Posted on 07/30/2005 7:15:59 AM PDT by Srirangan
30 July 2005: Stung with Italian allegations of the G-4 bribing governments to win permanent seats in the UN Security Council, India has upped its opposition, and now demands an apology from Italy, while Japan has mobilised the US and Germany France and Russia to condemn the charges.
If Italy fails to make suitable repairs, diplomatic sources warned that the G-4 would resort to boycotting its envoys in the UN and other international forums, but this has also given an expected lever to break the so-called Coffee Club of forty mid-sized countries which oppose India, Japan, Germany and Brazil’s permanent membership in the UNSC.
Italy is part of the Coffee Club with Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Portugal, among others, and officials said the rest are distancing themselves from the allegation leveled by the Italian ambassador to the UN, Marcello Spatafora, who accused the G-4 of “resorting to financial leverage and to financial pressures in order to induce a government to align, or not to align, itself with a certain position, or to co-sponsor or vote in favour of a certain draft”.
India is also lobbying with the European Union to condemn Italy, and Germany is impressing upon France and Russia to object to Italy’s “jealous attitude” and “narrow-mindedness”.
Officials said that Germany is leading the G-4 effort to isolate Italy in the Coffee Club with a view to eventually breaking it, because Italy is Germany’s direct rival in Europe for a permanent seat in the UNSC, and the Italian allegation stemmed from a perception that Germany was inducing the poorer East European states to back the G-4 for the UNSC in return of promised investments and work opportunities in Germany.
India, though, has asked Italy to either provide proof for the leveled allegations or apologise, or risk a slide down in bilateral relations, and suddenly the Coffee Club is seen to be on the backfoot in attempts to stop the G-4 from gaining permanent admittance in the UNSC.
Ok, "provide proof for the allegations"
Lol! Provide proof for the bribing should be the question.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=22334&name=Italy+and+Germany+trade+blows+over+UN+reform
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8E7D8E50-3F94-4A81-A757-7509422F25FE.htm
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1443548,00050003.htm
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=101496&n_date=20050728&cat=World
All this jockeying for power is too much. There really is a simple solution. Give the EU one seat, give a seat to each of India and Japan. Leave everything else the same.
Disband the Soak the Americans, Hate the Americans and Make Them Feel Guilty Society UN.
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