Hawk, while I don't know Chinese, our son knows Japanese [very well] and can get by a bit in Mandarin though the others don't. A daughter has a Chinese partner and my mother would be delighted.
In the USA there was a non-democratic state - a whole bunch of them. In the south. It led to a very brutal civil war.
Part of the criticism of the USA can be taken as a compliment. When Chile tortures people, Arabs hack off heads, and Russia murders in bulk, and Pol Pot really gets stuck in, it's not so much that they get a pass, as "What can you expect of them?" = the bigotry of low expectations as they say.
The criticism of the USA about waterboarding for example, which I would prefer to be done to me than head-hacking, or electric drill piercing, is that we immodestly think ourselves superior to the barbarians and that such things are beneath us, even if hookworms and other low lifes do nasty things to people. I'm a shareholder in the USA, so it's in my name. I'm paying the bills to the torturers.
I agree with you on most things, including the poor state of the UN, with the laughable situation of Syria, or maybe it was Saddam, being chairman by rotation of the human rights committee, [or whatever it was]. As you say, the fox in charge of the hen house. Kurt Waldheim running the whole show at one stage; a paid up Nazi. Unelected. Who should more reasonably have been hung as a supporter of wanton horrors.
I think non-democratic countries could have a role in a NewUN. Just as there are the Famous Five founding special category, who go on adventures around the world, conduct vetoes and are generally more important, those not elected could have circumscribed rights within the organisation, but still participate.
An American Albania [Fortress America] is not likely to be good for the USA just as China, Japan, North Korea and other self-isolating countries enjoy their privacy but lack development. I'm sure there's a happy balance to be found. The first thing to do is cut and run from Iraq if it's true that 70% of the local yokels want the USA out. Maybe stay in the Kurdish part since they seem to support USA [COW] presence.
It's convenient timing as next door, in Iran, there's a bit of a nuclear problem brewing. Not to mention elections to be won back in Blighty. Announce a pull-out, and a move next door. Maybe, since the locals disapprove of USA actions, release Saddam, apologize to him for enforcing the WMDs resolutions and finding he was being truthful when he said he didn't have any, thereby disrupting his presidency, provide him an armoured car and put him back in one of his palaces. He should soon have the place back under control.
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