A world that spends billions each year on the United Nations has a right to expect better than posthumous salvation for those the U.N. was created to save. Measuring the sincerity of Annan’s apology is as easy as measuring the will with which he has addressed a strikingly similar situation in Darfur. There is always an excuse for the U.N.’s paralysis. Then, it was post-Somalia disengagement. Today, the U.N. is hobbled by the oil interests of two of the usual three suspects — France and China. The one diplomat who has made any progress in shaming that near-hopeless institution into acting is none other than John Bolton.[...]
This leads to several observations. First, as with the remarkable accomplishment of winning Chinese, Russian, and French votes on U.N.S.C.R. 1695, Bolton has again shown himself capable of doing what his predecessors could not: make the U.N. work — occasionally — as it was supposed to. Many on the left who are deeply concerned about Darfur despise Bolton so much that they won’t begrudge him this accomplishment, which is unfortunate and dishonest. By itself, of course, this resolution will save no one. As with so many recent U.N. missions (Somalia and Bosnia being the readiest examples), the entire concept is headed for certain disaster if the U.N. again proves itself incapable of carrying out aggressive rules of engagement. Odds, anyone?
North Korea may be an even more eggegious U.N. failure. Annan, his disgraced-and-resigned Special Envoy, his disgraced-and-fired U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and his America-loathing U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said absolutely nothing while North Korea starved two or more million of its people to death — probably intentionally — and China played the role of enforcer of this democide. The one U.N. official to have been the least bit helpful was Special Rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn, and there is little indication that his words will make much of a difference in the killing fields of North Hamgyeong.
If the U.N. cannot stop a genocide — and we now know that it is not above forming corrupt relationships with those who commit genocide — one would at least hope that it would not stand in the way of people exercising what was once enshrined as a right under the U.N. Charter: self-defense.
As is usual when matters concern the United Nations, it is too much to hope for.
Why voters are idiots:
Calgary Sun http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/09/03/1798178-sun.html
"But more than anything, Nanos says, the Harper government desperately needs to "change the channel to domestic issues that do not involve the U.S." That means moving public attention away from issues such as softwood lumber, border security, the environment and Kyoto accord, and away from conflicts in the Mideast and Afghanistan.
[...]
One way or another, Harper needs to wake up and smell the rose garden"
Last time I checked these were important issues, or should the voters expect the Conservatives to ignore these issues (like the Liberals did) just to make everyone happy?
Maybe. That's how the liberals keep winning.
The problem is, our economy is merged with that of the US. More than 85% of our exports go to only one country, the USA. There is no other country in the world other than Canada which is so dependent on export sales to one other country, no other country which rejects international competition other than Canada.
As for the UN, it is a bureaucracy made up of voting agents who are unaccountable to anyone, either their host nation or other nations. The bureaucracy becomes a goal-in-itself. It is also a bureaucracy where the decisions ignore economic infrastructures. This set up rapidly transforms into a decision-making system operating without consideration for results in the world, and focusing only on results in the bureaucracy.
"The bureaucracy becomes a goal-in-itself. It is also a bureaucracy where the decisions ignore economic infrastructures. This set up rapidly transforms into a decision-making system operating without consideration for results in the world, and focusing only on results in the bureaucracy."
Wow, Sound exactly the same as our Education or Health Care Systems.
Go Left!
Actually ET, the real problem is that Canadians don't understand what Canada actually is: a three hundred mile wide strip of arable land along the US border, with maybe four medium sized cities strung out along its length.
We've been indoctrinated since birth to think of Canada as the big pink thing on the map that stretches all the way to the North Pole. Trouble is, there ain't nobody IN 95% of it. There's as many people in Iraq as there are here in the Great White North, which is certainly something worth thinking about.
Something else worth thinking about is the utter, hillarious stupidity of our leaders, who do things like ship Toronto's garbage to Michigan rather than bury it in the uninhabitable vastness of Northern Ontario. I mean, you could literally light off a nuke next to James Bay and nobody would know about it.
