Nuking Iran, or A Case for A Global Government

Today Iran announced that it has joined the nuclear club, and apparently there's nothing the U.S. and its allies can do about it, short of "discussing possible next steps with the UN Security Council."

How about Nuking Iran? GWB has refused to take that option off of the table, but its unlikely the UNSC would endorse that idea. So will the United States again throw itself into the self-appointed role of the world's policeman, and act unilaterally to make the world a safer place for democracy, liberty, and American Interests? It's likely.

But step way, way way back, and take a long hard look at your world. What's really going on here?

Beyond the oil and religeon, what we're seeing is the continued breakdown of the old world order. For thousands of years, people have organized into sovereign geopolitical units, inside of which whatever happened was their business. But in 2006, the world is much smaller than it was in 1006, or in 6 A.D. It's just not that simple anymore: what happens inside of one geopolitical unit can have profound implications for others, whether enviornmentally, socially, economically, or militarily.

As scary as it sounds, humanity needs a global government. Just harboring this thought flags one as an idiot (so I have nothing to lose), and you will never ever here anyone credible express this idea.

There's many powerful reasons as to why this will not come to pass soon:
- Nationalism: Right-winger's won't have it because it would mean subjugation of America's might.
- Christian's won't have it because they're waiting for Jesus to return and have fears of the anti-Christ.
- Lefties won't have it because it would mean continued "globalization."
- Muslim's won't have it unless its a global Islamic state
- We're all afraid of plummeting standards of living if borders were stripped away.

But the potential benefits of a United Federation of Earth (call it whatever you want) shouldn't be ignored. If "all options are the on the table", then the long term social evolution of our species toward a global security instituion should also be an option.

Is it really such a crazy idea? The European Union is blazing the way, showing how nationalism can be set aside for the greater good of the national. We can start with a currency, and by strengthening some of the UN's institutions and the World Court, eventually integrating the militaries under a global command.

Until the world has credible global court (free from any American 'veto') capable of enforcing its decisions, a place where geopolitical units and can go to mediate their disputes in a binding way, we will always have the spectre of invading rouge nations. As long as any nation fears for is survival and harbors nuclear ambitions in order to obtain respect and secure its self survival, we will never have a save world.

Which is perhaps another way of stating that even if we do project American power in the form nuking Iran, we will still not have a safer world.