The UN has been dysfunctional for years. And no state ultimately wants to see it work, because it involves surrendering some form of sovereignty.

The UN is well past its used by date. The dream is over.

http://weekbyweek7.blogspot.com/

A Few Questions for Kofi Annan
By John E. Carey
July 26, 2006

As often occurs in the tricky world of international relations, President George Bush and the United States find themselves viewed by the rest of the world as supporting the wanton killing of innocent civilians right now.

And Hezbollah is to blame.

Using the most despicable trick known to man: hiding behind innocent civilians including women and children, the terrorists Hezbollah nation (you heard me right: “nation”) has found a way to antagonize Israel to such a point that the Israeli’s feel compelled to respond. And when they do respond with F-16s armed with precision guided weapons, innocents get killed.

So then Hezbollah drags mindless newsmen and women to the scene and screams, “Look what the bloodthirsty Jews are doing to us!!”

And the mindless news people even get a big time ally: Kofi Annan of the UN, to agree. Without the benefit of any investigation, today the leader of the world’s largest peace-loving organization, accused a sovereign member state of murdering peacekeepers intentionally. I find that deplorable.

Then we see a stampede of everyone who likes to knife the United States speaking out: like Jacque Chirac of France saying the Israeli response is “not proportional.” Hey, I’d like to see the French reaction to angry Arabs shooting unguided rockets into downtown Paris. In fact, we know exactly the French reaction when unhappy Arabs merely speak out about unemployment in France: they face hundreds of armed policemen.

Hezbollah brilliantly antagonized Israel to such a point that the Israeli’s sent their defense forces into Lebanon in an effort to get the Hezbollah to stop shooting rockets into Israel: rockets that have no guidance systems and kill indiscriminately.

So Israel, using many precision, laser guided bombs and other high tech equipments supplied by the United States, has gone into Lebanon. And much of the world blames, who else? The United States.

Well, I don’t mind saying I blame the Hezbollah, their backers in Syria and Iran, and the United Nations.

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http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/

Yes they accidentally hit the UN post over 30 times over six hours with their precision guided bombs. Grow up a proper peace keeping force could have been in there years ago if the US didn’t keep using their veto. Religious nutters on all three sides are keeping this conflict going.

No fairminded person is criticising Israel for defending its citizens. But there are ways, and there are ways. It's the massive overkill that is drawing world criticism -- and exponentially deepening Palestinian and Lebanese resentment

Overkill? You have got to be joking.

Israel has remakably managed to defend itself, although unsuccessfully so far against terrorist incursions and rockets, with its precision guided munitions, against a foe that hides in amongst innocent civilians. This so called overkill has somehow mirraculously managed to keep the civilian death rate to below 400 in a period lasting over two weeks.

Where 3/4 of a million people have been displaced by the conflict, this can only be seen as extrodinary dilligence and care that has been place on avoiding collateral damage by the IDF.

Without Israels massive civil defence infrastructure, one wonders what the death-toll of Israeli's would be like.

If you don't want to be mauled by a bear, don't poke and prod it.

But Israel should look ahead. It hasn't visibly damaged Hezbollah, Syria, or Iran in any profound way--indeed, the incursion has acted as a recruiting drive for the Arab extremists. It has focused the Lebanese government on the obligation to control Hezbollah, but removed any capability to carry that out. It has killed >400 civilians, including UN observers, visiting Canadians, ambulance passengers, and other politically sensitive targets. And the kidnapped soldiers are no closer to coming home.

Some lashing out by Israel was perhaps inevitable. But continuation of it, with no achievable strategic or tactical objective in sight, is both unwise and inhumane.

spooble, any shells going the other way PRIOR to the current hostilities?

Just who enjoys the aegis of the UN? Not the 800,000 rotting corpses in Rwanda. The UN is little more than a traveling cocktail party and at its head is a whited sepulcher who is a third rate African bureauocrat. Under his stewardship the various UN bodies set up to investigate human rights abuses are now headed up by countries where human rights abuses are entwined with cultural practices.

