Time for a Kofi Break, by Glenn Reynolds

Wall Street Journal ^ | November 29, 2004 | GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS

[OESY]

...Things have gotten bad enough that some are calling for Mr. Annan's resignation, amid talk of former Czech President Vaclav Havel as successor.... But however you assess Mr. Havel's chances of becoming secretary general, for Mr. Annan the comparison is devastating. Mr. Havel, after all, is a hero on behalf of freedom: A man who helped bring about the end of communist dominance in Eastern Europe, despite imprisonment and the threat of death -- a man who could write that "Evil must be confronted in its womb and, if it can't be done otherwise, then it has to be dealt with by the use of force." Mr. Annan, by contrast, is a trimmer and temporizer who has stood up for tyrants far more than he has stood up to them.

If the comparison is damning to Kofi, it's even more damning to the U.N....

The U.N. is losing what shreds of moral legitimacy remain, even among those who were once sympathetic, as the extent of its corruption becomes too obvious to ignore. There's talk of replacing -- or, more diplomatically, supplementing -- the U.N. with a Community of Democracies that would draw its support from legitimate governments, not thugs and kleptocrats. At the very least, it seems likely that the U.N. will soon come under enormous pressure to reform.

But here's a paradox: It's hard to imagine that Mr. Annan could parry the pressure. But a U.N. headed by Mr. Havel might derive enough reflected legitimacy to resist such changes. According to Mr. Annan's Web site, the secretary general is supposed to serve as a "symbol" of U.N. "ideals." It may well be that he's doing that more accurately than Vaclav Havel ever could.

[OESY]

Mr. Reynolds, professor of law at the University of Tennessee, publishes InstaPundit.com.

[Coop]

Wouldn't Kofi's resignation and/or the formation of a UN successor org be sweet?

Please, please, please!

[processing please hold]

The U.N. is beyond redemption. Their usefulness is as obsolete as the League of Nations. Look at all their failures.

All they are good for is giving out food....wait a minute...they aren't even good at that. They are a sinkhole of corruption, malfeisence and graft.

The sooner they are gone.....the better for the world.

[vger]

Les' see; sKerry's gone, Dashle's gone, arafart's gone, now perhaps kofi too!?

that'd be great!

[Brett66]

There's talk of replacing -- or, more diplomatically, supplementing -- the U.N. with a Community of Democracies that would draw its support from legitimate governments, not thugs and kleptocrats.

So who's doing this talking and what chance does it have of becoming more than talk?

[CriticalJ]

I don't know much about the UN, except for the continual stories of mismanagement and corruption. I assume its financed with a membership fee from all nations. If so, wouldn't open books stop some of the corruption? Shouldn't an organization that is supposedly dedicated to making the world a better place happily show all of its expenses, contracts, etc. to the rest of the world?

[processing please hold]

Ain't it great to be alive to witness to this wonderful November.

WHOO HOO

[MarkT]

Send a strong signal to the U.N. Advise them that the money paid by the U.S. to the U.N. for the U.N.'s budget, which for purposes of this missive I will estimate to be 25% of its total receipts, will be adjusted. The U.S. will withhold, say, $500M per year until the U.N. shall have NOT received 25% of the stolen and mis-directed $20B+ (plus reasonable interest, expenses and attorney's fees)- thus, the U.S. shall "pay" itself back for the fraud committed by the U.N. with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Additionally, the U.N. must have a transparent, third-party audit available to all members (and the press)of every program for which it claims sponsorship. Absent such an immediate commitment and public, demonstrable actions to the completion thereof, the U. S. immediately shall cease to fund any organization or effort sponsored directly or indirectly by the U.N.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Not satisfied with a three-fer, you want a four-fer ?

[anniegetyourgun]

Over here!

[Reo]

I sure like your tag line, Brett. I wish someone would print up a W1 bumper sticker to put right next to my W-04.

[Verginius Rufus]

Kofi Annan is another Clinton legacy...he blocked a second term for the Egyptian, Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Not that any of the UN Secretaries-General has been worth a plugged nickel since the organization was founded. I think they disregarded a rule about geographical rotation to give the job to Annan, since that meant two African S-G's in a row.

[AmericanChef]

Don't get your hopes up - they'll probably replace Kofi with a cheese-eating surrender monkey and put Syria in charge of everything else!

[Sthitch]

It would be a fine day if the UN were led by the likes of Vaclav Havel. A man who stood eye-to-eye with the ultimate evil this world has produced and did not blink. For the sake of all that is good and decent, he is the best candidate for the job.

The best quote in this piece was: "So far, you . . . have chosen . . . the path of inner decay for the sake of outward appearances . . . of deepening the spiritual and moral crisis of our society, and ceaselessly degrading human dignity, for the puny sake of protecting your own power." This was written by Havel to Moscow's Czech puppet Gustav Husack, but it really could be meant for Kofi.

[phoenix0468]

I've heard that Kofi Anan makes up one turd of the U.N.

[Blue Highway]

A more suitable employment opportunity.