party_pants said:

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

US has veto, so the UN is a toothless, paper tiger.

That’s why, despite what Trump might threaten, the US can’t leave the UN.

Leave the UN, and lose the permanent power of veto on the Security Council.

It would leave the UK, France, China and Russia as the ‘permanent veto’ countries.

China and Russia could provoke all kinds of shenanigans on the Security Council. While France could generally be counted on to use its veto to counter such things…well, they are the French.

The same goes for the UK, but the Americans would be constantly applying enormous pressure to the UK to act as proxy for the US in Security Council votes. Even so, it’s not entirely inconceivable that the UK just might, one day, kick free and vote against America’s wishes.

A fifth country could be given a permanent seat and ‘permanent veto’ on the Council to replace the US, but it’s most unlikely, as it would need a complex amendment, approval by the General Assembly, and approval by all of the existing permanent members. Little chance of that.

Without the US as a member, the UN would become even less relevant, and would probably fall apart and be disbanded.

The permanent veto powers is what makes the UN so useless in the first place. None of the permanent members can be expected to act with virtue or principle, they use it as a vehicle to protect their own interests.

They do. To some extent, that’s why they were given that power.

It ensures that they have reason to stay in the UN, that they have sufficient ‘buy-in’ to encourage them to remain part of the organisation.