Dateline: Lebanon, 1947. The United Nations votes to accept a partition plan which would create a Jewish state and a Palestinian state side by side. The Government of Lebanon rejects this plan, as do the nations of the Arab League.

Dateline: Lebanon, 1948: The Government of Lebanon declares war on the new State of Israel, as do all the countries of the Arab League.

Dateline: Lebanon, 1948: The Lebanese Government signs a cease-fire agreement with Israel after the Lebanese army attacks Israel unsuccessfully, as do all the Arab states which attacked Israel. Lebanon continues to reject the right of Israel to exist.

Dateline: Lebanon, 1970s: The Lebanese Government allows the PLO - just thrown out of Jordan at gunpoint by the Jordanian Govenment - to settle in southern Lebanon. The PLO creates a mini-state in southern Lebanon and mounts numerous rocket and other terror attacks against the farms of northern Israel. UN 'peacekeepers' in Lebanon fail to stop these terror attacks and keep the peace. The Lebanese Government condones them by active support at times and silence at other times. The Lebanese Government continues to reject the right of Israel to exist.

Dateline: Lebanon, 1980s: Fought out of Lebanon by Israel, the PLO leaves for North Africa. Things improve slightly on the Israel - Lebanon border. The Lebanese Government continues to reject the right of Israel to exist.

Dateline: Lebanon, 1990s: Hezballah, formed with the stated agenda of destroying the State of Israel, sets up in southern Lebanon and begins a steady stream of terrorist actions against Israel.
UN 'peacekeepers' fail to stop these terrorist actions or keep the peace. The Lebanese Government condones the Hezballah actions by support or silence. The Lebanese Government continues to reject the right of Israel to exist.

Dateline: Lebanon, 2006: Faced with a complete inability or lack of will by the Lebanese Government and the UN to stop the Hezbollah attacks into northern Israel, Israel acts.

The UN complains. The Lebanese Government (still at war with Israel) complains.

Would it be too much to suggest it's time the Lebanese Government changed its mind

Dear Narcissist,

I presume that in your eyes, I am both naive and a self-hating Jew. I have heard this before.

I want to pose my naivete against your wisdom -- a wisdom which has led to hundreds of violent deaths of Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese, the destruction of a country's infrastructure, the deepening of hatred of Israel in the Arab and Moslem world, a quantum leap in the attractiveness of antisemitic ideas to those so inclined, and first and foremost, an almost certain increase in the membership of such organizations as Hamas, Hezbollah and Al-Qaida.

Some wisdom!

The UN has become a soft target for the powerful nations of the world, they are the easy scapegoat for what are more much more complex problems.

I would have thought the Israelis could sympathise with this.

It is well to remember that the UN though originally backed by the US, has been virtually replaced by an America since the end of the Cold War which now regards itself as unipolar king-pin ruler of this world, so very much evidenced by its right, as it says, to build up its military capacity, including nuclear to maintain this mastery.

In a sense the US and the Soviets did share a kind of global mastery, with having access to the ridiculous veto which rendered the UN pretty well only a tool to be used by America and Soviet Russia when it suited either one.

Hence the blocking by US representative Bolton earlier not to allow a UN vote even to protest against the Israeli attack on Lebanon.

The point is, why are we all so gutless as regards this recalcitrant America, which has only made the Muslim world despise us even more?

Admittedly we do need America, but only the kind of America we had with the generosity of the Marshall Plan - but not the type of America which illegally moved into Iraq with the resultant unoly mess, and now once again rendering the UN impotent with its supplying of more ammunition to carry on blasting the Lebanese.

Probably the most sensible thing we can do with the UN, is to arrange a vote to remove America's right to the veto.

Could be having a pipe dream, however, to think of such things, with so many dumbed down people in the Western world, especially in John Howard's Australia.

