Just like the landmine treaty.

including other Security Council members Russia and China.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_the_Ottawa_Treaty#States_that_have_signed_but_not_ratified

support it either.

China or Russia will as they both have a hell of alot to hide as well.

others. We can't have foreigners telling us what we can and can't do, you know.

when it is foreign and domestic corporations that get to tell us what we can and cannot do.

American loves every excuse in the world that gives them the ability to fight wars. Just imagine what would have happened if a Russia or China had vetoed the Libyan No fly zone. We most likely wouldn't have had the Libyan disaster, the Syrian war, no ISIS etc etc. American neocons won't be happy about that.

I think they would gladly give up the landmine treaty in exchange for more reasons to wage more wars. Which ironically is what the UN was setup to prevent.

over a hundred. It is not democratic, and those small countries have no real voice. We big, rich countries get to stomp all over the world and do whatever we please and there is nothing the small countries can do about it.

It is just a political forum, and its history is notably littered with abuses, corruption and acts detrimental to human rights, either by negligence or design. A great many of the UN's members are not even themselves democratic. Complaints about the lack of democracy are often the pinnacle of hypocrisy and political opportunism.

It maintains what little influence it has because of the support of major powers like the USA, Russia, and China. Other nations are free to establish their own international forum if they are dissatisfied with the UN...

Ironically, despite the unwillingness of the United States to agree to many treaties, we are nevertheless far more compliant in spirit than many of the signatories.

Complaints about the lack of democracy at the UN are often little more grumbling about American influence and power, or often even attempts to increase American aid.

Small countries could care less about lip service. They are concerned about the millions of lives those handful of powerful countries affect often times negatively while those powerful countries play Risk and Monopoly with the world. And you claim most complaints are just attempts at getting American aid? Maybe that is because the capitalism and war the powerful countries often participate in kill innocent people that have nothing to do with the power struggle of those powerful countries and leave poverty, refugees, and destruction in their wake.

It's just supposed to be a forum to help prevent out of control war.

You've nevertheless basically proven my point. Your issue is not with democracy at the UN, but rather its inability to be a counterweight to he United States.

It's so disappointing when so many on the left are willing to support autocratic, theocratic, tyrannical and otherwise hostile nations, at the UN or elsewhere, simply because they oppose the USA.

Do you ever wonder why the UN is so unpopular in much of the USA or why UN backing of a policy often makes its politically radioactive in America?

You want to talk about out-of-control war? Want to talk about theocratic, tyrannical and otherwise hostile nations? Take a look around you and weep. The War on Muslims may not have ever been declared, but it's been waged for over a decade.

both historically and in the modern era.

Muslims, regardless if they're Arab, Persian, or anything else, have been killing each other in record numbers for centuries. They've declared war on each other, and the lives lost due to western intervention over the last decade is a small drop in the bucket. Even today, more Muslims kill one another than all the West.

For instance, the body count of the entirety of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict is less than a year of the Syrian civil war.

Lastly, your post has also essentially proven my point about the United Nations, and complaints about "democracy" being little more than anti-American animus.

30 Worst Atrocities of the 20th Century:

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/atrox.htm

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

It was a US unprovoked war against Iraq, the world's worst crime this century, that did (is doing) so much to distablize the region. Also the US is responsible for so much more death and destruction, including flooding the area with so many arms and supporting the worst characters in the ME..

http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/12/eye-opening-graphic-map-of-muslim-countries-that-the-u-s-and-israel-have-bombed/

Nobody beats us when it comes to killing.

The gift that keeps on killing....

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948, many nations signed on to this.

We need to follow this today and clearly it's not just about preventing out of control war, it's a code of conduct for all nations.

Please read it before commenting on it.

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

it would probably be a lot more popular in the USA.

Whether you like it or not, the UN is often used as a means to actually thwart the ideals you (and I) appear to value in the UDHR.

For instance, one need simply look at the current membership and priorities of the UN's Human Rights Council, with Saudi Arabia it's current Chair, to realize the mockery that it makes of advancing human rights (and this is after substantial reform!).

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/MembersByGroup.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Human_Rights_Council

You would have to force most nations kicking and screaming, including the US, into actually following the most basic of human rights, an example being total equality between men and women.

But something just over the horizon is coming that will force nations to work together if we are to save our collective humanity and that's the sorry state of worldwide ecology. I'm not just talking about climate change, that's just one facet of it, there's many causes almost to many to list, over population, dead zones, toxic chemicals, farm run off, over foresting, over mining, lack of fresh water, over fishing, extinctions of species and plastic and nanoparticle pollution just to name a few.

That will require unprecedented cooperation between nations, I just hope were up to the task

not some mythical, platonic ideal of what many would like the UN to be. Right now, the structures of the UN are abused by design and neglect to protect some of the worst countries and policies. Sadly, because these anti-democratic and anti-human rights polities oppose the Unites States, many here are willing to defend them or overlook their egregious sins.

Further, although no country is perfect, no rationale person can compare the human rights record and current status of nations such as the United States with tyrannies like Human Rights Council members China, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE, etc.

Lastly, nations work together all the time, ranging from international mail to world health concerns. However, I wouldn't expect truly enforceable, no less popularly supported, transnational legal regimes or governance any time soon, particularly concerning politically and financially contentious matters like climate issues.