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| Bill Clinton: Next U.N. chief? |
| 2003-02-20 |
| Hang on to your lunch everybody... Has former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail again? That's the word according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist who reports a "major international move" is afoot to help install the ex-CEO of the most powerful nation as the CEO of the most powerful world body – the United Nations. Will this make me President of the world? Sunday's "Dateline D.C." column, which the paper says is written by a Washington-based British journalist and political observer, named no names but cited reports that Clinton had already lined up support for his candidacy for the secretary-general position from Germany, France, England, Ireland, New Zealand, a handful of African states, Morocco and Egypt. The Tribune-Review also reports Russia has made it known it would not object and added that China is also a big fan of the former president. I think we already knew about China being a "big fan".. According to the Tribune-Review columnist, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is "under pressure to resign before the end of his second term in 2006." Should he do so, the General Assembly would select his replacement, on the recommendation of the U.N. Security Council. This may come as early as this Fall. ...and then what? Head back to whatever third world shithole he came from? Don't bet on it. "This is the first I've heard about it and it's certainly not true," Annan's deputy spokesperson Hua Jiang told WorldNetDaily. "As far as we know, he has the full trust of all the members." Jiang said Annan, who took over as U.N. chief in 1997, intends to fill out his entire term through 2006. A PBS documentary, which aired earlier this month, offered highlights of Annan's U.N. career. A low point came in 1994 with the genocide in Rwanda. Annan calls it "the greatest catastrophe the U.N. ever faced."and did little about High points include the independence of East Timor and accepting Norway's Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. The UN, Carter, Yasser,...the list is just endless.And I thought it was presented in Sweden? Odds favor an American secretary general next time around because there has never been one from North America. Clinton's fund-raising prowess, according to the Tribune-Review, is also viewed as just what the doctor ordered for the 50-year-old U.N. headquarters building on 42nd Street in New York, that is in need of a serious overhaul. Maybe he can get Jimmy Carter and some of those Habitat folks to swing on by and help out? A rested and refreshed Clinton recently appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" program, a customary pit stop for modern-day political campaigns. He made repeated references to the U.N. throughout the interview. Responding to King's query about Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation on Iraq to the Security Council, Clinton sounded more like a U.N. diplomat than a former U.S. president. Just like when he was actually President... "The most important thing [Powell] said from the point of view from the United Nations is that we had intelligence and photographs which seemed to prove that Iraq was almost taking these chemical stocks, at least, out of the backdoor while the inspectors were going through the front door, that they were moving things. And if that's true, it means Mr. Blix and his inspectors might never get to do the job that they were appointed to do. So I think that we need to listen to Blix, listen to Secretary Powell and I still hope the United Nations can act together on this and I think there's still a chance we can," he said. "And, you know, there's still a chance that Saddam Hussein will come to his senses and disarm," he added. There's also a chance that someday Bubba will just fade away and never be heard from again. The odds are about the same. Clinton stressed the need for abiding by international law and making sure action taken against Saddam Hussein is coordinated through the global body. "We're trying to get rid of the chemical and biological storehouse in the hands of a tyrant ... The second thing we're trying to do is to build a global alliance for peace and freedom and security. So if we can do it with broad support within the U.N., it would be much better," Clinton said. "If we can get, based on this evidence, and letting the inspectors do a little more work if we can get an agreement with the French and the Germans and the others who are skeptical and who think that we've been too eager to do this all along, that would be better and it might give us a chance to resolve this peacefully. I think the greatest victory of all would be if Saddam Hussein saw the whole world arrayed against him and thought, you know, the jig was up." Bill, how can we start missing you if you won't go away? Throughout the duration of the interview, the 42nd American president took credit for keeping a lid on the nuclear showdown with North Korea, now threatening to bubble over and for giving the approval for the first Israeli astronaut to go into space aboard