During this time the United Nations has given Israel open authority to bombard a country with indiscriminate aggression towards Lebanese civilians.”

Rather fanciful to think that the inept and ‘always-late’ UN has “given Israel” any authority or permission to do anything. Israel is currently defending itself from Hezbollah terrorists, and would not be looking for any say so from the UN to do that.

Their “aggression”, if that is what the author chooses to call Israel defending itself, is directed against attacking terrorists. Only the author would “assume” that they are Hezbollah terrorists – she gives them the more respectable name ‘militia’.

If those terrorists had not ensconced themselves with the civilian population, the civilian toll would not be as high as it is.

The author has written a lot of words just to tell us something most of us already know – that the United Nations is, and always has been, a dud

Do any of you people even understand that WE are the UN? The UN is not an alien body sent down to put out trouble spots caused by others.

The UN is us - over 6 billion people and not just a few.

Jesus wept. So Lebanon didn't want a Jewish state on their land, nor did Palestine but it was us that forced them to.

Why did we do that? Because, we didn't want the bloody Jews.

Get a grip for god's sake. Do something useful instead of sitting back sniping and whining.

The UNSC will never function as it should while the US vetoes every single resolution against Israel. Full stop.

youngsteve,

dont be fooled by the propaganda about 'Israel's right to defend itself'

Israel sent a 'precision' missile directly thru the cross on a red Cross vehicle and blew up a UN Observation post that had been there for twenty years. The equation is clear:

Israel has the right to defend itself = Israel has to right to kill whoever and however many people it wants

The truth is that Israel is completely out of control. Israelies seem to suffer from a collective psychosis where they think if anyone attacks them they need to raze cities to the ground and kill hundreds of civilians. The equation seems to be

two captured 'choosen people' = the death of 400 innocent Lebanese civilians and the destruction of their country.

Sage: I'd accuse you of being a cynic, but then that would make me one too! The UN, like any form of government, has a vested interest in not solving anything (and where possible, making it worse) because that would put it out of a job. The whole point of the UN and its careerists is shameless self-promotion.

bushbred: Do you honestly think that if America lost its veto it would remain in the UN? Once it did a runner, how long do you think the UN would last? I mean in any other form but that of a club for the crumbling sacrimonious Europeans clinging to the delusion that anyone in the world really cares what they think (yet who still make their own dodgy deals in the shadows)? However, I agree with you that the rest of the UN should remove America's veto, if only to inadvertently put the final coffin in this grotesque would-be world tyranny (the UN I mean).

Incidentally, I generally take the media with a grain of salt. Just as I'm inclined to believe there's a fair bit of pro-Israel propaganda out there, I wonder how much anti-Israel propaganda there is. Maybe the Israelis were the ones who blew up the UN (sporting shooting I say), but maybe they weren't. Nah, Hezbollah couldn't have done that now, could they?! You know what, a real cynic might even say that the UN did it to itself to try to regain some sort of relevance.

Oh how jaded I have become!

Marilyn Shepherd

How could you quote Jesus and then write "Because, we didn't want the bloody Jews"?

Jesus and all the apostles were bloody Jews.

And do you understand anything about the UN? We are not the UN. The UN contains representatives of all member nations regardless of population, regardless of how there government is chosen. The large number of small Muslim nations, almost none with governments chosen by their people, have votes way out of proportion to their numbers and totally without input from their people.

The UN is fast becoming a wank.

Israel is fighting an enemy which wishes to destroy it and hides its armaments amongst villagers.

You have a bleeding heart but try to use your head. Are Arab babies more important to you than Jewish babies. If that is the case forget about Christianity because it is entirely Jewish.

Logic my point was that Israel exists because the christians didn't want the Jews.

I have never said I agree with any such horror.

We need and should get The United Nations setup by the people, for the people.

Not The United Nations setup by The World Governments, for The World Governments.

