The United Nations... it sounds so good... all the countries of the world coming together as one to work for the benefit of all humanity. Surely something a bunch of teenagers attending an alternative school would come up with given the assignment "How would you bring about world peace and harmony".

The reality? A bunch of useless beaurocrats sitting around in never ending meetings day after day after day achieving nothing at great expense. Let's just name one resolution which has actually achieved something... well, there's... and, um, there's... there's got to be some bloody thing. Anyone? No, didn't think so.

All I can say is North Korea must be shaking in their boots right now because the UN Security Council had an emergency meeting last night to discuss possible sanctions. Gee, there must be panic in the streets. We all know how damned effective those UN sanctions are. They really get things changed at a political level, especially in those [communist] dictatorships where the people's suffering means so very much to the ruling elite. I say "don't panic people", it will take months, possibly years, for any potential sanctions to be voted in. Do you know how many meetings, complete with a full range of beverages and iced vo-vos, must be convened before an actual, fully-fledged resolution comes into place? Dozens, possibly hundreds.

It's a sad and disturbing state of affairs and I certainly don't know any of the answers... but I continue to be happy to point out some of the problem areas.