USA: University Students Allowed to Carry Concealed Weapons on Campus

but you're assuming the laws being enforced are just in the first place. unfortunately for any international laws to have legitimacy they have to be embraced by the majority of states and definately includes countries like russia and china signing off on them. and this is the problem we see today - the UN charter specifically forbids it from interfering in the domestic business of sovereign nations - there isnt a 'trigger' point when intervention becomes OK, its case by case and subject to the interests of the bigger players, those on the UNSC.

if we could develop a nice, liberal, democratic system of international laws, itd be different kettle of fish. these days however, what youre asking is countries like iran and NK to create a set of laws that would allow western countries to effectively control them. not gonna happen.

But thar "nice, liberal, democratic system of international laws" is already there! There is the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions. There is the International Court of Justice in The Hague - the USA withdrew from it under Ronald Reagan - maybe because they fear that scum like Henry Kissinger could be put in front of a tribunal like Milosevic?

It´s all there.

thats part of the problem - peacekeeping missions are designed to not take sides. im sorry, but the UNs BIGGEST failures have come when it refuses to take sides. rwanda, the balkans, sub-saharan africa. the massacres happen because instead of fighting those doing the ethnic cleansing, the UN is forced to simply sit on the fence and hope nobody jumps it.

Well. The American disaster in Somalia started when they took sides. There are situations where taking sides doesn´t help, because these conflicts cannot be solved with military might at all. So - having neutral troops in place can be a big bonus, too.
Like I said earlier, even in Srebrenica, it wouldn´t have been necessary to take sides. Protecting a safe zone effectively does not mean taking sides. Unfortunately, the town was not protected effectively. The mandate was inappropriate.

On the other side, the re-invasion of Kuwait had a UNSC mandate, so it´s not that the UN never takes sides.

You can´t blame every failure on the UN. You have to blame the ones who gave wrong orders.

but then, to take a side, you have to have the whole UNSC on board - something not easy to accomplish.

Yes, that´s a problem - that´s why the UNSC needs a reform.

because russian and american collective interests end with 'not being nuked'. if iran started aiming its missiles at russia, things would change. but right now, russia and iran get along fine, so the iranian threat (and it is a threat. not to the scale some would like to imagine, but their fondness of terrorists doesnt bode well for anyone) is directed at the US and europe. so how do you define collective security in those conditions?

Not even the Iranians are maniacs. They wouldn´t do any suicidal things. I can understand perfectly well why they want nukes - they dont´s want to get invaded like Iraq. [Which does of course not mean they should have nukes!]
They will eventually have nukes. There is not much anyone can do to prevent that. [never mind "bomb Iran"-McCain, he lives in the neocon matrix]
Ahmadinejad won´t be in power for ever. There´ll be elections in Iran next year - who knows if he can win it with all the economic trouble in the country.

Even Iran has interest in collective security. They need peace in order to sell their oil. Their rage about Israel is sabre-rattling to drum up support from the far right voters - just like McCain´s "bomb Iran" crap.

These days, the biggest threat to collective security are failed states. China and Russia dislike these just like every other non-failed state.

it holds the trump card - veto. if its economy wasnt so shot these days, itd give germany and the UK a run for its money in those stakes too.

A worthless trump card if the UNSC´s word is not taken seriously.

i cant imagine costa ricans rising up... but maybe thats just the way i feel when im at the beach. :)

I haven´t been in Costa Rica, but if they are as patriotic as all the other Latin American countries I know I wouldn´t mess with them!

Awkward silence. I guess I won!

:)

How bloody ruude... Don't you wanna wait until Gordo comes back from his holiday??? :rolleyes:

LOL! :D

All right, we´ll continue that debate later! Have a nice holiday!