Marilyn Shepherd if WE are the UN? Then how come WE are sitting back sniping and whining in onlineopinion.com.au rather then sitting down sitting back sniping and whining at The UN General Assembly in New York

Eet,

Another silly duffer (like Carl) who likes to believe that Israel deliberately put a “precision’ missile through an ambulance.

How do you explain why the Israelis would also deliberately waste one of these “precision” and very expensive missiles on a drilling rig on the back of a truck?

After all if, according to you, they can identify and destroy an ambulance at extreme distances, surely they would be able to do the same with a drilling rig – identify it as harmless and save the missile for a genuine target?

Leigh, for the record, I never said that Israel delibratley bombed that ambulance, deliberate or not its still a disgrace.

At least Boaz actually reads my posts, you obviously don't have the attention span.

Shorbe, no offence, mate, but we so sorely need a United Nations, an idea actually formulated by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant after the previously enlightenment struck Napoleon declared himself emperor.

In like manner, we could say that naive foolish America believes she is emperor of this world just because she has become unipolar, formerly sharing global power with the Soviets in the bi-polar makeup.

As a matter of fact, some social scientists are saying that the world maybe had been a bit less dangerous with a sharing of power. The probable advantage of course, at the time, was Bismarkian Realpolik or the necessity for both sides to preserve a balance of power. Certainly needed with both sides with the capacity to blow half the world to bits and poison the rest.

In short, however, it is believed the end of the US veto in the UN might help America gain a bit more global commonsense, but maybe not so much with the mob of mostly former oil executives running Pax Americana right now.

Carl,

“Yes the civilised world indeed Elena, especially bombing that ambulance, what a civilised act that was.”

That’s what you said, Carl. You called what I believe was an ‘accident’ an ‘act’, suggesting – to me at least – that you believed that it was deliberate.

If I am wrong and you believe that I have misunderstood what you meant, I apologise

To reform the UN we can start by getting rid of that dill Kofi Annan.Notice how he dwells on his carefully mouthed syllables to give himself time to finish sentences full of platitudes and impotence.George Bush is far more aware.

The concept of the UN will never work because in an over populated world, poor,corrupt,inept countries will always outnumber the more disciplined,hardworking ones and the masses will use their numbers to bring us unstuck.

Marilyn Shepherd

I am glad that you cleared up that point. But you say that Israel existed because the Christians didn't want the Jews. Now that is not entirely true. For starters a number of Christian countries have been happy to have Jews amongst them. Notably this country where Jews arrived with the first fleet and have become a part of our society, but also Scotland England Canada the USA. Anti semitism didn't exist in this country until it was imported after the war from other non anglo countries.

And if you look at the population of modern Israel roughly half of their Jewish population is of middle eastern descent where the hatred directed at them was from Muslims. The same happened to Christians in the area. The flow of Jews from Egypt, Iraq etc had nothing to do with Christians.

You and others have mistaken the Zionist movement of Hertzel for the movement of Jews into the western coastal strip of Palestine which started with Jews from the Caliphate and later on from Europe. The flow of Jews after the holocaust was from a land in which Jews had already settled.

The problem of exchange of population movements is that while the displaced Jews from Egypt and Iraq were resettled the displaced Palestinians were not, no thanks to any generosity from the oil rich Sheiks who prefer to spend their money on their Rolls Royces rather than invest it in their own people. If that had been done the Palestinians like refugees from Europe now in Australia would be prosperous and the present problem of resentment and envy of Israel would not exist.

The real problem is one of Megalomania

The first job of megalomaniac leaders is to polarise opinion both internally (inside their own borders) and externally (the world at large). Language exists merely at the level of symbolism: externally - Christian/Muslim - internally Left/Right after this, substitute any polarity for desired effect – good/bad; black/white; red/blue, in short, dual thinking. In reality, life is much more colourful and much more complex. This language is nothing more than 'battlecryspeke' - "with us or against us"!

