Listen to me. France stopped being a 'major' power before the 20th century. You really believe, in all honesty, that France came out a 'winner' after ww2? Neither does the rest of the world. So why do you think you deserve a UNSC seat? India deserves it 10x more TODAY, and about 200 times more in a decade or two. I can name another 5-6 nations that deserve a seat more than France or the UK. The world has changed. France is about as relevant as a medium sized Chinese province. The West deserves 2 seats at most, US and EU. Simple as that. Russia doesn't even deserve an entire seat. India does, so does China. A major African power too in the coming decades, and finally a Latin American power. This isn't the 1800s anymore mon ami!
Take just about any productivity index including
esoteric ones like innovation
and France is in the top ten. Area, pop. etc" do not define a powerful nation.
Across the board top ten placements in performance values make a better list.
And if we are talking major power after 1900, you should talk to the Da'esh guys
that are so happy to have broken Sikes-Picot or consider the Ottoman-Turkey
transition for clues that France still had world shaping influence at that time.
But I'm glad for you that you coined a nice sentence if void of true meaning.
You are right somewhat though about the WW II thing then again, ask the Germans
if Bir-Hakeim was a picnic or remind yourself that France had troops landing in
Provence as well as in Normandy so that it could reestablished itself as a state
which was not the case everywhere else in Europe or think about La Résistance
( BTW those troops also participated in securing Germany including camps as a
consequence of which some of us served in West Berlin in 1984 … did you? )
and became the first country to have the Americans leave its soil and take a more
autonomous stance hence, etc. You may not like us but we were the ones ready
to veto our friend so that it did not gain legitimacy in attacking Iraq. How much world
changing events has Holland created lately save legal weed?
Still that a UN seat was given to those winners and that this is by now incorrect is
evident and not my point ( which was your childish insult IYRC ). In another thread
however, I explained that since, the reasons for maintaining this position have evol-
ved to include an ability to act both nuclear on a global scale ( able to hit everywhere )
as well as conventional and the will to do so. But 2 more things should be weighed.
How is veto used ( and even, what is it? ).
Some people here seem to have a strange view of the veto power. It allows nothing
more to its possessor than the ability to refuse passing of resolutions but it in no way
gives then the power to create and enforce one!
Check this explanation to see that I did not wait for today to talk about a rebuild of it :
Dad, what is the veto right on the UN’s Security Council about? | Definitive Lapse of Reason
If we had a SC with 15 seats and 15 veto rights, nothing would ever get done, period!
Every proposition would be vetoed and a civil war of epic proportions would have seen
the Central African Republic lose 20% of its population to murder or fleeing, all Muslims.
It took the UNSC over 4 months to decide after one of its P5 members rang the alarm
and when it did, that member went there alone and did the job and is now pulling out,
the job done!
Merci qui? Merci la France!
And even in that present system, not every member uses its veto right the same way.
Would you be surprised to learn that China is the most responsible so far in that respect?
Or will you argue that it used it less hitherto because it too was not a big enough power?
Fact remains, the Celestials are the best behaved of the lot as of today.
Sure, it's often politics but hey my friend Kamal should agree that when our US chums
vetoed us over Suez, it was a good thing for Egypt even if motivated by competitiveness.
The history of the veto right is much more varied than the shallow image you seem to
hold of it. There are is a link to that effect in the above piece.
How good is the UN itself?
A few years back, an American proposed a nutritional complement in the shape of those
plastic sauce containers found in lunch boxes everywhere rich. Based on peanuts ( cheap ),
his mixture was rich ( again ) enough to sustain life for a whole day allowing for the survival
of all the millions of famished that die of hunger every year on my planet.
The lady in charge of the UN food program dismissed it because it would cost 23 B $ a year,
1 B $ more than her entire budget. The guy is now trying to bring it to those in need ( dire need )
with the help of rich foundations from that despised Western Civilization you're so critical of.
My point of view was that … if being
one B $ short was the only problem, I'd readily accept that
that lady and her entire staff be sent home ( with our taxes providing a replacement job for her )
and the kits distributed so all would live.
That is the day when I began considering that the UN had outlived its usefulness.
And yet I understand that that is only me hoping, that in reality the UN does what it was supposed
to which is avoid the very worst while allowing the rest to continue, a stepping stone at best.
That in order for things to change, the required moves are not a musical chairs shuffling of the
present seating arrangements but a totally new idea better implemented to boot.
Until that surfaces, we'll have to make do … not comforting, I know.
As for the rest,
India deserves it 10x more TODAY
Pure trolling and I sincerely wish for your sake that you know it or understood it from this answer.
Russia doesn't even deserve an entire seat.
Try and pry it away from the bear's muzzle, be my guest!
India does, so does China.
Not yet ( or under present set-up ) & yes.
A major African power too in the coming decades
Really? South Africa most modern with all its internal problems of whom many other African nations are wary
or Nigeria that is the richest and can't manage Boko Haram?
[ Strangely enough, I think that I'd be tempted if forced to give such a seat to "award it"
to Morocco or Egypt first but that may only be because we've been Mediterranean
neighbors since pre-History, old buddies after and despite all.
]
Which is fine to conclude on : you are very right that this is not the 1800s anymore in light of which …
maybe the countries that still don't have electricity and plumbing and roads everywhere should concentrate
on acquiring 21st century living conditions instead of griping about nearly useless representation.
Pakistan is doing that ^ and despite having nukes and top notch Blue Helmets contribution, you don't hear
them nagging for a P5 seat as loud as some others you seem to represent?
Just sayin' Tay.