIS" is the real reason Russia vetoed,it can't being cash strapped afford to alienate it's 5th biggest arms customer.
Now go back and enjoy that wonderful aussie sun.

 

Oh I see, I just saw the Russian dude make a statement that I paraphased. I didn't realise that it's foreign policy was influenced by weapons manufacturers.

 

Why can't those countries all do something about it without the UN?

I think the vetoes are a good thing, even when I do not necessarily agree with them. There is no reason nations can't sanction and refuse to do business with Syria without begging the UN for permission.

 

yes ..................

 

If one were to go in without U.N. approval then you would get the backlash and lack of support that Bush got when he went into Iraq.The thing would then be considered "illegal" by the world community.
You see we have to make war "legal".It's ironic when one thinks of it,how the hell do we think we can sanitize war by making it "legal"?

 

No one has the rights to invade an independent country, not the west, not the east.

How is the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, or maybe in Lybia or Egypt? Did it get better? Can you see a "democracy" and "human rights", maybe wealth, education? What did get better?

Not really talk only, in reality it just postpones any aggressive moves, imho.

"Rice accused Russia and China of wanting to sell arms to the Syrian regime". Thats really funny. Does she really thinks that thats the reason and they couldnt sell plenty of them by now for a future possible confrontation with west?

 

Susan Rice makes me sick, she's despicable, since when do you show such disrespect to permanent members of the council by accusing them of holding the council hostage. The fact that nobody in the UN talks about what is going on in Bahrain shows you that the UN is corrupted and must be disbanded.

 

I spoke of sanctions and you speak of war. But if a country thinks war is necessary, then surely UN permission or lack thereof should not stop it.

 

I get what you're saying.But my point is that the U.N. is no longer toying with the idea of sanctions.If you peruse the speeches you'll pick up that they are debating "military options", as to the U.N. dealing in regards to Syria.
So my point about war has some relavancy.

 

Assad is buying billions of dollars of arms from Russia. Russia and China vetoed the UN bill...which Arab nations supported.

Assad is using those Russian arms to butcher and slaughter Muslims and Arabs...and the Russian/Chinese veto just ensured that the butchery and slaughter will continue uninterrupted.

Before that Russia and China supported Quadaffi's butchery of muslims with China not changing its support of Quadaffi until it was obvious the brutal dictator was at an end.

Looks to me like Russia and China are big supporters of Muslims killing Muslims...with Russia additionally supplying the weapons. If I were Islamic and I had two eyes, could read, at least half a brain, and the minimal amount of human logic I'd direct all my anger right at the Russians.

 

Curious why you mention Lybia or egypt. Did we invade those places? Civil wars can have a benefitial effect on human rights, but I think that remains to be seen for those places.

Regardin Afghanistan and Iraq, Iraq has a very reasonable shot at coming out better in 10 years. Afghanistan was a sh*thole when Russia invaded. It was a sh*thole when Russia left, it is a sh*thole now, and it will remain a sh*thole when we leave. No surprises there.

 

They don't support killings of innocents, they support the killing of anarchists and rebels, any deaths of civilians is collateral damage. Russia/China got themselves burned when they allowed NATO to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, the no-fly zone that all of a sudden turned into regime change, it won't allow anything like that to happen again. Syria is not the only place where uprisings are being crushed, its happening in Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen, but the corrupted UN does not want to talk about these other countries.

 

China and Russia understand the sinister plan the US and Israel are plotting in the world. They had no other option.
If Syria goes, then Russian access to Middle east is over. If Pakistan splits then China's dream of becoming a superpower ends.

 

The gulf states just want Assad gone so they could gain more influence in Damascus as well as save the population from Assad's Alawi style dictatorship, this not that bad. I hope you don't think that they (gulf states) support the US/Israel's plans that are doomed to fail anyway.