Posted 6:31 am Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Outrageous, Ineffectual U.N. Only Gets Worse
No, seriously. We're not making this stuff up.
The United Nations General Assembly's new president, elected for the 2009-2010 term, is a Libyan diplomat -- a coup for the backward nation and proof the United Nations is devoid of value for nations serious about security and peace.
The United Nations General Assembly's new president, elected for the 2009-2010 term, is a Libyan diplomat -- a coup for the backward nation and proof the United Nations is devoid of value for nations serious about security and peace.
Ali Treki of Libya succeeds another world-class oppressor of peoples, Nicaragua.
This gives Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi the stage he wants to launch his latest assault -- this time, on inoffensive Switzerland.
That mountain country, known for its neutrality and army knives with corkscrews (those things may be related) enraged Gadhafi by arresting his son for beating servants. Col. Gadhafi responded by arresting two Swiss diplomats and shutting down a local Nestle chocolate factory.
"Then came Gaddafi's suggestion that Switzerland be carved up like a wheel of Swiss cheese," Time magazine reported. "During the G-8 summit in Italy in July, Gaddafi said Switzerland 'is a world mafia and not a state,' adding that the Italian-speaking part of the country should be returned to Italy, the German-speaking part to Germany and the French-speaking part to France."
The Swiss president, anxious to avoid confrontation and free the diplomats, actually apologized for detaining Gadhafi's brute of a son -- to no avail. The men are being held in a secret location, "because of the threat that Switzerland might free them militarily," according to Libya.
Seriously. And it doesn't end there. Gadhafi -- whose country now leads the U.N. General Assembly, mind you -- used his podium last week to rail at the U.N. Security Council, for its terrorism.
"Sixty-five aggressive wars took place without any collective action by the U.N. to prevent them... It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the 'terror council'," said Gadhafi, who recently gave the Lockerbie bomber a hero's welcome in his country.
He has also used his new-found, U.N.-granted legitimacy to claim the H1N1 virus was created by the U.S. government -- or by big pharmaceutical companies, he can't seem to decide.
The point here isn't that Gadhafi is crazy -- he is, and as well-aimed cruise missiles and sanctions have shown, not even in the "as a fox" way.
The point is that the United Nations can't help but take him seriously -- which means, consequently, no one can take the United Nations seriously.
"The United Nations suffers from confused purposes, competing interests, and lopsided burden-sharing," note Brett Schaefer and Steven Groves of the Heritage Foundation. "It has shown itself to be unreliable in addressing threats to international peace and security, such as Iran and North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, and in helping to establish vibrant democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been uneven and unfair as an arbiter of human rights. And it has proven to be susceptible to corruption, mismanagement, and abuse with distressing frequency."
It's a joke. As Gadhafi's rants show, those looking for a serious partner for security and peace must look elsewhere.
