Pretty much everyone in the United States knows that the UN is dysfunctional. However there are some recent developments that are disturbing.
One concern (and that’s stating it mildly) is the recent additions to the UN “Human Rights Council.” The new countries on the committee are: China, Russia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, and (as if those weren’t bad enough) Cuba! What a nice list of countries with reputations for being the most brutal and torturous on the planet. I’m sure they would give good advice to France, Germany, and etc. on how to deal with Darfur and other failed situations.
The UN defeats its primary purpose: stopping war. With all the warring countries together, the rogue countries (e.g. China, Russia, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, and Cuba) can bully around, manipulate, and deceive others and get away with it. The UN has not stopped a single war from happening since WWII. It was NATO, not the UN that stopped the Cold War. The UN still hasn’t done anything about Darfur.
The UN is a lumbering old giant that can’t solve problems. The Oil-for-Food scandal, (the program is also known as “Oil-for-Terrorism,” “Oil-for-Palaces,” “Oil-for-alliances with France” etc.) run by Kofi Annan’s son, is good proof of that.
One glimmer of hope is that ambassador John Bolton has the guts to stand up to all the left European countries. The only problem is that he’s at that post only for a little while. The Democrats in Congress didn’t want someone who would institute change, so they stopped him with ridiculous charges at the Senate floor. Then Bush pulled a little-known law off the shelf and dusted it off, making Bolton the ambassador to the UN without the Senate’s approval. Bolton is trying all he can to reform the organization, but there’s only so much you can do within a defective system such as the UN.
The US pays the most into UN coffers, (I think about 20% of their revenue comes from us) but we only get one vote on key issues. The UN constitution is flawed. For that matter the whole organization is flawed.
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