NationStates is a free political simulation game founded by author
Max Barry back in 2002 (
previously). Loosely based on his dystopian corporate thriller
Jennifer Government, the game
starts by asking players to provide some national trappings and answer a few civics questions, then generates a virtual country with a matching political outlook.
Periodic policy decisions like mining rights and compulsory voting allow players to further modify their country along
axes of social, political, and economic freedom, arriving at one of
twenty-seven colorful government types like Tyranny By Majority or Scandinavian Liberal Paradise. There's also a healthy roleplaying community -- players can discuss current events in the
General forum, practice wargaming in
International Incidents, form cooperative Regions to debate internal affairs (many of which form
their own communities), and elect Delegates to send to the
World Assembly (so renamed after
an amusing cease-and-desist from the real-world U.N.). Their collective history is thoroughly recorded in
the 35,000-article NSWiki, which provides a
detailed legislative record,
gameplay guide, and profiles on many of the
90,000 active nations,
8,000 player regions, and
countless characters that currently make up the game world.
posted by Rhaomi
on May 9, 2011 -
62 comments
"The United Nations-authorized intervention in Libya has pitched ethical issues of the highest importance, and has split progressives in unfortunate ways. I hope we can have a calm and civilized discussion of the rights and wrongs here." Professor
Juan Cole of the University of Michigan writes
An Open Letter to the Left on Libya.
posted by dvorak_beats_qwerty
on Mar 27, 2011 -
253 comments
The United Nations Refugee Agency has a
Flickr page with nearly 3000 photos neatly sorted into
over 150 sets, most often by country, though sometimes by other themes, such as
photos taken by refugee children,
life in a refugee camp and
mixed migration. There are also
news sets, sorted by month. Some of the countries featured are ones that many associate with humanitarian disasters,
Timor-Leste,
Iraq and
The Democratic Republic of Congo, but there are also photosets from countries that few associate with refugees,
Panama,
Hungary and
France.
posted by Kattullus
on Sep 17, 2009 -
9 comments
In 2001, the United Nations Security Council passed
Resolution 1325 on Women's Role on Peace-Building and Security, calling for increased participation by women in conflict resolution and peace negotiations.
Eight years later, "in terms of signing the peace documents and being at the peace table and involved in the peace-making operations, 1.3 percent of all the signatures in the world on these peacekeeping documents have been rendered by women."
(Stephen Lewis, former UN special envoy), and as of 2007, women constituted
only 1% of peacekeeping military personnel. Could increasing women's participation also help reduce
sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers?
posted by terranova
on Mar 3, 2009 -
5 comments
Social Watch monitors the progress of efforts, articulated in numerous international agreements (
1 2 3), to end poverty and increase equality worldwide. By coordinating the reports of a
network of citizens' organizations, Social Watch aims to keep tabs on progress toward specific initiatives in each country, lobbying national governments as appropriate.
Search by country for a snapshot of social and economic progress.
Browse various measures of stability and meaningful development. Lots more, including meaty, well-documented reports and statistics, and holy crapola, nice graphics.
posted by Rykey
on Apr 5, 2008 -
6 comments
Estimated cocaine consumption based on waste-water analysis (expressed as cocaine lines* per day per 1000 Inhabitants, age 15-64)
*1 line was here assumed to be equivalent to 100 milligram of cocaine. --page 272
This, and much more, in the
UN 2007 World Drug Report (pdf).
HTML homepage.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane
on Aug 1, 2007 -
49 comments
When you have a blog , and you're the Special Representative of the UN in
Darfur,
be careful about what you write.