Therefore I think the sooner Canadians are made aware of the well meaning nonsense we've all been spoon fed for a hundred friggin' years, the sooner we will start having a reasoned view of international affairs and our place in them.
Actually, we want to keep Northern Ontario unspoiled for when global warming turns it into a temperate paradise. If only there was something we could all do to speed things up!
The simplistic actions of Iran and the Jihadists supported by Iran is to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of commerce [9/11], part of which is the 85% of trade we have with the US. Too bad they couldn*t do something more constructive with their natural resource wealth.
The UN is usless in preserving that which is working well in the world today.
Pretty expensive uselessness. Now is the time for the UDN or some other alternate to the hopelessly corrupted UN. = TG
Ah, yes, the UNITED NATIONS. Why does it act in such strange ways ? Simple. It is just a reflection of the people runninig(ruining) it. Oil-For-Food, Saddam's and UN's scandal, is a good example.
Much has been written but the MSM, especially in Canada, has not been reporting on it. For obvious reasons.
IT IS ALL VERY CLEAR and makes perfectly TWISTED SENSE if you look into it.
Google; One World Governance, Earth Charter, Maurice Strong, Population Control,
Phantom says..
**Something else worth thinking about is the utter, hillarious stupidity of our leaders, who do things like ship Toronto's garbage to Michigan rather than bury it in the uninhabitable vastness of Northern Ontario. I mean, you could literally light off a nuke next to James Bay and nobody would know about it. **
In Lachine Quebec. A community on the west side of Montreal, they had a garbage incinerator going during the 1950s and sixties.
Ahead of the times? With today*s stack scrubber cleaners, this seems a reasonable way to deal with urban waste. = TG
I agree with Phantom; people see Canada as this enormous 'pink blob' on the map and don't realize that 90% of Canadians live within 160 km of the US border.
They don't realize that the ecology of the northern land isn't hospitable to agriculture, for either plants or animals, and global warming won't change that for millions of years. The soil is too thin. Therefore, if you live 'up north', the land base can't, itself, support a large population. If you 'want' a large population, you have to import just about everything. Very costly. The cost of infrastructural development - roads and maintenance during extreme temperatures, hydro, water, etc, etc - are all beyond the Canadian economic ability. Think what it costs for example, to take the train to Montreal from Toronto!
What we have developed in Canada is an economy that rejects competition. We self-describe this lack of competition as 'tolerance' without realizing that it rests, 85% of it, on a complete reliance on the American as consumer. We reject Americans because 'they compete'; we ignore our own reliance on their 'competitiveness' and wealth.
We also, within this self-definition of 'tolerance' reject not merely economic but also other participation in the world (eg Layton's insistence on withdrawal from Afghanistan). We call that rejection of participation 'peacekeeping', which image brings to mind the peace of a day of sitting in one's hut ice-fishing. We don't want to interact with anyone other than over a mug of beer and a smoke.
As for the UN, it's set up to fail. The comparison with other bureaucracies is a good analogy. A bureaucracy becomes a 'thing-in-itself'. It takes on its own shape, its own justification, it exists. And when you set one up that is not answerable to anything or anyone, then, you've created a garguantuan monster.
It is the Liberals and the media that keep feeding the notion that there is something wrong with having good relations with the states. And what is the alternative that they would like to see happen?
Break off the 85% trade relationship? Have stricter borders?Harper is working well in the existing relationship....were things better with Dithers and his insulting crew?
Only those who have lived by some underlying principles in their lives could feel shame - so the United Nations could never be shamed, they're just like the Liberal Party of Toronto in that respect.
Jack Layton and other lefties would like to believe as Chamberlain did with Hitler that if we mind our own business the evils of the world will pass us by.
It was once said "that evil can only triumph when good men do nothing". So true,
Remember the UN supported the invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam except Russia France and Canada.
Russia and France were cheating on oil for aid and Chretian's son in law the big oilman from France took a financial licking when England, USA, Australia and the rest of the UN countries went after Saddam!
The problem with Canada's economy is that there doesn't appear to be any long term vision by government. What kind of country do we want to be? Where should investment be promoted?
