@Boogerman: the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast
7Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
16Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This certainly implies everyone participating in politics and commerce are required to worship/participate, further on the image of the beast slays everyone that does not.
Hence the interpretation that it is the UN, is certainly incorrect because the UN is neither worshipped nor universally accepted. People vie for power within the UN and quite a few nation-states are not partially or fully participating in the UN, hell, the UN keeps certain countries out (eg. the democratically elected Republic of China, Somaliland just to name a few) just to appease other countries. And this is where these prophecies’ interpretations break down, you can never make any group of people completely cooperative, under no circumstances except to very small groups (the size of a town or village) under a free and open market (free from governments and open to all, which implies a pure anarcho-capitalism).