United Nations: A Broad View

UN--Great Concerts!

But Social Programs Need Work.

I was going to write about the failures of the United Nations but a quick google convinced me that would be a career not a blog. Being an equitably minded sort, I decided to write about the successes of the UN.

According to Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, these are the successes of the UN.

No. 1: The UN redistributed $100-billion in 2006. Kofi added from rich to poor countries but surely that is obvious.

No. 2: The world rocked to 'Live Aid' concerts as the G8 leaders agreed to increase aid to developing countries. No word if the aid actually was increased—see the AIDS news below.

No. 3: No no. 3. That's it.

Kofi's list was longer, but he'd padded it to include news that global warming was turning Africa into a hell hole, that 36 of the 50 poorest countries were in Africa, and that AIDS funding had fallen to less than 50% of its goal. Somehow, those points didn't seem like successes, unless you take a broad view and think about how bad those things could get!

Since this post is about good news, I can't mention the genocides in Rwanda and Serbia, the tacit acceptance of slavery in Sudan, creating a bigger mess in East Timor, failure to protect the Buddhist statues from the Taliban. Come to think of it, those things could have gotten worse, so maybe Kofi could count them as successes, too. I'm just trying to help.

So the UN took $100 billion from productive people. No mention where most of the money went after it got into the pockets of the tyrants running the poor, unproductive countries. Kofi's son, Kojo, intercepted about $150,000, so we know where some of the money went. Darn, I was being so positive then I lost the mood.

But that Live Aid concert was just a-rocking!

Mmmm, more successes? Kashmir? No. Somalia? No. Israel? Bosnia? Colombia? No, no, no!
Iraq? Yeah, right! Women's rights in Islamic countries? Ok, that was a stupid question.

Can you name another organization as spectacularly self-aggrandizing and unsuccessful as the UN? The UN makes the American public school system look acceptable.

Do we really need to spend $2 billion a year in administration costs to hand over $100 billion to tyrants and put on an annual rock concert? It's hard to stay positive but at least next year's news will make this news look good. Sometimes you just have to take a broad view of things.

Stand up or drink the Kool Aid!

UN Version of Free Speech.

Don't worry, next year even this will sound like good news!