"left" or "right" dictatorships, look, and are in truth, the same thing. Self-proclaimed "Leaders"/"War Presidents" (NB, German translation: Fuhrer) on either side, due to fear of losing control, create artificial focal points (9/11? - Arch Duke Ferdinand?) in order to hoist the standard and call to arms...

National reproduction policy usually changes at the same time - as, of course, there may be need for an endless supply of canon fodder (think battery farming - literally) or a need for reconstruction 'drones' once the desired aim is achieved and thousands of lives have been wasted, achieving the glory and ego-driven dreams of the few. Either or thinking excludes looking for solutions – common ground becomes ‘no mans land’. Our leaders “will prevail”, “will have victory” I think everyone can agree that these people, whether they claim to be Arab/Isreali, on the left or on the right, (it will, of course, always be on the opposing side of their "enemy") are megalomaniacs

bushbred: Yet to whom is the UN accountable? If it were to be representative by a country's population size, then China and India would dominate, and neither of those two (particularly China) is exactly lily white. How would Australia, with 20 million people, do?

If it were to be representative of/by nations, then the plethora of ratbag authoritarian regimes around the world could make a mockery of it. That's currently the case, and whilst I'm not defending the U.S., I think it's crazy that many of its detractors (who have appalling human rights records) get taken seriously simply because they're part of the world community.

Finally, if it's run by bureaucrats, then to whom are they accountable? I don't remember ever voting for or against Kofi Annan.

Given how unaccountable and out of touch (if not downright corrupt) our present three levels of government are, how on earth can you possibly think a fourth (that would be even more removed) would be a good thing? What we need is a devolution of power, not the strengthening of central power.

Need I remind you that the Cold War wasn't any better than the present state (which I'm not saying is good)? Many of the world's current problems (including a lot of terrorism) are the result of America and the Soviet Union propping up any nutter who was willing to support one of them. Bin Laden was a product of that power balance.

Also, regarding Kant and Napoleon, Kant actually died (12 Feb, 1804) before Napoleon became emperor (18 May, 1804), so how could Kant have come up with his ideas after (and in response to) Napoleon becoming emperor?

Look, you might be on the right track, but you haven't actually said why, or why Kant was right (compared to any other philosopher -- personally, I found Kant beyond tedious and I'm much more of a Nietzschean myself).

We the people must do more to make "our voices" heard at GROUND LEVEL, using pro-active means if we want the UN which is ONLY a REPRESENTATIVE body made up of NATIONS to act accordingly.

If we want "COLLECTIVE SECRUITY" we (all civilians) must DECIDE what that is... and WORK FOR IT!

The latest Lebenan conflict as it (by many) "justly" references the underlying problems of 1957/8 and then 1978 and there after... reflects historically in SUBJECTIVE terms "what" happens (how history repeats itself) when we a people, participating in our - bystand, apathetically accuse those out there of wild in-justice.

What is happening IS WRONG. We must STOP IT... and to do this we must go right back and recap - HOW.

Will be back, thank you Taya Fabijanic, this is a very GOOD Paper, it is productive for it's simple and clear language.

www.miacat.com

No wonder the UN has failed most times. Don't our Onliners realise that since its inception that America has had the right of the VETO which can scrub out any attempt at a new Resolution which the US of A does not want. Earlier during the Cold War the Soviet Union was allowed the same -simply what was known as a privelege of the major powers.

Now of course America has the right alone, as was recently experienced when it was hoping the problems of the Israeli attack on Lebanon could allow for a major UN force to go there, possibly including Nato.

There was a heading about the Israeli-Lebanon problem on an Internet page called Rice's Fantasy Ride. Fantasy ride alright when George W' had probably informed her to use the veto. Also he might have told her to pay the big bill that the US had owed the UN for years. But not very likely.

It is so incredulous our John Howard has not questioned Georgy Boy about this? Also Tony Blair who is always talking so much about doing the right thing. Wonder if he means the ethical thing? Fact is, I wonder lately if both Blair and Howard have lost their marbles when they let Condoleeza use a veto that should have been thrown out by the end of the Cold War.

