Inter-Parliamentary Union

[shaberon]

http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm

I only recently heard of this, as it's not something that crops up on lists of corrupt organizations.

Originating mostly from France around 1889, almost the whole world participates in this, except for the United States. Of course, I am against any type of domineering One World Government, which is not what this appears to be; and if it was, what would be the need for the League of Nations/United Nations? That seems to imply that the U. N. was needed as a hegemonic vessel, especially to promote and protect U. S. and Israel, relegating the more balanced and fair approach to silence.

So I am curious if anyone has any knowledge or experience of it. I don't really have a problem with councils for peace and trade treaties and the like, which mostly let states retain individual sovereignty. Maybe the IPU is weak and ineffective since it just brings in a few representatives who don't have much power in their homelands; I don't know. But it is interesting to find that there is a 120-year-old world wide institution that gets zero attention.

[Cara]

It looks like an interesting organization.

Their database on parliamentary structures - Parline: http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/parlinesearch.asp - is helpful reference material for the next election we need to understand or track...

I took a look through their latest financial statements for the year ending December 2015 (http://www.ipu.org/cnl-e/198/10(a)-r1.pdf).... They do not have a lot of money to play with for an international organization with such a wide scope of activities and objectives.

On page 12 of the document:
Revenue (largely from Assessed Contributions): CHF 13,154,985
most of which is then spent on salaries...
Personnel expenditure - permanent staff: CHF 8,099,255

The allocation of most of their funds on people implies that they achieve objectives through people's time - i.e. research, meetings, etc., - much as a legal firm or consulting company would have the majority of their costs in personnel expenses. So it seems they get things done not by spending money on projects, events, sponsorships, etc. but by choosing how to spend their time.

This may be a very good signal for their integrity against a backdrop of the world of Family Trusts and Foundation and Soros Open Society Foundation model influence buying.... (See thread Foundations, Trusts, NGOs.... The Not so hidden hands (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?94390-Foundations-Family-Trusts-and-NGOs...-The-not-so-hidden-hands))

[Justplain]

I heard about another similar organization a few years ago, the World Parliament, which sounded like it had the right ideas for world relations. One such policy was that countries should be assisted by showing them how to develop medicine, food and industries based upon local resources and skills. For instance, for antibiotics the growth of garlic was recommended. No gmo food, no high tech/high debt was suggested. Sounded worthwhile.

http://worldparliament-gov.org

[shaberon]

World Parliament brings some interesting issues, at the same time, I have to hesitate, because it actually is a federal government. Maybe a Maurice Strong type movement. Would require a massive amount of scrutiny. The wrong hands are always trying to find a sales pitch you will like. Of course, this is just general suspicion without having looked into the details yet.

It strikes me as odd to find a 120 year old functioning world body that the U. S. is not involved with. 5 million francs in change yearly definitely wouldn't do anything massive, and if they have to rent real estate, then they're in a position to buy almost nothing.

[Cara]

5 million francs in change yearly definitely wouldn't do anything massive, and if they have to rent real estate, then they're in a position to buy almost nothing.

Their financial statements seemed to show that they owned their own office/property in Geneva - it was listed in their asset statement and referred to in the commentary so perhaps no rent (at least for their headquarters)

[shaberon]

Ok, so probably no other major operating expenses. Still doesn't leave an especially large budget; less money tends to less corruption perhaps. It certainly leads to less attention, if no one has even heard of it.