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| The Roots of Kofi Annan's Anti-Americanism |
| 2004-10-26 |
| From The New Yorker, an article by Philip Gourevitch .... He is, in fact, an aristocrat —i n Ghana, where he was born and raised, his father was a traditional chief of the Fante people; through his mother, he is heir to the paramount chieftancy of the Akwamu. His wife, Nane Annan, is also of proud pedigree, a niece of Raoul Wallenberg, the martyred Swedish rescuer of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. ..... America's predominance has been the defining feature of Annan's tenure. "The rest of the world is trying to live in the shadow of the U.S., and they come to him and hope he will explain the U.S. to them, and hope he will explain them to the U.S.," Nader Mousavizadeh, a close aide to Annan, told me. When Annan took office, with the blessings of the Clinton Administration after it unceremoniously killed the reëlection bid of his Egyptian predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, there was much grumbling in the international press that he was Washington's poodle. .... The United States has always taken a selective approach to international coöperation, which puts Annan in a delicate position. "We need to be careful, and the U.S. also needs to be careful," he told me, adding, "One may not be happy with the U.N. today, or the Council today, because one is not getting one's way. But tomorrow one is going to need that organization." .... After September 11, 2001, the United States turned to the Security Council for support for the war in Afghanistan, but Washington's selective approach to multilateralism created resentment abroad, even among long-standing allies. .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #4 Well, I got the distinct impression a few years back that a number of friendly governments with not-altogether-friendly Muslim populations wanted a UN resolution to give them political cover for helping us invade Iraq. |
| Posted by: James 2004-10-26 10:03:30 PM |
| #3 BAR: The UN is like the Special Olympics of world politics. Everybody gets to play, emphasis is placed on friendship and cooperation, and we can all pretend that countries like Ghana and France actually have something to contribute. Isn't that special? |
| Posted by: BH 2004-10-26 1:53:05 PM |
| #2 Another one-termer. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-10-26 12:48:07 PM |
| #1 But tomorrow one is going to need that organization. Haahahaha....haaahahahaaa.....haaahahahahahaa.... And what, pray tell, does the U.S. "need" the UN for? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-26 12:24:55 PM |