Jan Pronk's blog gives you a good idea in what a high level UN diplomat actually does, and how difficult it is to get anything done in a country torn by war. Oh, and check
these photos out, if you just want the non-political goodness.
posted by Harry
on Oct 25, 2006 -
11 comments
Bush to Senate: Go to Hell. As expected, President Bush bypassed the confirmation process and
made a recess appointment to elevate John Bolton to the post of US ambassador to the United Nations, brushing off what he calls "partisan delaying tactics by a handful of senators." Bolton was previously discussed on MeFi
here.
posted by digaman
on Aug 1, 2005 -
213 comments
Kofi Annan has issued his
recommendations for tackling poverty and promoting security and human rights, incorporating the greatest alterations to the UN and Security Council in history.
posted by Pretty_Generic
on Mar 21, 2005 -
23 comments
U.S. refuses to join U.N. plan for women From AP via Yahoo:
UNITED NATIONS - The United States has refused to join 85 other heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education, health care, and choice about having children.
and
President Bush's administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."
posted by Skygazer
on Oct 14, 2004 -
48 comments
Banned weapons and WMD parts were shipped out of Iraq after the US forces took power according to the UN. At least thats the best I can make of this article. Does this really say that the UN is upset at us for shipping out of Iraq the exact things they previously said were not in Iraq?
posted by soulhuntre
on Sep 7, 2004 -
73 comments
34 Million Friends was founded by
Lois Abraham and Jane Roberts to gather private contributions for the
United Nations Population Fund, and had gathered $1,957,613.31 in gifts and pledges as of July 4. For the third year in a row, the Bush administration is
withholding $34 million in aid because of
accusations that UNFPA supports China's policy of coercive abortions, despite
evidence to the contrary. UNFPA estimates the money could have helped prevent as many as 2 million unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths, and over 77,000 infant deaths.
posted by homunculus
on Jul 18, 2004 -
16 comments
Lawmakers ask that U.N. monitor election "A group of congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, has asked the United Nations to monitor this year's presidential election." Fortunately, the UN said no. Unbelievable. I hope that everyone that signed this letter will lose their seat in the November election. What a shameless publicity stunt. "Besides Johnson, Democratic members of Congress signing the letter to Annan were Julia Carson of Indiana; Jerrold Nadler, Edolphus Towns, Joseph Crowley and Carolyn B. Maloney, all of New York; Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Corrine Brown of Florida, Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, Danny K. Davis of Illinois and Michael M. Honda of California."
posted by Oxydude
on Jul 7, 2004 -
114 comments
An attempt by developing countries to put management of the
Internet under United Nations auspices is likely to be shelved at next month's world information summit in Geneva -
but the issue is now firmly on the international agenda.
posted by Mick
on Nov 10, 2003 -
14 comments
But There's No Oil You Say? The humanitarian situation in northern Uganda is worse than in Iraq, or anywhere else in the world, a senior United Nations official has said. It is a moral outrage" that the world is doing so little for the victims of the war, especially children, says UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland.
The rebels routinely abduct children to serve as sex slaves and fighters. Thousands of children leave their houses in northern Uganda to sleep rough in the major towns, where they feel more safe from the threat of abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The United Nations [should] play a great role in scaling down the violence
The LRA, under shadowy leader Joseph Kony, says it wants to rule Uganda according to the Biblical Ten Commandments. They often mutilate their victims, by cutting off their lips, noses or ears.
posted by turbanhead
on Nov 10, 2003 -
15 comments
Dutch government is distributing cannabis as a prescription painkiller to pharmacies to treat chronically ill patients. The Netherlands are the first country to supply the drug itself, in accordance with United Nations rules on narcotics. This Radio Netherlands article contains an interview with an American expatriate who is now a licensed supplier.
posted by prolific
on Sep 1, 2003 -
26 comments
Kelly warned of 'dark actors playing games Dr David Kelly's recent death has the British press in an uproar. Kelly was the former head of biological inspections in Iraq for the UN mission, Unscom, former deputy head of Porton Down and the Ministry of Defence's senior adviser on biological defence. In July 2002. According to reports the Carlyle Group took a 34% stake in QinetiQ which was splitoff in 2001 from the Porton Down research lab and is now a private company
according to this story The Carlyle Group is profiled here in this explosive
explosive Dutch expose (note the first 1.48 minutes are in Dutch the rest is in English Since David Kelly was himself a micro-biologist in the past connected to Porton Down does he have any connection (as some have claimed: including a radio show I heard this evening) to the 11 or so micro-biologists that have died mysterious deaths after the 911 event? These deaths and there timelines are are extensively documented around the web.Including the following web page----(http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/)----
Is this is an area some creative journalists need to investigate?
