UN irresolute as Sudan burns

Is the United Nations good for anything?

Captain's Quarters points out today that no less than American's UN ambassador John Danforth appears ready to throw in the towel. Quoting from the New York Times Danforth laments the decision to avoid voting on a resolution denouncing human rights violations in Sudan, and says:

"One wonders about the utility of the General Assembly on days like this," he said. "One wonders if there can't be a clear and direct statement on matters of basic principle, why have this building? What is it all about?"

Mr. Danforth's blunt-spoken exasperation was prompted by a ruling earlier Tuesday in the General Assembly's committee on social, humanitarian and cultural affairs to take no action on a measure citing human rights violations in Sudan, which the United States has called genocide.

To which Captain Ed responds:

The purpose of the UN had originally been, in part, to ensure that no further genocides occurred after the Nazi Holocaust. In that mission the UN has been singularly unsuccessful. They have stood by and watched as genocide has erupted under various names -- "ethnic cleansing" being the most antiseptic -- around the globe in places like Cambodia, China, Rwanda, the Balkans, Iraq, and now in the Sudan. The UN in most of those cases couldn't even bring themselves to recognize the slaughter as it occurred, saving its crocodile tears for after the carnage.

If anyone can name a single genocide in which the UN took any action outside the rhetorical to stop, please be sure to let us know. In this case, as before, they couldn't even bring themselves to oppose it even with rhetoric.

Sorry, Captain, we are frightened beyond the capacity for rational thought. We are grateful, however, for your contribution to our evolving thought process on the United Nations. We were among those who would like to see the U.S. pull out of the organization and kick its HQ out of the country. But the captain makes a good point:

Withdrawal puts us at too much of a political disadvantage, as the veto power we hold in the UNSC keeps much of their mischief from fruition. However, I see no reason to continue one cent of funding for this corrupt and venal congress of dictators, kleptocrats, and hypocritical clowns. Hit the UN where it hurts: its pocketbook.

Hear! Hear!