August 17, 2004
NEUTRAL? BETWEEN THE PERPETRATORS AND THE VICTIMS OF TERROR, TYRANNY, & GENOCIDE? (via Kevin Whited):
U.N. seeks more 'neutral' posture (Donna Abu-Nasr, 8/16/04, ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The United Nations should find ways to demonstrate political independence, regain the neutrality it lost after the September 11 attacks and better communicate with the world's 1 billion Muslims, a top U.N. official said yesterday. [...]The UNDP chief said the Aug. 19, 2003, suicide bombing on U.N. headquarters in Baghdad that killed 23 persons — including U.N. representative Sergio Vieira de Mello — forced the world body to question whether it had compromised its neutrality. [...]
The UNDP administrator said the lessons learned from the Iraq experience go beyond Baghdad. For example, more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Sudan earlier this month against a Security Council resolution giving Sudan 30 days to stop Arab militia violence in the western region of Darfur — where more than 30,000 people have been killed — or face economic and diplomatic penalties.
"This polarization is affecting us everywhere," Mr. Malloch Brown said. "All of it is a steady erosion of the independence of the U.N., and I feel very strongly that we are failing to communicate with a billion Muslims in the world in an effective way."
He said the world body is in a "spiral of increasing security" that is widening its gap with the Muslim world.
Who could believe that America shares a set of values with such an organization? Recall the President's words:
The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.Posted by Orrin Judd at August 17, 2004 10:52 AM
The UN should commission a poll in Israel regarding their perceived neutrality.
Posted by: MB at August 17, 2004 11:39 AMIt's hard to be neutral with a people whose states are against the values enshrined in the UN charter. You either fulfill your charter obligations, or abandon them.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at August 17, 2004 11:55 AMHow long until one party figures out that trotting out quotes like this and then announcing that we're pulling out of the UN would be a HUGE political bonus?
Posted by: brian at August 17, 2004 1:29 PMIt would be nice to see Kerry quizzed on whether or not he agrees that the U.N. should take a more "balanced" role in mediating world affairs, but outside of the guy from G.Q., I don't believe the senator has been asked a direct question from any reporter since the DNC convention finished (in part because Kerry's being kept in Al Gore's lock box by his handlers, but mainly because most of the reporters don't want to rock the boat by making the candidate offer up a spontaneous reply).
Posted by: John at August 17, 2004 1:43 PMTouche, MB
While generally I like to see both sides of an issue, this one ought to have been settled 85 years ago. Every objection made to the actual practice of the UN today was made against the suggested practice of the League of Nations even before it began operating.
At some point, some arguments are entitled to be laid to rest.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at August 17, 2004 2:19 PMThe bombing of the UN compound in Baghdad did not force that body to examine its neutrality, but rather to run home to NY, blubbering and drooling.
Ask the Bosnians or the Rwandans about neutrality.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 17, 2004 3:12 PMThey are making the assumption, as our own leftists are, that doing the right thing will make you liked. They want to be liked, that is their mission statement. But being neutral won't make them liked either. Time to fold up shop and retire to Norway.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at August 17, 2004 5:14 PMRobert:
I don't know. Norway seems a bit fraught for the UN.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at August 17, 2004 6:16 PMOK, Switzerland.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at August 18, 2004 1:07 AMNo one likes Nazi collaborators.
Posted by: oj at August 18, 2004 8:44 AMI understand the League of Nations buildings haven't been used since the Forties...
Posted by: Ken at August 18, 2004 12:54 PMPius XII was very careful not to distinguish between the violence of the Nazis and the violence of the British.
So much for religion's contribution to politics
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