Monday, December 11, 2006
Kofi Annan: Don't let the door hit you...
The end of the year will be a special day for many of us as it will signal the end of Kofi Annan’s tour as UN Secretary-General. No more will we have to listen to his exhortations to give more and more of our national sovereignty over to institutions like the UN run by pompous incompetents like…Kofi Annan.
Apparently Mr. Annan is giving a speech today in Missouri and the Post was so impressed with the text they decided to share it with us: What I’ve Learned
He lists out five key lessons that he’s learned and now thinks “the community of nations needs to learn as it confronts the challenges of the 21st century.” They can be summed up in one simple phrase: We need more, not less, global government.
“How can states hold each other to account? Only through multilateral institutions. So my final lesson is that those institutions must be organized in a fair and democratic way, giving the poor and the weak some influence over the actions of the rich and the strong.”
Such drivel merely reflects why the Annan-era at the UN has been one of increasing irrelevancy for the UN as an institution. What have been the signal achievements of his organization during his term of office? Darfur? Rwanda? Oil-for-food? His organization is notable for its constant criticisms of Israel while it tiptoes around the slaughters of Africa. It has earned its disdain.
By and large, the poor and the weak in this world do not have democratic institutions in place, do not have capitalistic underpinnings of their economies and require the assistance of the rich and the strong. They offer little to suggest that giving them influence over our actions is at all beneficial to us…or, in the long run, to them. As the Rev. Ike used to say: the best thing you can do for the poor is not become one of them.
I realize that adopting the rhetoric of a Koffi Annan appeals to the incessant need within many among us that the US be “liked”. It is notable that he is giving such talks within the US – I’d be more impressed if he took his show on the road to Russia or Red China. But showing up in Missouri instead is merely looking for the lost object where the light is best. We’ll listen, we’ll discuss…but, no matter what the Blame America First crowd believes, we’re not the problem.
Jeane Kirkpatrick R. I. P.
UPDATE: Kofi and U.N. 'Ideals': Rwanda, Dafur, Iraq and Oil for Food. remember where you read it first.
Apparently Mr. Annan is giving a speech today in Missouri and the Post was so impressed with the text they decided to share it with us: What I’ve Learned
He lists out five key lessons that he’s learned and now thinks “the community of nations needs to learn as it confronts the challenges of the 21st century.” They can be summed up in one simple phrase: We need more, not less, global government.
“How can states hold each other to account? Only through multilateral institutions. So my final lesson is that those institutions must be organized in a fair and democratic way, giving the poor and the weak some influence over the actions of the rich and the strong.”
Such drivel merely reflects why the Annan-era at the UN has been one of increasing irrelevancy for the UN as an institution. What have been the signal achievements of his organization during his term of office? Darfur? Rwanda? Oil-for-food? His organization is notable for its constant criticisms of Israel while it tiptoes around the slaughters of Africa. It has earned its disdain.
By and large, the poor and the weak in this world do not have democratic institutions in place, do not have capitalistic underpinnings of their economies and require the assistance of the rich and the strong. They offer little to suggest that giving them influence over our actions is at all beneficial to us…or, in the long run, to them. As the Rev. Ike used to say: the best thing you can do for the poor is not become one of them.
I realize that adopting the rhetoric of a Koffi Annan appeals to the incessant need within many among us that the US be “liked”. It is notable that he is giving such talks within the US – I’d be more impressed if he took his show on the road to Russia or Red China. But showing up in Missouri instead is merely looking for the lost object where the light is best. We’ll listen, we’ll discuss…but, no matter what the Blame America First crowd believes, we’re not the problem.
Jeane Kirkpatrick R. I. P.
UPDATE: Kofi and U.N. 'Ideals': Rwanda, Dafur, Iraq and Oil for Food. remember where you read it first.
