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Subject: Coalition of the Honest
appleciderus    12/30/2004 8:53:39 PM
By Jamie Lyons, PA Political Correspondent: United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster.The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the world?s response. But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN.?I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,? she said. ?Only really the UN can do that job,? she told BBC Radio Four?s PM programme.?It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.? Ms Short said the coalition countries did not have good records on responding to international disasters.She said the US was ?very bad at coordinating with anyone? and India had its own problems to deal with.?I don?t know what that is about but it sounds very much, I am afraid, like the US trying to have a separate operation and not work with the rest of the world through the UN system,? she added. What a riot! The UN can do the job because it has the ?MORAL? authority as long as the Great authorities back it up? The US has a bad record of reacting to world-wide disasters? The UN has ever successfully completed a mission? Here?s a question for all: If the UN handles the relief monies, how much of each dollar contributed by governments, organizations, corporations, and private citizens gets to the victims? A) 20 cents B) 15 cents C) 5 cents D) zero, accompanied by an invoice for additional monies.
 
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appleciderus    Reforms?   3/22/2005 6:56:56 PM
So Kofi announces his ?reforms? Increase the Security Council to 15 members. This probably means eliminating the veto of the 5 permanent members, a checks and balance structure by the founders to prevent what happens elsewhere in the UN. Abolish the Human Rights Commission. As I understand it, the UN would downgrade the Commission to a committee? More like ?throw the dog a bone?. Increase by four fold the US obligation to fund the UN. Reform? Sounds like a stick-up to me.
 
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PlatypusMaximus    RE:Reforms?   3/22/2005 9:57:19 PM
Here's where 150 of those dollars went. By Emily Wax Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, March 21, 2005; Page A01 BUNIA, Congo -- She's known in the community as a "one-dollar U.N. girl." At night, she sleeps on the cracked pavement outside a storefront. In the mornings, she sashays through the dusty streets, clutching a frayed parasol against the blinding sun....She and the other teenage girls interviewed for this article agreed to be identified provided only their first names were used. "Sometimes it happens in U.N. cars, other times at the camp. But at least they paid us. I was worthless anyhow. My honor was lost."Yvette's story is not uncommon. The United Nations is investigating 150 instances in which 50 peacekeeping troops or civilians in the Congo mission are suspected of having sexually abused or exploited women and girls, some as young as 12. More: link
 
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appleciderus    RE:Reforms?   3/23/2005 8:00:29 AM
Yep! That?s how it works. The UN stands by while the parents are murdered, then steps in to rape then enslave the children.
 
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Massive    Diplomad   4/11/2005 12:32:03 PM
A good read on the UN in Aceh. link
 
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Massive    RE:UN Resources - Apple   4/11/2005 12:41:48 PM
The interesting thing about the mercenaries in Sierra Leone is that it is a great example of what small groups of western special forces, operating with local troops, could do in knocking back a lot of these shabby insurrections in Africa. Maybe more sovereign governments should use mercenaries in this fashion? As to the UN - there is nothing worth saying really. To tell the truth there seems to be a general lack of true 'leaders' in the world at the moment - the UN needs one. When you consider all the blather about Wolfowitz and the World Bank the guy was at least intellectually credible and had the experience of being 2IC in running a genuine global organization - the US DoD. Kofi - well... Regards, Massive Ps. There was some dodgy deal involving diamonds with the South African mercenaries as I remember - this was the instigator for the backlash against their use. Cure does appear to have been, if not worse, a lot more expensive than the disease!
 
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