Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (5149)	9/20/2005 7:25:37 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 9838

Norm Coleman: The U.N. Must Look For a New Secretary-General Wall Street Journal ^ \| September 20, 2005 \| Senator Norm Coleman online.wsj.com Last week, world leaders met for what Kofi Annan described as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to take bold decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the United Nations." But a reading of the "outcome document" world leaders are signing shows it to be yet another missed opportunity for U.N. reform. John Bolton pushed hard to improve the document and succeeded in modifying its most objectionable clauses. But what remains falls far short of "bold." The document, for instance, calls for a Human Rights Council to replace the thoroughly discredited Human Rights Commission. But negotiators could not agree on the criteria for participation, leaving open the possibility that this new organ will be more of the same. In the same way, the document does not adequately address critical issues such as establishing a code of ethics, implementing sunset provisions on redundant U.N. programs or a staff buyout to eliminate the deadwood that pervades the personnel system; instead, it merely asks for a report by the secretary-general. And it leaves out entirely essential components of U.N. reform like the installation of a chief operating officer and an independent auditing board. Instead, we have a document that advocates the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for small island states, the Almaty Program of Action for landlocked developing countries, the Declaration and Program of Action on a Culture of Peace, and the Global Agenda for Dialogue Among Civilizations. The document, in fact, is structured around such delusions. The first half -- a full 18 pages -- is devoted to amorphous platitudes about development. The superficial treatment of reform is buried at the end. It strains credulity for an organization wracked by corruption and mismanagement to broaden the scope of its mandate when it is supposed to be engaged in self-critique.