A proper UN would be effective and not hypocritical.

Everything I need to know about the United Nations I learned from Civ IV.

Speaking of doormats for the USA, remind me how Australia acted in the vote?

Admittedly Australia has been consistently supportive of Trump, so it's far less of a surprise than Canada's bending of the knee, but still a little disappointing.

@"Ask them to vote against human rights violations in a third world country and …. *hear crickets*"

Yes, because the UN general assembly is dominated by countries which are developing. It was the 60s when recently independent countries joining the UN for the first time outnumbers the 'west' and developed economies, and as soon as they voted to do something the US didn't like, the US threatened to withhold funding from the UN...

Of course they're less likely to criticise their own neighbours than the big threatening Imperial power.

In a vote that had 128 nations vote to support the resolution, 9 nations vote against, and 35 nations abstain, Australia "bravely" abstained. ( remember that Australia has a Federal government that is Conservative..a coalition of the Liberal Party and National Party, that has a majority in the House of Representatives of one..so it's hostage to the more extreme Conservative faction within it's members, and worried about the extremist, racist One Nation Party stealing electoral support )

@ MM

The UK has a Conservative minority government containing MPs with a wide range of views, and we voted for the resolution. Frankly the idea that a handful of MPs can hold the government hostage over this is a nonsense. It was calculated toadyism, pure and simple.

Is there a revolt in the commonwealth? Canada and Australia going their own way? Perhaps a jettising of the Crown and becoming true republics?

Erm.. that's not how the Commonwealth works :p.

Yeah. Canada and Australia have been setting their own foreign policy for about a century now. Canada for instance did not participate in the 2003 Iraq war for instance.

Doesn't mean we'll become a republic though.

There is no way that Australia will contemplate any changes to the status of Queen Elizabeth 2nd as our much loved Soveriegn. The last referendum on this question was thoroughly defeated. Even Australian Republicans acknowledge this. However, after Queen Elizabeth 2nd, if/when it's King Charles & Queen Camilla, then we might revisit the question with more serious intent.

I just don't think you could do it in Canada whoever the monarch is. Opening the constitution like that raises the dreaded national unity question and having more elections for more positions is not a popular idea. So risking the break up of the country, so that Canadians can elect a prime minister and a president and who knows what else would be a pretty huge blunder.

and ripe for annexation by the United States

"Today we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Toronto is Michigan's capital. This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It’s something that has to be done."

-Trudeau, 2018

Windsor is the capital of Michigan for Detroiters under 21.

Right. Got it mixed up.

@Jeff,
There is actually much crossover between classical liberalism and libertarianism. That isn't a false construction.

Much crossover =/= same.

Plus Libertarians never grow up.

^This.

Libertarian concepts are all borrowed from classical liberalism. The AnCaps are just a really bizarre way to take those.

Ancaps are the logical end of right-wing libertarianism, nothing bizarre about it

There’s nothing logical about AnCaps.

...here's hoping there's an older thread than this