You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
International-UN-NGOs
Would we do better without the UN?
2006-08-13
By Niall Ferguson
It is funny that the acronym for the United Nations is UN. It always makes me think of negatives. Unhelpful. Unrealistic. Unproductive. Unhappy. This has been an especially unhappy summer for the United Nations. I am not only talking about its month-long paralysis while war between Israel and Hezbollah has devastated Lebanese and Israeli cities, or the manifest impotence of its peacekeeping force in Lebanon, four members of which were killed on July 25 by Israeli forces.
And which over the couse of 30 years or so have studiously avoided actually keeping any peace...
Despite all this, most people still tend to assume that the UN is the best place to look for a solution to this latest crisis in the Middle East. Indeed, on Friday, members of the UN Security Council finally approved a resolution calling for a ceasefire. But who seriously expects the United Nations to prevent al-Qaeda (or its latest imitator) from trying to blow up passenger planes in midair? Those who dreamt up the "Lockerbie-meets-9/11" bomb plot clearly did intend "mass murder on an unimaginable scale". All the UN has to offer in response is (as they say in New York) yada yada yada on an unimaginable scale.

I had a look at the UN website on Friday to see how the "international community" was reacting to the transatlantic horror that might have been. It didn't take me long to locate a promising page entitled "UN Action against Terrorism". Clicking on "Latest Developments" took me to Kofi Annan's "Recommendations for Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy".
Posted by:Fred

#15  Not enough Barb. We would lose all the floors and all the basements and leave a smoking, smelly 500' feep hole and not miss it.

I say we give it a try!
Posted by: CrazyFool   2006-08-13 22:24  

#14  Hell, #13 - Bolton set his sights too low.

We could lose all the floors of the UN and never miss them.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2006-08-13 21:04  

#13  Bolton said that we could loose ten floors of the UN building and not miss them. Wish we could turn the IAF loose on Turtle Bay.
Posted by: SR-71   2006-08-13 20:53  

#12  The Pope is Catholic.

But the Archbishop of Canterbury is a Muslim.
Posted by: gromgoru   2006-08-13 19:30  

#11  Peace is bad for business

Peace is Hell without 5 Star Accomodations.
Posted by: lotp   2006-08-13 19:20  

#10  This just in ...

The Pope is Catholic.
Posted by: Uleter Glemble2673   2006-08-13 19:15  

#9  "Would we do better without the UN?"

Well, yeah....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2006-08-13 13:04  

#8  Yewbetcha.
Posted by: twobyfour   2006-08-13 06:18  

#7  Would I do better with a million $?
Posted by: gromgoru   2006-08-13 06:13  

#6  Unhelpful. Unrealistic. Unproductive. Unhappy.

UNdermining. UNfulfilled. UNhinged. UNwieldy. UNaware. Is UNintelligent a word? If it isn't, it should be.
Posted by: gorb   2006-08-13 03:29  

#5  Asking the "deep questions", LOL. I'm thinking he's flogging for his B-List creds. If only the academic intelligentsia were in charge...
Posted by: flyover   2006-08-13 03:16  

#4  Depends who "we" are.

Dictators, sundry tyrants, and Islamofascists wouldn't.
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever)   2006-08-13 00:35  

#3  Well that was easy.
Posted by: mcsegeek1   2006-08-13 00:20  

#2  Yes, next question.
Posted by: djohn66   2006-08-13 00:18  

#1  Peace is bad for business.
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-08-13 00:08  

00:00