The only thing that seems to matter is next quarter profits. Shipping out raw materials without processing them and outsourcing manufacturing to low wage countries is gradually transforming Canada into a nation with a banana republic type of economy...except it's colder here.
The UN IS SHAMEFUL because of what's in it, rogues and despots do not make good decisions and they cannot be shamed, they're incapable of that emotion.It's nothing more than a Leftist Shrine and a collossal Sham.
The Phantom has it right. Yes, we are the 2nd largest country in the world, but we are the most barren as well. I was in Australia, number 5 on size ranking, and even the arid, inhospitable, interior is more welcoming than the 6 months day/ 6 months night/ 1 month warmth Canadian interior.
Why should we have anything to do with coffee cup annan and the whole wretched UN i mean GET US OUT OF THE UN GET US OUT OF THE UN GET US OUT OF THE un SQUAWK SQUAWK
ET says..
**As for the UN, it's set up to fail. The comparison with other bureaucracies is a good analogy. A bureaucracy becomes a 'thing-in-itself'. It takes on its own shape, its own justification, it exists. And when you set one up that is not answerable to anything or anyone, then, you've created a garguantuan monster.**
And I agree. The same pattern of coruption that destroyed the LIBERAL party of Canada is presently a festering root rot in the UN.
In fact the actions of the UN have crossed well into the realm of criminality.
Is the lost $billion in the oil for food scandal not criminal?
Is the reporting of sensitive military info on their website for Hezbollah*s benifit not criminal.
Is six years observing the Hez building bunkers along the northern Israeli border and stocking same with rockets while saying nothing not criminal?
There are dozens of other examples, but I don*t want to be too boring.
Months ago, John Bolten said the US would look to another world body if the UN didn*t clean up their act.
I wish Bolton would nullify the UN now. = TG
Britan's "scientists" say the UN's Kyoto ISN'T WORKING !! PITY !!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=H22UVKM1GO2E5QFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2006/09/04/nkyoto04.xml
The Blogsphere has known this for years, the MSM is just "discovering" it. Or admiting it.
The Brit's "Economic and SOCIAL Research Council" declares that, quote, "it is going to be either sunnier or rainier", end quote. And that people should take precautions !! Like, maybe, there will even be a risk of "warm frost"??
And to think Kyoto was hoisted on the world by The United Nations. $$$$$$
And to think PMPM took to the world stage, last fall in Montreal, preaching to the converted UNers, " I gotta tell ya, let's be perfectly clear now, I commit, sort of, YOUR TAX DOLLARS, Brimstone, Brimstone", all in the name of the KYOTO HOAX. Environment Canada will get all the money, less for health care, less for pollution controls, less for streets and roads, less for our Armed Forces, less for Fishers, less for Farmers,.. more Brimstone. And let me tell ya, there will be so many Hurricanes next year(2006), that, that, it will be the END OF THE WORLD. Our Fault !! And if you don't believe me, ask Maurice Strong.
"The problem with Canada's economy is that there doesn't appear to be any long term vision by government. What kind of country do we want to be? Where should investment be promoted?
"The only thing that seems to matter is next quarter profits. Shipping out raw materials without processing them and outsourcing manufacturing to low wage countries is gradually transforming Canada into a nation with a banana republic type of economy...except it's colder here."
What you DON'T want is anyone in government trying to determine who should be allowed to invest, and what they should be allowed to invest in. Because when you hand your money to bureaucrats and politicians the economy becomes hopelessly inefficient and corrupt. Instead of people finding the most valuable and sustainable investments and jobs for themselves, the economy deteriorates into a socialist quagmire in which the resources are plundered as quickly as possible (so the royalties and taxes can be used to buy elections), and private capital is driven offshore to pursue investment opportunities elsewhere. In other words, the kind of government interference in the economy which you are proposing is what CREATES banana republics. Welcome to Canada.
We reject Americans because 'they compete'; we ignore our own reliance on their 'competitiveness' and wealth.We reject Americans because 'they compete'; we ignore our own reliance on their 'competitiveness' and wealth.