the space shuttle Columbia. God, is there ANYTHING he won't take credit for? "On the day that he went up, former Prime Minister Barak called and thanked me and reminded me that he and I had done this deal to allow this remarkable human being to go into space," Clinton recalled. ...and if he hadn't died up there, I wouldn't even remember his name.And then Kim Jong Il called to thank me for the nuclear weapons. In addition to increasing his visibility in the media, Clinton is taking a cue from his Democratic predecessor former President Jimmy Carter and conducting international diplomacy. He is slated to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos next week. The forum is part of the U.N.'s effort to mediate a solution to the North Korean nuclear issue. Yes, it worked out SO WELLthe last time they took a shot at it. He also has been promoting his William J. Clinton Foundation, which has collaborated with the Harvard AIDS Institute, Columbia University Medical School and other organizations, to help countries battling AIDS develop better systems to deliver care. Clinton also co-chairs the International AIDS Trust with Nelson Mandela. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #14 "All sizes, all colors, and every accent you can think of!" Dar, they need to speak when they're "working" with His Clintonness??? Kinda hard to speak with 6-8"of tube steak in trhe mouth, |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-02-21 07:19:53 |
| #13 an excellent excuse to score with brazilian interns! |
| Posted by: flash91 2003-02-20 22:59:38 |
| #12 Why doesn't Bush embarass Carter by suggesting publicly that Carter go back to N. Korea to Or perhaps we should send Carter back to Venezuela, now that Chavez is cranking up the oppression. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-20 19:40:08 |
| #11 As a Pittsburgh resident, I feel compelled to rain on your parade a bit and point out that the Tribune-Review is quite possibly the worst source in the world when it comes to news about Slick Willie. The paper is owned by the Mellon-Scaife family (i.e. the same people who bankrolled Ken Starr), and has been known to print anything and everything it can find that's even remotely derogatory about the guy, regardless of its veractiy. Whatever you may think of Clinton, it's probably not a good idea to trust a paper that claimed not once, not twice, but THREE times that he didn't just get it on with Monica, but actually physically raped the girl in the Oval Office. It is a pretty funny story, though. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-20 19:03:57 |
| #10 "All sizes, all colors, and every accent you can think of!" Dar, they need to speak when they're "working" with His Clintonness??? |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-02-20 18:34:28 |
| #9 And Jessie Hi-Jackson will get a job with Willie, for sure! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-02-20 18:27:18 |
| #8 This actually wouldn't surprise me. The First Sociopath's got the ego for it; the boy's always wanted to be king of the world. Plus, there's all the perks. He'd get treated like a head of state again, there'd be interns from every nation under heaven, he'd have no electorate to pander to, there wouldn't be any religious leaders hanging around lecturing him about things and he wouldn't have one of those pesky constitution deals to uphold so he'd be impossible to impeach. Actually, this would be a pretty good fit for Turtle Bay. They know the Perjurer-in-Chief's still got a following in this country and can raise a buck or two. I guess they figure that Kyoto might even get ratified if the old fraud campaigns around the country for it. Plus, Bill can get just about any Hollywood If it weren't so scary, it might be fun |
| Posted by: Christopher Johnson 2003-02-20 17:23:19 |
| #7 Well, now W has another reason to turn the UN into the United League of Nations. He destroyed the party, and he can now drive a stake thru the UN and hopefully his wife's campaign. Again, very, very slick, der slickmeister. He can bury his dirty dealings in committee. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-20 16:05:49 |
| #6 Perhaps his Clintonness simply is doing what he can to help dissolve the un. dorf |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-20 16:05:13 |
| #5 Despite the endless comedic potential of this development, it is in the end a truly frightening prospect. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2003-02-20 15:34:37 |
| #4 The 'Boy who would be King' decided that POTUS wasn't enough? |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-02-20 14:48:01 |
| #3 I remember a while back The Onion ran a story titled: Clinton Declares Self President-for-Life. Apparently, he did. |
| Posted by: Spot 2003-02-20 14:39:46 |
| #2 Looks like the anti-Christ is ready to assume his throne. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-20 14:38:25 |
| #1 Obviously, the real attraction here is the much larger, universal pool of potential interns to select from. "All sizes, all colors, and every accent you can think of!" |
| Posted by: Dar Steckelberg 2003-02-20 14:15:58 |