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Posted on 01/08/2005 5:54:30 PM PST by quidnunc
The helicopters are taking off and landing now in the tsunami-shattered villages and towns. The sick are being taken for treatment. Clean water is being delivered. Food is arriving. Soon the work of reconstruction will begin.
The countries doing this good work have politely agreed to acknowledge the "coordinating" role of the United Nations. But it is hard to see how precisely the rescue work would be affected if the UN's officials all stayed in New York - or indeed if the UN did not exist at all.
The UN describes its role in South Asia as one of "assessment" and "coordination." Even this, however, seems to many to be a role unnecessary to the plot. The Daily Telegraph last week described the frustration of in-country UN officials who found they had nothing to do as the Americans, Australians, Indonesians, and Malaysians flew missions.
It will be the treasury departments of the G-7 missions that make decisions on debt relief, and the World Bank, aid donor nations, private corporations, and of course the local governments themselves that take the lead on long-term reconstruction. And yet we are constantly told that the UN's involvement is indispensable to the success of the whole undertaking. How can that be?
In a notable interview on December 31, Clare Short, the former international development secretary, explained that the UN possessed a unique "moral authority", and without this authority, the relief effort would be in trouble because … well, after that it gets hazy.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Bumping for a later read.
I am reminded of "Sanford And Son" when Fred described his job as "Coordinator" of this vast empire.
Not a bad metaphor, but I think it goes even deeper.
The majority of UN member states see the UN as a means of picking the pockets of the wealthy nations (G-7 or is it G-8 now?). The majority of these wealthy nations see the UN as a chance to gang up on the U.S. Without the UN, how would France and Germany compete?
There are a couple who might see the UN as the wave of the future. It strikes me as more of a ripple; it sure as heck ain't no tsunami!
Agreed. Who else would fly in using Gulfstream executive jets, stay at the Sheraton, and wave around blue laminated badges.
....then go visit the local brothel....
The Daily Telegraph last week described the frustration of in-country UN officials who found they had nothing to do as the Americans, Australians, Indonesians, and Malaysians flew missions.
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This is great news!!! Fire these ASSES and save some money, send them home where they belong!! Excess baggage!!
UK rag leanings. From Pokey78, cuz I always forget:
Telegraph: right
Times: middle
Guardian: hard left
Mirror: kooky left
Independent: Fisk left
Sun: right + half nekkid chicks
Spectator: Mag that prints both left & right leaning writers
Nothing would make me happier than to see the UN shut down and US out of it, in either order.
But can someone explain what limited good there is for it to continue? I read an article in which I vaguely remember something mentioned about the danger of completely withdrawing from it, such as our veto power, but is that really worth all the money we pay ( or is it called extortion ) into it, and allowing this criminal body to continue?
Seems more like blackmail to me.
Good thing we have a veto.
As one Freeper said the other day, the tsunami did to Indonesia what it would have taken the US Military MONTHS to do. Hate to sound callous, but they're going to be too busy to export terrorism for the next few years.
First thing they did was notify the hotel they would need 24 hour room service.
So, U.N. get out of the way of recovery, you are a festering sore on the heel of progress.
This whole scenario is the best chance we will ever have of pulling out of the UN and letting them fall by the wayside...
The phoniness of the media trying to depict Bush as not doing anything for four days - of still getting away with claiming he's "on vacation" when in Crawford (like Clinton in Martha's Vineyard or Palm Beach) when we all know that the ranch is his Western White House - where he can get things done without the spying eyes and ears of the enemy within - where, in this case, he set things in motion immediately, and had ships, military, water, food, etc, already in the area while Kofi was still skiing in Wyoming - and indeed while the UN hasn't yet done anything but denigrate the US - etc...well,
Were it not for Bush and the US, there would be a lot more dead people, dead from lack of water, lack of food, and the rise of water born diseases would be on the rampage, if things had been left to the UN.
This proves, in loud and clear terms, just how irrelevant the UN is. Time for them to go.
But where is the media pointing out that the UN has not yet done ANYthing - It's been the US, UNESCO, Australia, etc... come on, Rush, Hannity, Snow, Fox - SHOUT IT OUT!
The UN never made it there in time to save lives, to provide water, food, and help curb the outbreak of widespread disease. The UN fiddled and sputtered and pointed fingers while we all got the work done.
NOW is the time to declare the UN totally irrelevant...They have to go
Moral authority?! Is this the same UN whose minions are involved in rape and in child exploitation wherever they go? And who allowed the massacre in Rwanda to occur and is currently allowing the systematic slaughter to continue in Sudan. And let's not forget the oil-for-food scandal. And what about the corrupt UN officals in Geneva who embezzel huge sums of UN funds. Moral authority? The UN certainly has none.
BTTT
Resolved: That the United States federal government should establish a foreign policy substantially increasing its support of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.
Debate is usually probably not much of a spectator, but the debate team competitions with the above topic has got be interesting right now. I have never been to one, but my kids go to a small Christian school and when provided the opportunity to take the opposing viewpoint, our brand new debate team has been laying the smack-down on the big public schools.
I'm going to district qualifiers here in Orlando since the UN is one of my favorite topics on 1/22. It ought to be interesting!
I believe the Sun would be the best choice.
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