U.N. Number Two slams United States' attitude to world body

[Cyrus]

CNN

[ QUOTE ]
Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, of Great Britain, [in his Tuesday] speech defended U.N. peacekeeping missions in 18 places round the globe. He criticized the United States for voting against the creation of a new Human Rights Council. It was joined by just three nations, with 170 countries voting for the body.
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He acknowledged that the U.N. desperately needs an overhaul -- in the Security Council, over its budget, and even the headquarters building itself, which hasn't been renovated for decades. But the U.S. tendency to criticize the United Nations and to take "maximalist positions," rather than seeking the middle ground, has made other nations suspicious of its intentions, Malloch Brown said.
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In the speech, Malloch Brown said the United States relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but doesn't defend it against criticism at home. That policy of "stealth diplomacy" is unsustainable, he said.
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While praising Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessors, Malloch Brown lamented that the good works of the U.N. are ignored. "Much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News," he said.


[/ QUOTE ]Apparently, American Ambassador John Bolton went ballistic with the speech. But the U.N. man was plainly speaking the truth.

[BluffTHIS!]

The middle ground with a corruptly and ineptly managed organization is still corruption and incompetence. Incremental changes for the sake of getting along won't do the job, as weeds need to be pulled out by their roots and not merely pruned.

[ACPlayer]

[ QUOTE ]
The middle ground with a corruptly and ineptly managed organization is still corruption and incompetence. Incremental changes for the sake of getting along won't do the job, as weeds need to be pulled out by their roots and not merely pruned.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dont recall reading any reports about corruption, ineptitude yes flourishes. I suspect that the corruption rewards will only come after Bush leaves office.

There are directorships, lobbying deals with Shiekh A and B, etc, etc.

Perhaps yes there is corruption as well as the ineptitude.

[BluffTHIS!]

google for UN plus the phrases, "oil for food" and "procurement for peace-keeping operations"

[ACPlayer]

ROFLMAO

[sirio11]

[ QUOTE ]
The middle ground with a corruptly and ineptly managed organization is still corruption and incompetence

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you talking about the UN or about the US Government? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[bobman0330]

Wow, what a whiny bitch. This confirms all of my negative beliefs about the UN.

[irvman21]

[censored] the UN. It is a completely worthless bigoted bloated sack of [censored]. I've dispised the UN for a long time, but their attempt to circumvent the laws of members nations by passing a world wide civilian gun ban was the final straw for me.

[matrix]

What do you suggest the UN gets replaced with?

I think the world is a better place with some world body attempting to impose some kind of International Law.

I lost faith completely in the UN in 1998 after they suppressed part of a UN report on Cannabis after alleged US diplomatic pressure. link

I have to agree with Malloch Brown - the US attitude to the UN stinks. The sooner the US stops being a bully to the rest of the planet the better off we'll all be.

[bobman0330]

[ QUOTE ]
I lost faith completely in the UN in 1998 after they suppressed part of a UN report on Cannabis after alleged US diplomatic pressure. link

[/ QUOTE ]

Way to keep perspective. Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Darfur, genocide, whatever. Corruption, ineptitude, terrible human rights abusers on the UN human rights body, no problem. But suppressing a report on cannabis?? That just crosses the line