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| 'Durban II' is being discredited, Pakistan warns |
| 2007-08-29 |
| Pakistan accused UN watchdog groups on Monday of launching a "smear campaign" to discredit the upcoming 2009 UN anti-racism conference. The vitriolic attacks against Jews and Israel that dominated the last such conference held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, had caused UN watchdog groups as well as officials from Israel and the US to express early concern about the 2009 follow up meeting, dubbed "Durban II." The watchdog groups have warned that the seeds of a repeat performance have already been sown. But Pakistan's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Masood Khan, dismissed those fears as he addressed the opening session Monday of the week long pre-planning meeting held in Geneva. "How to deal with the smear campaign against the Durban Review Conference," designed to discredit the past and future work on these issues is one of the challenges facing this week's meeting, Khan said. "The PrepCom leadership and members should stay the course and not be distracted by negative propaganda," Khan said as he spoke to a gathering in which all 192 UN member countries have voting rights. Israel and the US were present but have chosen to keep a low profile at this week's meeting out of fear that it would stray from its lofty goals of combating racism. Hillel Neuer, executive-director of the Geneva-based UN Watch, told The Jerusalem Post he viewed Pakistan's statement as a direct attack. "They are trying to intimidate us from speaking truth to power." He added, "We will not be intimidated." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Will Louise Arbour be bringing her pompoms to this one? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-08-29 13:01 |
| #5 Too right, Dave D. The only problem is that such wankfests garner sympathy, support and—worst of all—credibility for these two-bit Islamic tyrannies and tin pot dictators. As Neuer himself noted: "Choosing Libya and Iran to fight racism is like choosing Jack the Ripper to fight sexual harassment." He added that it was a setback "for the human rights movement as a whole." The man doesn't pull any punches. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-29 12:50 |
| #4 Word, Dave. Another day, another UN wank-fest. *yawn* |
| Posted by: Spot 2007-08-29 08:08 |
| #3 Ah, Durban: site of the UN's World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Too bad it doesn't actually have a friggin' thing to do with racism, discrimination, xenophobia or intolerance; in reality it's a UN-sponsored hatefest in which all the fourth-rate third-world shitholes on the planet can blame their self-induced misery on Israel and America, and shake down guilt-ridden Western liberals for $$$$ in the name of Poor Helpless Oppressed Little Brown Peoples™. Three days after the close of a previous World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Osama bin Laden's champions of those same Poor Helpless Oppressed Little Brown Peoples™ perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, leading me to dub them "Durban By Other Means". Same goals as Islamic terrorism, different tactics. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-08-29 07:38 |
| #2 When a senator gets a conference named after him, you know he's got clout. Guess it's from his triumphs as a Nazi hunter. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-08-29 07:26 |
| #1 Simple question: Would, or would not, this world be a better place if the building housing this conference burnt to the ground with all occupants trapped inside of it? Sure, we might lose one or two good guys but a whole slew of global terrorism's diplomatic support staff would be snuffed in a properly painful way. Hillel Neuer is the only one I would give a rip about and it's not even sure he's at the conference anyway. Whenever you see this guy's name, be sure to read anything he says. This chap has Islam's number dialed. Watch his four minute UN speech and tell me if this bloke hasn't got the UN's Human Rights Council nailed straight to the wall. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-29 06:16 |