> I'm guessing, given your professions in the past, that you more or
> less agree with this (I do). So what agency would identify, pursue,
> and capture the perps? The NYPD? The Red Cross? Or something like the
> CIA?
Certainly not the present U.S. CIA -- perhaps an Interpol sort of multinational entity, but under the control of governments which themselves were under real control of their populations, as the U.S. and (most) other governments are not today.
Well, we can dream, can't we?
And apropos of John Thornton's comment on another thread, which ties in with this topic:
>> Perhaps we need to go beyond the "Out of Iraq Now!" slogan to calling
>> for unilateral disarmament.
>>
>> Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
>
> So if the US disarmed the EU wouldn't step right up to fill the void?
> Russia? China? You can't just pick one part of the system and change
> it.
Yes, the idea of unilateral U.S. disarmament is a dream (though my friends and I spent quite a bit of time going around advocating it during the Vietnam War era), but as long as we're dreaming, let's go for the jackpot: a real "United Nations," with a peace-keeping force under democratic control of these nations, which in turn are under democratic control of their populations.
Thirty-plus years ago, during and in the wake of Vietnam, there was a fair amount of active discussion of the subject in progressive circles, especially in Scandinavia, but as far as I can tell it's not getting much attention these days. I guess folks gave up on the problem then, and it's time for a new generation to start thinking about it.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A sympathetic Scot summed it all up very neatly in the remark, 'You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk-dancing.' -- Sir Arnold Bax