My take, for what it is worth, is that 3 decades of socialists in Canada with their alignment with the European model where competition and capitalism are suspect, penalizing small businesses and entrepreneurs by taxing them unfairly, and the socialist attitude that the state should micro-manage all human behavior is what has fomented the anti-America attitude in Canada. Not that the same lame lefty idiots aren't here; luckily, they never gained the same foothold.
I think all of us, Americans and Canadians that post regularly on SDA, understand the one true principle in this global war against the fascist Death Cult, whose ultimate atrocities I suspect haven't even been revealed to us yet, is that we are defending our common culture - a culture that makes our common border incidental.
When I see Kofi Anon on TV I would like to slap his pontificating posturing, his solemn little voice, right off of his liar's face. How much money has that little weasel amassed in his Swiss bank accounts by now?
Wow. I really screwed that up. Must learn to close those 's
"The problem is, our economy is merged with that of the US. More than 85% of our exports go to only one country, the USA."
Such is the reality of geography. Canada's single neighbouring country happens to be the US (Denmark/Greenland and France/St-Pierre et Miquelon just don't cut the mustard!).
I'm not sure whether this a problem or not; it's very clearly the source of our high standard of living.*
Given our proximity to American markets, I'm somewhat impressed we are even able to muster 15% of our trade with other countries anyway.
What I find hilarious are the Knee-dipper-cum-nationalistic types who cackle on about economic independence for Canada and distancing ourselves from the US.
Such a risky venture would surely demand major national industrial and resource development in vast areas of Canada hitherto untouched. Yet these same people would view all such development with shock-horror because no doubt in their minds it would be environmentally unfriendly and unsustainable.
* If you want to see what happens to a country in the American hemisphere when it is completely locked out of US trade, take a look at Cuba, folks. Not a pretty sight.
[A cyber-rerun of a recent posting by me elsewhere]
It was once said that the U.N. is a "...useless debating club..." - that really is true for all intents and purposes.
If Israel used such 'cluster' weapons in the last days of the war - it was only because hezbollah was engaged in the well-known practice of attacking from within and - hiding amongst - civillian populations.
What are the reasons that the U.N. has failed to understand why such groups choose such cowardly and irregular fighting practices? When dealing with such irregular fighters [terrorists] - like hezbollah - what can be done?
I wonder if the U.N. is invesitgating and condemning that hezbollah loaded all their rockets with ballbearings and shrapnel plates?
It should be noted that these rockets were directed at civillian population centers - where there were no IDF soldiers 'hiding out'!
These rockets were not directed as a means to attack other soldiers - they were directed at civillians - with little chance of affecting the IDF - YES - hezbollah knew this and - that was their heinous plan - kill as many Israeli civillians as possible - so what is the 'problem' here?
Of course - in targeting civillians - the many homocide bombers have done this [use of ballbearings and shrapnel plates] as well.
Is the U.N. investigating how the U.N. failed to prevent hezbollah form forming as a state within a state - how the U.N. failed to cut off the flow of cash [from where?] that hezbollah uses to buy the Lebanese populations [through socialism i might add] - how they failed to prevent this state within a state from forming as a irregular and heavily armed forces??
There is too much wrong with the U.N. - it really needs to be reformed and one thing to forward doing that - is to replace Annan and - his entire do nothing team.
So the more our world's useless debating club faults Israel while at the same moment permitting groups like hezbollah to grow - the more we see what is really going on.
Funny how this noted situation with Israel and the U.N. smacks in the face of the false propaganda - that 'zionists control the U.N.' - are there still people who think that after seeing how the U.N. is targetting Israel?
Iran defied a UN deadline Thursday to stop enriching uranium...
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/31082006/...nrichment.html
So is it any surprise that Iran is operating as though there was no U.N. - why would that be? Again the U.N. failed with Iran - they failed to prevent it from getting this far - so - whatever they do now - what good shall it be?
The truth is there are places that 'revolutions' are not irregular - where the leaders are so very irregular themselves - as in Iran...
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"...this war is more than a military conflict; it is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century..." [GWB]
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea.../20060902.html