The UN is to be marginalized and disregarded. It's part of the plan.

[Ron Green]

Bombing a UN outpost and killing UN observers, if that's what has happened, is just part of the intentional dismantling of the "debating society" that's been going on for decades. Remember the billboards from the 60's and 70's? "U.S. OUT OF THE U.N." (I think that one was the John Birch Society, but there have been plenty of such campaigns to lose the hearts and minds of those who see a group of States as one hope for a peaceful world.)

You see, the right-wingers who heaped scorn and derision upon the "fuzzy-thinking one-worlders" did not deny globalization, they just had to wait until the right kind of globalization was ready: The WTO, the World Bank, Bechtel, Nike and McDonald's. To unite the world with governments, hopefully more and more of them peacefully elected, is a messy affair that does not guarantee the same sure control of the transnational corporate structure, happily paid for by the masses ready to buy and enjoy.

So the UN has got to go. We'll see what result the "test bombing" by the Israelis will bring, but my money's on Bolton's less-than indignant response.

[Deja Q]

1. Those fuzzy one-worlders must include the corporate dudes who offshore.

Whoops!

[Ron Green]

2. Yeah, why mess with pesky "taxes" and "national laws?"

[democrank]

3. Agree.

The my-way-or-the-highway Bushites can`t bear the thought of diplomacy. Why engage in lengthy dialogue when it`s quicker to drop cluster bombs and silence the dissenters?

[Ron Green]

4. Not only is it quicker, but it's easier to sell to a fearful public.

The other, happy-face side is that the corporations give us what we really want: not only the destruction of the "enemy," but a new SUV or eye-liner!

[mom cat]

5. Also, Condi wants NATO troops in Lebanon to advance the

PNAC/Israeli agenda.

[K8-EEE]

6. Knuckle Dragging Freepers Are HighFiving This

They are sick...

[klook]

7. That's always been the plan

When you appoint a U.N. ambassador who's gone on record saying "there is no such thing as the United Nations" and "if the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference," your purpose is not to strengthen the organization. Bush is pandering to the John Birchers and the rest of the extreme Right Wing in the U.S. that wants the U.S. out of the U.N.

http://www.carto.net.nyud.net:8090/neumann/travelling/usa_westcoast_05_2002/06_crater_lake_24_05_2002/30_get_the_us_out_of_the_un__no_comment.jpg

[Igel]

8. In the case of UNIFIL, it's already marginalized and

completely disregarded, if you haven't noticed.

It's been there for decades. It's purpose was to make sure there was a full withdrawal, a full disarmament of militias, and to aid the Lebanese government in establishing control over the border. In other words, it's mandate was very similar to what Annan wants for a new peacekeeping force under UN aegis. After all, it worked last time, right?

It took 20 years for Hezbollah to claim credit for driving the Israelis out, and satisfy point one of the UNIFIL mandate; UNIFIL watched the occupation, and the guerrilla war against it. Then UNIFIL watched Lebanon's military not be allowed into southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah flags get raised. It's been on fine terms with Hezbollah, even if that ignored one of the points in the UNIFIL mandate.

UNIFIL's watched Hezbollah rearm and build posts, bunkers, and tunnels. It's certified that Hezbollah IEDs were found on the Israeli side of the border, and couldn't get Hezbollah to disarm them--after all, they were on the *Israeli* side of the border. It's watched the abduction of Israeli soldiers, and presumably their murder, and withheld the video footage. It's been around as Hezbollah fires rockets into northern Israel. Rather than assist in disarming the militia, it was on fine terms with it as it built up arms caches.

Apart from creating what might be an interesting archive, assuming anybody could actually get access to it, it's unclear what the $93 million or so per year, with $20+ million of that coming from the US, has done.

[Ron Green]

10. Chump change, isn't it, compared with one month's bill in Iraq?

The thing about the UN is that the big players have to take it seriously to make it work.

Internationalism is a concept never really embraced by the "rugged individualist" types, although in the nuclear world (and now the internet world), it's imperative that we do things differently than in the past couple of thousand years.

Just as in the States, if we can privatize the world, and make people consumers rather than citizens, we can keep bread and circuses going for another few years. The difference now, other than those mentioned above, is that the oil is running out.

[Jim Warren]

9. Doesn't fit the agenda

laid forth by the Mayberry Machiavellis, perpetual war and propagation of the death culture.