Sic' 'em UN...UN talking tough again

[dude1394]

What an organization of strength. What leadership! What a group that accepts responsibility and takes action when the helpless are involved!

useless

Not yet time' for sanctions against Sudan: UN envoy

OSLO (AFP) - The time has not yet come to impose international sanctions against the government of Sudan, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites)'s envoy Jan Pronk said during a visit to Oslo.

"You should always keep sanctions in mind as a last instrument but it is not yet time to use the last instrument," Pronk told reporters Monday following talks with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen.

His comments came almost one week after the expiration of a UN ultimatum to Sudan, in which it gave Khartoum a 30-day deadline to disarm its proxy Arab militia, the Janjaweed, withdraw its regular forces from around the camps of the displaced in the western Darfur region, and ensure free access to the area for aid agencies.

Peace talks in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, between Darfur's rebel groups and the Sudanese government were stalled on Monday over the issue of disarmament, officials from the African Union said.

[u2sarajevo]

The UN became defunct when it proved it would not act on it's own resolutions. Why even bother paying attention to them anymore?

[LRB]

The UN is nothing more than a bunch of girlymen.

[Drbio]

5 bonus points to LRB for the correct use of a Ah-nold-ism.

[knowitall]

Nice post Ed McMahon. Still cowtowing to your beloved Alpha dog. In the beginning, anyone from the west coast was called a crackhead, dope smoking, pinko loving faggot................. But the one person you call your own is Arnold.............the son of a nazi.

[mavsman55]

A sharp tongue is no indication of a keen mind knowitall. I'd comment on how stupid that last post was, but that would be an insult to stupid people worldwide.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: knowitall
Nice post Ed McMahon. Still cowtowing to your beloved Alpha dog. In the beginning, anyone from the west coast was called a crackhead, dope smoking, pinko loving faggot................. But the one person you call your own is Arnold.............the son of a nazi.

And yet another post by the hate troll.

[Epitome22]

Originally posted by: mavsman55
A sharp tongue is no indication of a keen mind knowitall. I'd comment on how stupid that last post was, but that would be an insult to stupid people worldwide.

...................*chirp**chirp*................. ........*chirp*

[mavsman]

Originally posted by: LRB
The UN is nothing more than a bunch of girlymen.

And the US is the largest contributor to the UN because it likes them girlymen more than every other nation does?

[u2sarajevo]

Originally posted by: mavsman
And the US is the largest contributor to the UN because it likes them girlymen more than every other nation does?

That has got to change. The UN NEEDS the US. The US does not need the UN.

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: knowitall
Nice post Ed McMahon. Still cowtowing to your beloved Alpha dog. In the beginning, anyone from the west coast was called a crackhead, dope smoking, pinko loving faggot................. But the one person you call your own is Arnold.............the son of a nazi.

troll.

[MavKikiNYC]

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Another Triumph for the U.N.
By DAVID BROOKS

Published: September 25, 2004

And so we went the multilateral route.

Confronted with the murder of 50,000 in Sudan, we eschewed all that nasty old unilateralism, all that hegemonic, imperialist, go-it-alone, neocon, empire, coalition-of-the-coerced stuff. Our response to this crisis would be so exquisitely multilateral, meticulously consultative, collegially cooperative and ally-friendly that it would make John Kerry swoon and a million editorialists nod in sage approval.

And so we Americans mustered our outrage at the massacres in Darfur and went to the United Nations. And calls were issued and exhortations were made and platitudes spread like béarnaise. The great hum of diplomacy signaled that the global community was whirring into action.

Meanwhile helicopter gunships were strafing children in Darfur.

We did everything basically right. The president was involved, the secretary of state was bold and clearheaded, the U.N. ambassador was eloquent, and the Congress was united. And, following the strictures of international law, we had the debate that, of course, is going to be the top priority while planes are bombing villages.

We had a discussion over whether the extermination of human beings in this instance is sufficiently concentrated to meet the technical definition of genocide. For if it is, then the "competent organs of the United Nations" may be called in to take appropriate action, and you know how fearsome the competent organs may be when they may indeed be called.

The United States said the killing in Darfur was indeed genocide, the Europeans weren't so sure, and the Arab League said definitely not, and hairs were split and legalisms were parsed, and the debate over how many corpses you can fit on the head of a pin proceeded in stentorian tones while the mass extermination of human beings continued at a pace that may or may not rise to the level of genocide.

For people are still starving and perishing in Darfur.

But the multilateral process moved along in its dignified way. The U.N. general secretary was making preparations to set up a commission. Preliminary U.N. resolutions were passed, and the mass murderers were told they should stop - often in frosty tones. The world community - well skilled in the art of expressing disapproval, having expressed fusillades of disapproval over Rwanda, the Congo, the Balkans, Iraq, etc. - expressed its disapproval.

And, meanwhile, 1.2 million were driven from their homes in Darfur.

There was even some talk of sending U.S. troops to stop the violence, which, of course, would have been a brutal act of oil-greedy unilateralist empire-building, and would have been protested by a million lovers of peace in the streets. Instead, the U.S. proposed a resolution threatening sanctions on Sudan, which began another round of communiqué-issuing.

The Russians, who sell military planes to Sudan, decided sanctions would not be in the interests of humanity. The Chinese, whose oil companies have a significant presence in Sudan, threatened a veto. And so began the great watering-down. Finally, a week ago, the Security Council passed a resolution threatening to "consider" sanctions against Sudan at some point, though at no time soon.

The Security Council debate had all the decorous dullness you'd expect. The Algerian delegate had "profound concern." The Russian delegate pronounced the situation "complex." The Sudanese government was praised because the massacres are proceeding more slowly. The air was filled with nuanced obfuscations, technocratic jargon and the amoral blandness of multilateral deliberation.

The resolution passed, and it was a good day for alliance-nurturing and burden-sharing - for the burden of doing nothing was shared equally by all. And we are by now used to the pattern. Every time there is an ongoing atrocity, we watch the world community go through the same series of stages: (1) shock and concern (2) gathering resolve (3) fruitless negotiation (4) pathetic inaction (5) shame and humiliation (6) steadfast vows to never let this happen again.

The "never again" always comes. But still, we have all agreed, this sad cycle is better than having some impromptu coalition of nations actually go in "unilaterally" and do something. That would lack legitimacy! Strain alliances! Menace international law! Threaten the multilateral ideal!

It's a pity about the poor dead people in Darfur. Their numbers are still rising, at 6,000 to 10,000 a month.

[dude1394]

Pretty pithy column by brooks on this. Could have almost been written by coulter. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[capitalcity]

Kofi Annon is the devil incarnate.