As reported by ABC News, Kofi Annan today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland warned the US that a, "too-narrow focus on fighting terrorism could worsen global tensions and threaten human rights." He said, "The most privileged members of the UN are currently and understandably preoccupied with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. (But) the U.N. must also protect millions of our fellow men and women from the more familiar threats of poverty, hunger and deadly diseases."
Of course, that's easy for him to say since his country isn't under attack from terrorists. I suppose he thinks if we just ignore the problem that it will go away and that terrorists don't "worsen global tensions and threaten human rights".
Explain to me again why we tolerate the UN?
Posted by jdmays at January 23, 2004 09:53 PM | TrackBackI have been reading JD's blog works for several weeks now and have noticed a cynical cloud increasingly blocking any sunshine on this site. In fact, the last few writings come off as overly abrasive (or, perhaps, overly sensitive to any viewpoint other than that from the far-far-far right).
I am no expert on the United Nations or its present secretary-general (Mr. Annan), but the terrorist threat (whether increasing or decreasing) is not the only concern on the UN's plate. I read the press coverage of Annan's recent speech and, frankly, found it promising that somebody sees world hunger, poverty, and disease as problems continuing to need our attention ... IN ADDITION to the focus placed on world terrorism. That seemed to be Annan's main point ... that we cannot afford to pretend that terrorism is the only crisis before the world today.
So, please take a step back and look at the whole picture. And, for gosh sake, lighten up around here ... neither terrorism, nor these other problems, are going to be tackled overnight! Not to come across as insensitive to these issues, but (God willing) "the sun will come up tomorrow" regardless of what we pessimistic humans predict.
Posted by: Annie at January 24, 2004 06:01 AMWell Annie since you've been reading this blog for quite a while now, then I don't want to disappoint you! I'll have to take a good look at my posts of late and see if there's anything I need to be doing differently.
I'm not so sure that I'm being more cynical as much as the fact that I've been writing about topics that I feel more cynical about. I try to keep things mixed up as far as topics and maybe that's the real problem.
As far as this post is concerned, I think it's galling for Annan to be lecturing the US about this when the US does far more for the disadvantaged of the world than any other country. See this post: http://www.stillmanvalley.org/aoo/archives/000099.html for more information.
Thanks for you comments. I hope you'll let me know how I'm doing down the road a bit.
-Jim.