posted by thedailygrowl
on Jul 20, 2003 -
48 comments
John Dean's analysis of the administrations case for War. "What I found, in critically examining Bush's evidence, is not pretty. The African uranium matter is merely indicative of larger problems, and troubling questions of potential and widespread criminality when taking the nation to war. It appears that not only the Niger uranium hoax, but most everything else that Bush said about Saddam Hussein's weapons was false, fabricated, exaggerated, or phony."
posted by thedailygrowl
on Jul 18, 2003 -
73 comments
Did you know that... Aid fell in the 1990s—by nearly a third on a per capita basis in Sub-Saharan Africa? In Sub Saharan Africa, half the population lives on less than 1$ a day? At current rates Sub-Saharan Africa will not meet the poverty Goal until 2147? If all the food produced worldwide were distributed equally, every person would be able to consume 2,760 calories a day (hunger is defined as consuming fewer than 1,960 calories a day)? These and more facts can be found in the
2003 UN Human Development Report.
posted by stonerose
on Jul 8, 2003 -
25 comments
Friday Doublethink Fun. "An extraordinary
communication from the United States to UN representatives around the world has been leaked to Greenpeace. In it, the U.S. warns that the simple act of support for a General Assembly meeting to discuss the war will be considered 'unhelpful and directed against the U.S.'"
But really now, do we actually expect the U.S. (which claims it fights to "democratize" the Middle East) to welcome discourse and listen to what the majority of the world may think?
posted by fold_and_mutilate
on Apr 4, 2003 -
24 comments
First Casualties? NATO, the U.N. A 3 day old article, but it gave me a much better understanding of the workings of the U.N. and NATO and what the strengths and weaknesses are of each.
"
What is surprising, however, is the trouble the U.N. has had acting effectively even after the U.S.-Soviet rivalry ended. Again and again during the 1990s, the U.N. appeared helpless to meet “unsanctioned” aggressions in places like Rwanda, Liberia, the Horn of Africa and, especially, in the Balkans. "
posted by Ron
on Mar 23, 2003 -
4 comments
Richard Perle in Guardian Shock! Op-ed piece brought to us from the ever-balanced Guardian, bound to whip up a whirlwind of protest in the paper’s letters page tomorrow.
Perhaps you might care to pre-empt Saturday morning’s correspondence.
posted by skellum
on Mar 21, 2003 -
64 comments
Waging Peace: Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant secretary general of the United Nations, and one of the people who witnessed the founding of the U.N., says the global body is fulfilling its ultimate purpose:
"Never before in the history of the world has there been a global, visible, public, viable, open dialogue and conversation about the very legitimacy of war".
posted by alms
on Mar 16, 2003 -
19 comments
UN resolution 377, This makes for fascinating reading as this arcane resolution provides for collective action by the general assembly 'if the security council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security'. Hardly applicable.
posted by johnnyboy
on Mar 14, 2003 -
13 comments
U.S. Vows to Disarm Iraq with or Without U.N. We lead. You follow. Or get out of the way. How this will play out in terms of the very existence of the UN in the near future, the EU, and our attempt to maintain good relationship with Arab countries is anyone's guess. What is yours?
posted by Postroad
on Oct 28, 2002 -
84 comments
Before we go to war based on whether or not Saddam (or the UN Security Council...) agrees to the Bush administration's proposed UN resolution, would anyone care to discuss what their proposed resolution actually says?
Apparently,
the text of the resolution isn't in the public domain... but things leak. According to
this article, the resolution allows the UN or its members (including the US) to station armed guards in Iraq, establish no-fly and no-drive zones, and create exclusive ground and air transit corridors. Robert Fisk, one of England's most respected reporters,
believes the resolution is a poison pill, designed to lead to "regime change", whether he accepts it or not. So, what else do we know about the proposed resolution, and
why isn't anyone talking about it?
posted by insomnia_lj
on Oct 9, 2002 -
32 comments