Also we could wonder whether our Onliners could know about the veto, and the harm it can do. Indeed, if they do and haven't mentioned it, they must be all for America using it. Thank you all very much.

Bushbred,

Another appeal, please please PLEASE GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT.

There are FIVE permanemt members of the Security Council.

These are: US, UK, Russia, China and France.

Each of these members has a right of veto, not just the US and Russia.

Sorry, Plerdus, but thought the US was the only one left with the veto. The only one since the Cold War that has been pressuring the UN for her own purposes, at any rate. Anyhow, which so-called veto nations supported her recent block against a UN force to protect Lebanon?

The worry about the US, since the Cold War is she seems to regard herself in her present unipolar position as having replaced the UN - with America as a future global imperial police force to handle an ever-increasing threat of terrorism both from the Islamic world and much of the Third World.

The likes of the UN was first thought of by Immanuel Kant to handle problems such as we have in the world right now. Konrad Adenaeur of West Germany also believed in the same thing. As undoubtly Mikhail Gorbachev does as well as Nelson Mandela. Persons of wisdom and commonsense who have proven to be able to organise and fix the most dangerous of global problems without full scale war. So much needed in this increasingly rocket-crazy nuclear world we are now being forced to face.

Regards, George C.

bushbred: You haven't addressed my points about why we really need a fourth level of government that would be even less accountable than the three we already have and why having such a government be run by a slew of third world despotic regimes or their representatives would be preferable to having the U.S. imperialism you seem so averse to.

• Sly Logic ..."Marilyn Shepherd, You have a bleeding heart but try to use your head. Are Arab babies more important to you than Jewish babies. If that is the case forget about Christianity because it is entirely Jewish"... Uttered Zionist stooge on OLO forum within-an-attempt to deflect voices-of-reason from debating real issues-in-question. Especially pertinent at the moment with the hijacked world destiny at the crossroads. Where people like the indoctrinated Zionists (veiled under revolved aliases cast on the internet forums) having a real-stake in blurring deep-rooted disparity between the Jews on socio-ideological grounds.

How else they to utilise otherwise our Jew-lesser brethren embodiment, scapegoated as the human shield to deflect focus from the actual plague. Emanated from Solomonic blood aristocracy, an-almighty chosen to-rule the world, within the "rule by the best". Whereas to grasp the core-essence of such-a-bizarre phenomenon, one ought-to-probe into the root of Jewanderthal species and their godlike will-imposition upon-humble Homosapiens, latest entrants on the planet earth as proverbial Goyim and Shiksas. Who survived since time immemorial manifold millenniums span the malevolent psycho-primates breed savagery.

As mercurial metamorphosis casted scourge, surreptitiously emerged into Jewvoracious aristocracy by the monarchy rule, traversing isolationist psychopaths induced interbreeding (spare-a-though for the slain in their midst, our bellowed Jew princes Diana). To emanate into Roman Empire's reign, as mighty evil evolved subsequently into anti-Christ Vatican, to subjugate plebs and coerce payment of taxes. Ratified via cuckoo-nest incubated tyrant-regimes, as embryonic Christianity was hijacked by anti-Christ Vatican, presided ever-since by 266 Jew-Popes. As utterly debilitated human masses, due to Jewanderthal psychopaths spun religious-lies as a pretext for heinous wars, sustained incessant subjugation. Still being obliged for the blue-blooded rivalry-royals exploitation.

Whereas to tackle such-a-dilemma, let's us for starters to observe the non-caucasian-people's rulers or preachers, who amazingly to-be found quite distinct from the populous, they ought-to-represent. Then as one develops visual acuity to detect an-almighty chosen physiognomies, our scrutiny should progress into the focused observation, somewhat-obvious to the lesser extent, our caucasian rulers or preachers. Who are embodying as-norm our-Jew-reflections.

For an eye opener proceed to ... http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=4632#46251