Cav's Place

Considering how useless the United Nations Security Council often proves to be, particularly when it comes to events that require an immediate response, not to mention a forceful one, I really think that a new security organism needs to be set up, replacing all the others that currently exist. Yes, that means it’d also replace NATO and any other such organization currently in existence, as having any other such bodies would no longer serve any reasonable purpose. For lack of a better idea, I’ll call this new organization I’m proposing the United Earth Security Force, or UESF.

UESF’s role will be a very complex one, essentially handling anything and everything that could require military action. That means interventions if one of its member states is attacked, if a regime badly oppresses its subjects anywhere in the world, if a non-member state becomes a clear threat or if there’s a menace from space, which includes the hypothetical alien attack but mainly refers to the asteroids we know we’ll need to destroy or at least deflect sooner or later. It will also be the only body allowed to own or use weapons of mass destruction, so member states will need to hand over any such weapons they may have to the organization and non-member states will need to destroy any stocks they may have according to a certain schedule.
At the same time, though this may seem hard to believe, UESF’s primary role will be to maintain peace and promote, and even enforce, demilitarization. As such, on top of forbidding any other body from possessing or manufacturing anything that might be considered a weapon of mass destruction unless the UESF itself would commission said device, it will set limits, both directly and indirectly, on its member states’ military forces. It will do that by limiting the total military spending of its member states, demanding a certain portion of any such spending, hiring the best military personnel and likely also purchasing the best military technology and equipment available.

I’ll go into some details now, but the more specific parts should be seen more as just examples than proposals in themselves. A lot of work is required before such numbers will really make sense and achieve the desired results, not to mention that a lot of things may well happen during the decades this will take to fully implement, including events that could dramatically change the global state of affairs, requiring major changes in any such project as well. Note that I’m taking 2020 as the year when the UESF will be founded.
As stated before, member states must hand over anything that could be deemed a weapon of mass destruction, starting obviously from nuclear warheads, to the UESF. Countries that hid such weapons prior to joining UESF will not be sanctioned in any way if they hand over all the secret stocks within one year of joining. Stocks that were not secret must also be handed over, but the transfer may be gradual, completing up to five years after joining UESF or in the year 2040, whichever comes first. Countries found to still have secret stocks more than one year after joining, those that do not hand over all known stocks within five years of joining, as well as those found to still manufacture such weapons after joining without them being directly commissioned by the UESF, will be dealt with immediately and ruthlessly. At the same time, the UESF will analyze any such weapons it receives, safely destroying the stocks that exceed its potential needs or have no obvious use in case of a threat from space and are too terrible to use against other humans under any circumstances.
The UESF will also limit member states’ military spending, the total not being allowed to exceed 5% of each member state’s GDP in 2020 and that maximum being reduced by 0.1% every other year until 2040, when it will reach 4%, and then by 0.1% per year until 2050, when it will reach 3%. The 5% limit would currently rule out no more than ten countries, but then more and more would need to cut down on such spending in order to be accepted. Yet, considering the fact that the UESF will also require its member states to hand over a certain amount of their military budget to it, national security expenses will need to drop even more. This tax will start at 5% in 2020 and grow by 1% per year until 2040, when it’d reach 25%, 2% per year until 2045, reaching 35%, and 3% per year until 2050, reaching 50%. In effect, with a properly functioning UESF there will be little need for any member state to still have a national army, as any hostile action taken against a member state would immediately result in a lethal response from the entire Force, but I’ll leave it at an even split for now.

Any country that desires to join the UESF will need to prove that they are meeting all the criteria for three whole years before being accepted. Said criteria include, but are not limited to, no longer manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, not oppressing their population, permitting the UESF to use its military bases when requested to do so, maintaining their military spending within the limits currently set for UESF member states and not taking any hostile action against another country without the UESF’s approval. Countries that apply before 2020 may be able to join starting in 2020 even if less than three years have passed since their application was submitted and obviously will not need to have taken no hostile action without the UESF’s approval within the past three years as at that point there’d be no fully formed UESF to judge their actions. Additionally, countries that are involved in a war accepted as just by the UESF may not need to reduce their military expenses before being allowed to join, though they will need to do so immediately afterwards.
The UESF’s stance towards the countries that are not and express no desire to become members will be determined according to a clear set of criteria that evolve at certain set points in time. Any country that takes any hostile action against an UESF member state or the UESF itself, as well as any country that oppresses its population, will be considered an enemy and will be dealt with swiftly and harshly. Countries that respect all other criteria but set aside a too large portion of their GDP for military expenses without being involved in a war accepted as just by the UESF, as well as those that do not permit the UESF to use their military bases when requested to do so, will have a moderate amount of pressure applied on them to conform to these requirements, but will not be considered hostile before 2051 solely because of this. Up to and including the year 2030, a moderate amount of pressure will also be applied on countries that still possess, though they no longer manufacture, weapons of mass destruction. The pressure will be increased more and more as time passes past the year 2030, and the same increased pressure will be applied from the very moment the UESF is formed on countries that still do manufacture such weapons. Countries that still manufacture weapons of mass destruction in the year 2031, those that no longer manufacture but still possess any such weapons in the year 2041, as well as any country that’s still not an UESF member in the year 2051, will automatically be considered hostile, though they will not necessarily be attacked solely because of this.

The UESF will be a force completely independent from the governments of all existing countries, employing the best military personnel from all over the world, including from non-member states, and allowing all those who serve within its ranks, as well as their spouses or life partners and immediate families, to live within its own bases, built on land bought from its member states, and gain “international” citizenship, possibly also renouncing their former citizenship at any point during their service if they desire to do so. Still, when the UESF will take action against a country, none of those who are still citizens of said country will be sent on missions during the first 24 hours and they will have between 24 and 72 hours, depending on how swift the response needs to be, to completely opt out of participating in any part of said mission without fear of reprisals.
It will operate according to a very strict, clear and specific set of rules outlined from the beginning and only changed when strictly necessary and with great difficulty, so there will be little to no need for interpretation, debates or votes when it comes to deciding a course of action. This should serve to prevent having it turn from a guardian of peace and security into the ultimate tyrant, as would otherwise likely happen if people, instead of clear and strict rules, would be allowed to make such calls. It should also serve to ensure that it will respond swiftly whenever needed, that no country will be spared of its watchful eye and that various interests won’t come into play when it comes to making such decisions.
In the end, it will be the true and rightful “global cop” that the world apparently needs and has needed all along, though of course one only dealing with the major conflicts, those that generally affect entire nations. It will keep a close eye on its member states, offering complete protection to those who fully respect its rules and dealing swiftly and decisively with those who do not, while also being watchful at all times for situations that require its intervention in non-member states. World peace will be its ultimate goal, but it will act with the knowledge that peace may sometimes be just another word for surrender, in which case it often is only short-term peace, while long-term peace is often the result of victory over those who desire war.