Abstraction vs. Reality

The United Nations organization has been well exposed in the last four posts. About the only remaining mystery is where they get the funds to conduct these assaults on the peace and tranquility of the world.

I am certain you already know but just to refresh your memory, we will see some figures. The UN is very jealous of nations who have the capacity to tax citizens. Since they have no mandate to do so, they must rely on the members for an apportioned contribution to sustain the activities. The formula is based on an actuarial nightmare which involves gross national product, average annual income, sheep’s entrails, eye of newt and wing of bat. The gross annual budget is computed and all 192 nations carry an annual obligation. This is expressed as a percentage of the whole but may not exceed 22% for any one nation.

86.4% of the budget is carried by 17 of the membership. 50.3% is assumed by the top 3! Here follows a list of those 17 top contributors to the 2006 budget of $423,464,885.00 just for operations. This does not include peacekeeping which has steadily accelerated in recent years from 490 million in 1991 to $4,737,000,000 in 2005.

United States --- 22.0%
Japan --- 19.468%
Germany --- 8.662%
United Kingdom --- 6.127%
France --- 6.03%

Italy --- 4.885%
Canada --- 2.813%
Spain --- 2.52%
China --- 2.053%
Mexico --- 1.883%

Republic of Korea --- 1.796%
Netherlands --- 1.69%
Australia --- 1.592%
Brazil --- 1.523%
Switzerland --- 1.197%

Russia --- 1.1%
Belgium --- 1.069%
The 175 remaining --- 13.592%

There are few surprises among the top 17 except for their percentages. What is astounding is revealed in who and what is missing. The entire continent of Africa, the oil rich states of the Middle East, India, all of Central and South America except Brazil are among those whose contribution is less than 1%. Interestingly, the aggregate of those countries located in Europe (8 nations) is 32.18%.

A major part of the budgetary complications are presented by the presence of the headquarters in one of the most expensive cities on the planet, New York. It would have been far cheaper in the long run to have dedicated a large chunk of Wyoming, or Chad, or the Australian “outback” for the headquarters. Building costs would have been far less, an airport could have been built with the savings and the NYPD wouldn’t have had millions in unpaid parking tickets and the increased security and traffic problems.

I am of the firm opinion that if the United Nations were to be dissolved tomorrow, the world would be a far better, safer, and more peaceful place. I see little evidence that the original concepts have improved much of anything. It was to have eliminated war between nations entirely. I refuse to punch the numbers of lost young men and women into my calculator from the deadly encounters we have had world wide over the last sixty two years which the United Nations has not prevented. It would be a ghoulish exercise to prove a point.

Their defenders put up the lame excuse that “it’s not perfect but it’s all we have.” Fortunately, that is not true. We have a kind and loving God who would seek peace for us and also give us the strength to insure it. The United States has a noble history as the nation which is called upon when war, disaster, famine, disease, or other calamity strikes. Dialog never kept a bully from terrorizing, a flood from rising, or a child from starving. Action on the part of God fearing citizens in a liberty loving nation have those resources to help.

To substantiate the point, please note that we share the top 50.3% of the UN budget with those who were our dread enemies immediately prior to the formation of that body. To this day we have a military presence in both Germany and Japan. Both nations were subject to unimaginable destruction and loss of life and have, with our help, become fast allies and friends. Between us, we are the three most productive on the face of the earth.

I apologize for taking so much space for this but I believe we should all be aware of these things. Many lessons may be learned here; lessons about trivial organizations compared to the immensity of the UN who offer grandiose plans in the abstraction but do not have the moral compass to provide the reality.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon