Koffi Annan:
"Our response to this unprecedented catastrophe must be equally unprecedented."
Tsunami: 150,000 dead. 390,000 displaced.
Sudan: 1,500,000 dead. 4,000,000 displaced.
Since the tsunami deaths and displacement are more than assuredly precedented in numbers he must mean that the genocide in Sudan does not qualify as a catastrophe. Doesn't the systematic murder and forced displacement of the black populace of Sudan by the ruling Islamic power seem catastrophic to you?
There are some serious differences between these two catastrophes though. One was an unpredictable natural disaster, the other is an ongoing disaster perpetrated by man against man. One has garnered massive international aid, the other has been largely ignored. One has Koffi Annan calling for a billion dollars for assistance, the other is a UN budget item. One has the full backing of the UN, the other is a footnote to partisan byblows.
Most importantly, one has absolutely nothing to do with the UN charter while the other is precisely what the UN was formed to deal with.
The UN is dead in all but name. They function adequately as a substitute and support mechanism for international humanitarian aid but this is not their purpose. For the crises they were created to deal with they have the same success and authority as a crackpot in the woods writing letters to the editor.
The UN has been dead for a long time. I wish they would get the hell out of my country as all they do is create harm. But look who is controlling the UN...there's your answer.
It is unfortunate that an organization that started with such good intentions has fallen to such a low level.
They function adequately as a substitute and support mechanism for international humanitarian aid but this is not their purpose.
No they don't.
Quite an interesting comparison. Add to that equation what it took for President Bush to circumnavigate the UN and commit American forces plus $200 billion tax dollars for a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq.