United Nations


The oil-for-food scandal shows just how unaccountable the UN Staff is
It shouldn't surprise you that I am not a fan of the United Nations.

After the oil-for-food scandal that apparently reaches to the top and the new scandals unearthed almost daily, I think everyone should be taking a good hard look.

At it's heart, I think the UN is flawed. We in the U.S. like to think that the heads of other nations keep their words (even if we don't all the time). But unless there is a democratic government, there is nothing to keep a leader honest.

Democracy isn't perfect either, it just works better than anything else we have tried.

Little things like individual rights, the rule of law, and transparency in accounting go a long way.

I am not sure I could ever support the U.N. But I certainly can't support a U.N. that is moving away from democracy and towards One World Government that is accountable to no one.

The Australian has a pretty good take.

And that is the UN's central flaw. The UN's governing council comprises countries that make decisions based on one fact alone: their self-interest. Decisions may be couched in the feel-good, sound-nice language of some higher good. But in the end, no country makes a decision not in its self-interest.

The upshot of that is obvious: just because the UN says something is a good thing does not make it so. It probably just means a number of countries have been bribed into taking that position. Keep that in mind next time you hear the UN described as the repository of international legitimacy.

John Bolton, the new US ambassador to the UN, was roundly condemned for once saying "there is no such thing as the United Nations". Yet Bolton is right. How often has the UN been united enough to act? Not on Iraq. The Security Council passed a dozen or so resolutions against Saddam but enforced none of them. Not in Yugoslavia. The Americans responded to that civil war. Not in Rwanda. Not in Darfur. Not in Zimbabwe.

If we didn't all pretend that the United Nations has some sort of legitimacy BECAUSE it is an international body, maybe we could get down to business and make it work somewhat.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - September 8, 2005 at 05:21 AM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library


Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved