Keith's Weblog: Comments on "The United Nations"

by Keith Gaughan

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:38:03 +0000

"League of Democracies"... that sounds just like something George Soros would say. I'd watch yourself there, Keith. :-)

I'm being ha, ha, only serious here. Soros, in "Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism", says exactly the same thing.

by Keith

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:57:32 +0000

That's ok. Soros can be right about some things. An association of democracies (where there are standards of democracy a country has to meet to be able to enter) is much better than an association such as the UN where dictatorships and repressive regimes are the rule.

by Keith

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:58:37 +0000

I've read pieces where other people have argued for a similar setup, but I can't find anything I read about it before -- I must not have blogged them.

by Martijn

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 12:20:13 +0000

Anti-semitic? Why do you say that?

by Keith

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 19:48:55 +0000

Because of their constant condemnations of Israel. Because of their refusal to condemn terrorism in general, and Palestinian terrorism in particular, in any meaningful terms. There are so many anti-Israel resolutions that don't even pass only because the U.S. vetos them, such as the UN wanting to condemn Israel's assassination of Yassin, leader of Hamas. Yet the UN isn't willing to condemn the use of Palestinian children as suicide bombers, or the murder of Israeli children by terrorists. The UN is largely ruled by their enormous Muslim block of nations, though that, unfortunately, doesn't account for all of the anti-semitism at the UN, as the EU nations are another huge block that is also guilty. This is a pretty good article.

If I kept a mental list I could give you more specifics, but it's such an endemic problem at the UN I'm surprised you even asked (It's the same as if you'd asked about BBC bias against Israel (and Reuters, etc.)). The UN and the Jews (PDF) by Anne Bayefsky in Commentary Magazine from February is long and detailed. I haven't read it yet, but I've seen in recommended a bunch of times while searching so I plan on reading it. Here's a speech given to the UN by Anne Bayefsky I intend to read. Here's some more from Charles Krauthammer which speaks more specifically to Europe, but contains an interesting note at the end I hadn't known. And, before I finish, here's one more by Anne Bayefsky about the UN's conference on anti-semitism.

by Martijn

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 21:25:18 +0000

You say you're surprised you even asked, I'm surprised you can believe such a thing.
So you want the UN replaced by something that doesn't vote against Israel? A "League of Democracies"? Russia is not democratic, neither China.
I don't think this is very realistic.

by Keith

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 21:35:24 +0000

You're surprised I can believe that the UN is anti-semitic? I'm surprised you're oblivious to it.

And, in the hope for a "League of Democracies", surely we should rather hope that China and Russia would reform than forego the idea of such an organization because such states couldn't join.

by Keith

Fri, 24 Dec 2004 02:41:55 +0000

As a followup:
http://keithdevens.com/weblog/archive/2004/Dec/23/The-UN-and-the-Jews