Monday, May 02, 2005
A "real" Nucleur Disaster
Kofi Annan continues to claw against irrelevance, issuing a statement on Nonproliferation Treaty today that was in large part intended to pander to protestors who gathered in New York over the weekend. His comments on Iran and North Korea were well grounded, and I think most of the civilized world agrees with him, but he couldn't resist a poke at the US
What Mr. Annan fails to grasp is that the main deterrent for rouge nations like North Korea is the might and arsenal of the United States, and our allies. It puzzles me that the United Nations still finds time to banter about reducing arsenals, even when the overall ineffectiveness of the United Nations has been proven again and again.
It is hard not to be amused at the contradictions here. "Directly Addressed?" Where was the United Nations when the US and allies were directly addressing the proliferation of WMDs in Iraq? (Let me guess, "there are none!" Well, there were (check here, here and check out this list of articles, for starters)and besides, the only reason we know for sure is because we went in there in the first place!) The UN continues to call for action, as it always has, yet ignores the largest global crisis it now faces.
The true failure of the UN in the last 18 months has not been to address issues of North Korean and Iranian Nuclear arms. They have demonstrated, most recently in Iraq, that they are incapable and ill-equipped for such measures. Basic realism shows that States are, indeed, the largest players on the geo-political stage. Instead, they have continued largely to ignore the savage butchery taking place in the Sudan as we speak. While Annan issues high minded statements about global peace and humanitarian disarmament, civilians are being cut down in Darfur by the day. Where are the statements on the need for intervention in the Sudan? Why aren't countries meeting to question why countries like Zimbabwe and Cuba sit on the Human Rights committee? Its time for the UN to get back to what it does best, and really the only thing it does at all, before it is too late.
"An important step would be for former Cold War rivals to commit themselves, irreversibly, to further cuts in their arsenals so that warheads number in the hundreds and not the thousands," he said.
What Mr. Annan fails to grasp is that the main deterrent for rouge nations like North Korea is the might and arsenal of the United States, and our allies. It puzzles me that the United Nations still finds time to banter about reducing arsenals, even when the overall ineffectiveness of the United Nations has been proven again and again.
"Unless violations are directly addressed, the most basic collective reassurance on which the treaty rests will be called into serious question," Annan said.
It is hard not to be amused at the contradictions here. "Directly Addressed?" Where was the United Nations when the US and allies were directly addressing the proliferation of WMDs in Iraq? (Let me guess, "there are none!" Well, there were (check here, here and check out this list of articles, for starters)and besides, the only reason we know for sure is because we went in there in the first place!) The UN continues to call for action, as it always has, yet ignores the largest global crisis it now faces.
The true failure of the UN in the last 18 months has not been to address issues of North Korean and Iranian Nuclear arms. They have demonstrated, most recently in Iraq, that they are incapable and ill-equipped for such measures. Basic realism shows that States are, indeed, the largest players on the geo-political stage. Instead, they have continued largely to ignore the savage butchery taking place in the Sudan as we speak. While Annan issues high minded statements about global peace and humanitarian disarmament, civilians are being cut down in Darfur by the day. Where are the statements on the need for intervention in the Sudan? Why aren't countries meeting to question why countries like Zimbabwe and Cuba sit on the Human Rights committee? Its time for the UN to get back to what it does best, and really the only thing it does at all, before it is too late.
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