Dogpile on the UN

The UN Dispatch, a blog sponsored by - but in no way representing the opinion of - the United Nations Foundation, has developed an unhealthy fixation on Roger L. Simon.

They ask,

Is Simon's hyper-focus on a single UN-related issue based on deep convictions? Unbending principles? Moral outrage?

It is true that along with Claudia Rosett, Simon has been consistent in holding the UN's feet to the fire over the Oil-for-Food scandal - UNSCAM - which just happens to be the largest case of embezzlement in history. He hasn't been so thorough in covering, for example, the UN's tardiness in providing aid to tsunami victims or their insistance on five-star housing when inspecting disater areas, or on the endless rounds of peacekeeper sex scandals, and taken little advantage of the opportunities for black humour made possible by the presence of Syria and Cuba on the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Meanwhile at Daniel Drezner's blog, Suzanne Nossel is trying to convince the regulars the UN is not completely corrupt, comparing the UN's misappropriation of billions of dollars of Iraqi money to the fact that there is inadequate documentation for $100 million of US money spent on aid programs in Iraq. She does admit to some UN weaknesses:

Non-Proliferation - Top of mind this week, due to all the ferment over North Korea. This one's largely the fault of the Member States for not strengthening the UN's non-pro mechanisms. See this post at DA for more.

Combating Terrorism - The UN's anti-terror mechanisms are pretty weak. Annan has proposed a series of ways to strengthen them, and the U.S. ought to get behind this agenda.

Human Rights - The UN's human rights mechanisms have essentially been held captive by rights violators. This has got to change, and once again Kofi Annan has the makings of a good proposal on the table.

Public Relations - Always a weak spot, and one that undercuts the organization's effectiveness in many other areas.

The fact is that the UN has been totally ineffective in the first three areas, and all too effective in the last. The solution as Nossel sees it is to give the UN more money and power. The commenters take her to task as well as I could, and probably better.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:14 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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