North Coast Online

A Fitting Tribute

Wretchard reminds us that the UN plans to appoint Zimbabwe as head of the Commission on Sustainable Development. 

The UN can do little harm as long as it is universally understood that it operates according to the principles of magical realism. Unfortunately it often presented as the very fount of wisdom, capable of offering sound advice on climate change, economic development, human rights and nuclear proliferation when it is not always well qualified to do this.

Samizdata almost dropped his teacup when he heard the news.  But a commenter thinks Zimbabwe's development policies fit a lot of agendas quite well.

  In terms of taking the world back to a bleak, pre-industrial existence (which is what many people in favour of "sustainable development" seemingly want) the government of Zimababwe is doing a good job of leading by example.

Hm, "bleak, pre-industrial existence."  Sounds alarmingly like the East Side of Buffalo.  It is sustainable, though, we've sustained it for decades.

Don't Let The Door Hit You In The Ass

Kofi: the Man, the Myth, the Mercedes and the Apartment

And I Should Care?

Annan says U.S. should 'close' Gitmo

Why anything this spineless, ineffectual and corrupt man has to say makes the news can only be attributed to the likelihood that much of the media (they're purported to be liberal you know) agree with him.  I'll be happy the day I read "President says U.S. should 'close' UN".  In its current form its more of a hindrance to world understanding than it is a help.

[UPDATE:'] And what's with the single-quotes around 'close?'  If they're needed at all, shouldn't they rather be around 'Gitmo?'  Or was Annan just waxing ironic?

Move the UN to Canada?

Yes! Yes!

The UN Hard At Work Protecting the Iraqi People

The United Nations has concluded an audit which recommends that the nations involved in the Oil-for-Food scandal repay the Iraqi people the $10 billion dollars that were stolen from them.  Oh wait, that's wrong.

An auditing board sponsored by the United Nations recommended yesterday that the United States repay as much as $208 million to the Iraqi government for contracting work in 2003 and 2004 assigned to Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary.

The work was paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, but the board said it was either carried out at inflated prices or done poorly. The board did not, however, give examples of poor work.

Ya' gotta laugh.

Dreamweavers

The international community's latest fetish is poverty in Africa.  Now when it comes to actually doing something about it like ending a genocide in Rwanda, quelling a murderous rebellion in Somalia, or addressing the tragi-comic dictatorship of a deluded Mugabe in Zimbabwe, they're oddly silent.  But they regain their voice when their good intentions involve taking money from the rest of us.

France, Germany, Brazil and Chile have called for a tax on airline tickets to help finance the global fight against poverty.

Such a tax makes sense because airlines benefit from globalization and pay low tax rates, and airline passengers "are rarely among the poorest citizens," Thierry Breton, France's economic minister, told a U.N. ministerial meeting on Monday.

He said the tax could be different for domestic and international travel and for economy and business seats, and it could also vary depending on a country's wealth. The proceeds would go through existing institutions "to avoid needless bureaucracy" and could be used to finance urgent programs such as vaccination campaigns or AIDS treatment.

An international tax? From my cold, dead hands.