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February 03, 2005
The UN Mandate
I can't believe my ears. I heard people today defending the UN inspectors and privileging their process over that of the US military.
I don't see how anybody could say that given the spineless mandate of UN peacekeepers. This is the UN that is careful not to call what's going on in Darfur 'genocide'. I actually believe they have a point, but that's not the issue. The issue is what a UN mandate actually mandates, and I am gradually being convinced that it means nothing.
When I awoke from my bourgie American haze to the gutbucket reality of geopolitics late in the 80s, one of the situations that got me to wake up was that of the wars for Namibia. In little more than an afternoon at some rally, I was alerted to the fact of Namibia's wealth in uranium, and the proxy wars being fought in and around that country. Suddenly Namibia was on my map. And when I looked at any political map, I found that South Africa had a claim on Walvis Bay, the port city of Namibia that facilitated the global trade in uranium. The UN began trying to act on this matter in 1978, and the territory wasn't settled until 1994.
Am I under the influcence of the film 'Hotel Rwanda'? Yes. Do I think that the closing of the UN Mission in Iraq was cowardly? Yes. I believe that anyone who is not afraid to shoot at UN Peacekeepers is capable of defeating their efforts and rendering all UN proclamations to the effectiveness level of prayer.
Oil for Food scandal aside, it is becoming clear to me that the UN bureacracy is not actually effective. NGOs do a better job. What exactly do the world trust the UN to accomplish? I'm not exactly sure, but it has proven itself to be a poor arbiter.
Posted by mbowen at February 3, 2005 12:37 AM
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The moderate-conservative Republican blogger can't believe that some folks privilege U.N. inspectors over the U.S. military: "Do I think that the closing of the UN Mission in Iraq was cowardly? Yes. I believe that anyone who is not afraid to shoot at... [Read More]
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please copy and past this into your browser address window and watch.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2004/121104powerofnightmares.htm
Posted by: mark m. at February 3, 2005 03:01 PM
The reality of the history of the UN is in stark contrast to the sugarcoated version you learn in public school. I can think of exactly ONE good, lasting outcome - that the world's airlines are standardized (more or less) on a single Air Traffic Control language. You'd be hard pressed to find more examples of outright benefits to the world's peoples from this hugely expensive edifice.
Posted by: True_Liberal at February 4, 2005 05:46 AM