John Ibbotson writes yesterday in the Globe And Mail;
With yesterday's landmark speech, Paul Martin tacitly acknowledged what Canada's foreign policy establishment has refused to accept for decades: that the United Nations is a failure, for which there is no solution.
[If this had been Stephen Harper, the press would have been falling all over themselves to condemn questioning the existance of the UN as "scary and extremist" ]
The Prime Minister's proposed alternative is a new international body, the G-20 summit of world leaders, representative of North and South, developed and developing, rich and poor: a working group unfettered by the UN's bureaucracy and its anachronistic Security Council.It is a bold, though perhaps unworkable plan. But however it is ultimately greeted by the world community, Mr. Martin's proposal at least recognizes and sets out to correct a fundamental flaw in Canadian foreign policy, one that has left us hostage to a dysfunctional world body whose interests are often irrelevant to Canada's.
I think there may be another reason. With Adscam wearing down the Liberal fortunes, Martin may be worried about the looming UNSCAM investigation steamrolling into the media news cycle during a federal election, and is trying to distance himself from the multi-billion dollar financial scandal that parallels his own.
"It is a bold, though perhaps unworkable plan. "
???
As opposed to the UN, which isn't bold, and is nonetheless unworkable.