Yet Another in the Long Line of U.N. Embarrassments
Have you ever had one of those mornings where you looked all over the place for your car keys, but for the life of you, they were nowhere to be found? Then, finally, you stick your hand in your front pocket, only to feel embarrassingly foolish?
Well, alongside the sense of shame and guilt, embarrassment is exactly what the U.N. should be feeling right now, with the release of this news.
Just weeks before it announced the onset of a global food crisis and the urgent need for donors to provide at least $775 million in additional funding, the World Food Program was sitting on a cash and near-cash stockpile of more than $1.22 billion.
The startling figure is contained in the latest audited statements of the WFP, which were endorsed by the WFP’s executive director, Josette Sheeran, on March 31, just a month before Sheeran announced at an international aid conference on April 22 that a "silent tsunami" in rising food prices demanded the huge infusion of cash for the WFP’s latest budget.
In a May 1 International Herald Tribune op-ed, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon further declared that the WFP had just "$18 million cash in hand" in the wake of its appeal for emergency funding.
The United Nations once again proves itself to be the quintessential example of bureaucratic black holes. McCain's (and Krauthammer's) League of Democracies idea cannot get here soon enough, as far as I'm concerned.
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UN alternative
I agree...we need the rethink the UN. Treating dictatorships as if they are representative of people is a slap in the face of democracy and human rights. Another example is the security council. France is a permanent member of the security council, but is only 20th in population size. India is the 2nd most populous nation on the planet, yet has no such position. I don't know about McCain's League of Democracies idea, but we do need the rethink the concept. Here's my idea...
www.UnitedDemocraticNations.org
gary
UN Alternative
I have an alternative to the UN. It's called "national sovereignty".
Steve McCullough
http://www.stevemc2.com
RE: UN Alternative
Steve,
Are you saying there's no value to organization on the global level? Isn't that sort of concensus required on global issues like nuclear proliferation, managing fishing populations, and so on? Isn't the world getting smaller every day, not larger?
gary
www.UnitedDemocraticNations.org
Global Organizations
The UN was formed subsequent to, and as a result of World War II to prevent another global war. The victors, USA, Great Britain, France, USSR, and China (the free China) were established as permanent members on the Security Council with the mandate to ensure that another global war would never occur. Unfortunately, the newly formed organization soon began to bequeath unto itself a broad range of powers which were never in the post-war charter of the UN, and other countries, hostile to the victors of World War II, found that they could gain power in the UN which they could never achieve in the "real world". Today, the UN is mostly a cabal of anti-US and anti-democratic third world dictatorships that pass resolutions which are hostile in intent to America and her allies. Instead of perpetuating through majority funding for this corrupt organization, the US should form alliances on an issue-by-issue basis with other nations who share in our beliefs and values. The Founders of our country were fearful of permanent treaties and alliances with other nations because the interests of others are transitory and can become contrary to the those of our own country. Our political leaders wisely voted not to enter the impotent League of Nations following World War I, much to the dismay of the ultra-liberal Woodrow Wilson who believed he could create a utopia on earth. It's time to end the fiasco known as the United Nations.
Steve McCullough
http://www.stevemc2.com