Damian: Without the agreement of the five permanent members of the Security Council the UN can do nothing coercive. It's not the fault of the organization's staff but of the members and the Charter.
There is no UN in action by itself. And I doubt many of us would wish such an unaccountable authority. A true conundrum when having to deal with international problems.
Mark
Ottawa
"In light of this report, I expect the United Nations to do - what's the word I'm looking for? - nothing."
I expect them to write an angry letter. Mark makes a good point though I've read recently that China's veto is for sale to whomever will cooperate and give them access to natural resources.
What is the point of these pesky UN reports? Clearly, no one who sports the necessarily high level of circulating testosterone is paying any attention. Which is why the Sudanese government is so vigorously pursuing its atrocities. So the UN writes another report. Is their job then done? Since they do not have the cajones to do anything at all to help the Sudanese population in a material way, without those who do possess the said testosterone, what is the point? The point is to provide a future job for the UN Commissioner for Human Rights. Now that's a real benefit for the current Sudan population, isn't it? Not only does the UN not possess the necessary hormones there is not much else they possess which might be described as being of real utility to anyone, anywhere who seriously needs urgent aid.
Posted at 2007-03-12 20:20:24 [PermaLink]"I expect the United Nations to do - what's the word I'm looking for? - nothing."
That's completely unfair to the last best hope for humanity. When things were at their bleakest, you could always count on Kofi Annan to release a statement expressing that he is "deeply concerned." [External Link]
And in keeping with that tradition, Ban Ki-Moon is frequently "deeply concerned," too. [External Link]
As a "deeply concerned" American, I can't tell you how comforted I am to know that our tax money, hundreds of millions of dollars constituting 22 percent of the UN budget, help preserve world peace through the UN.
No need to worry! Louise Arbour is hot on the case!
Says she's *deeply concerned*, and yesterday I even saw her frown!