The United Nations Human Rights Council was supposed to be better than the old Human Rights Commission, which became famous for bias and hypocrisy. Now the same charge is being leveled at the new body
The council elected Swiss national Jean Ziegler to its advisory committee. But Ziegler has a history of sympathizing with the regimes of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe – and has criticized US and Israeli relations.
The same council also appointed Princeton International Law scholar Richard Falk to a post overseeing Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian territories. The problem is, Falk has a history of comparing Israeli treatment of Palestinians to Nazi atrocities against Jews.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. said Falk is not impartial, as did the Canadian ambassador. And Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen released a statement, “This sad occasion reinforces the need for the United States and other responsible nations to demand fundamental reform of the United Nations.”
The problem is, it can’t be reformed.
I’ve been saying for years, the United Nations is a basket case, and the best thing we could do for the cause of peace would be to call in an air strike on Turtle Bay. That’s a statement I stand by today, having had my original assessment reinforced by these people. Bottom line is, the whole of the thing is corrupted beyond repair, and shuffling the deck chairs does not constitute effecting repairs.
The first step to fixing the damage this org has caused, is admitting it shouldn’t be fixed, but destroyed. The problem here is that we should not be just replacing the org as such, but rather we should be questioning the entire concept of a UN… Not just labeling it something else and using the same type of moron that gravitates to such an org.
Addenum: (David L)
The problems of the United Nations are structural, the flawed notion of one nation, one vote,without regard to either population or legitimacy of the government. For example, India has over one billion people and a republican form of government. Cuba has eleven million people and a communist dead pot dictator for life and beyond. Source: CIA – World Fact Book [2]. Yet by some strange United Nations calculus, both are entitled to one vote in the General Assembly. I hold that it is absurd to give India and Cuba equal representation.
The institution which replaces the United Nations should represent people and not unelected dictators, a League of Democracies.
Addendum:(Bit)
Agreed…. and here I have to credit John McCain. who apparently has this one right. [3]