Learning about the League of Nations in this chapter I was amazed at how little power they really were able to use in the early 20th century. It seems to me that with all the feuding between the Big Three and a clear division among nations, nothing was able to get accomplished. With so many varying views, how could anything really have been accomplished. Something France might have been against, Britain could have been for or vice-verse. The problem is, with so many diverse cultures, ways of life and economic situations, each country really was only looking out for number one. It was hard for one nation to take the reigns of the League and try and accomplish anything without dissidence from other members. Also, not having a designated military force under the co-op control of the League of Nations also made anything the League of Nations passed was put on deaf ears of those countries who wished not to abide by a certain ruling. "Speak softly and carry a big stick"- once said by Teddy Roosevelt. Unfortunately for the world the LON only spoke softly. This also reminded me of our modern day United Nations. With an even greater number of members, it is almost impossible to the UN to have any real authority in the world. Even within the security council their is disagreement especially between the West and East. The UN seems to be a place of gridlock where nothing gets accomplished to really put a dent in the problems that face society today. The only time we as a world seem to listen to the UN is every September when some crazy from Iran or Libya speaks. Even then most representatives in the UN seem to exit the assembly room (haha) . I can only hope that in the future the UN gains a least a little more leverage in world affairs because not listening to the general consensus of what the UN thinks (Like I don't know going to war in a place called Iraq?) seems to pan out pretty badly.
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