Challenging the UN's darker side

The Boston Globe ^ | August 25 2007 | Hillel C. Neuer

[knighthawk]

UNITED NATIONS Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, now eight months in office, is proving that his courteous manner should not be mistaken for lack of resolve. The Korean diplomat's administration has spoken out for the victims of Darfur, confronted Sri Lanka over the killings of aid workers, and acted to establish the international tribunal on the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon. Quietly but firmly, Ban is helping to confirm the UN's indispensable role in the world.

Yet Ban has made little progress in restraining the UN's own dark side. Getting underway in Europe alone, in the space of a few days next week, will be two UN-backed initiatives that run counter to the secretary general's efforts to improve the world body's effectiveness and credibility.

[knighthawk]

In his eyewitness account published in the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Democratic Representative Tom Lantos of California, a US delegate, remarked that "having experienced the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand, this was the most sickening and unabashed display of hate for Jews I had seen since the Nazi period." The final nongovernmental organization statement declared Israel a "racist apartheid state" guilty of "genocide."

No more UN for US-list

If people want on or off this list, please let me know.

[Lurker]

helping to confirm the UN's indispensable role in the world.

You can stop reading right there.

L

[uglybiker]

Aw c'mon! You talk about the Dark Side like it's a bad thing!

It's actually quite cheerful at times. :-P

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thank you for the ping.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[Calpernia]

The Slippery Eel (Ki-Moon) has his hands full.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

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[justiceseeker93]

Quietly but firmly, Ban is helping to confirm the UN's indispensable role in the world.

That statement is a cruel joke!

But then again, this is an op-ed writer sufficienly close to the Boston Globe (a unit of the New York Slimes) to get his piece printed there.

Considering that, the rest of the article isn't all that bad. Apparently, his idea is that although the UN is "indispensable," it has a "darker side" as a sponsor of anti-Israel, antisemitic discussion orgies. Seems like the two views are inconsistent and hypocritical.

[gonzo]

The UN is failed. It is dead and useless. It may well be removed by the end of 2007 ................... FRegards