Posted on 12/30/2004 10:19:28 AM PST by flitton
United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster.
The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the world’s response.
But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN.
“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,” she said.
“Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.
“It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.”
Ms Short said the coalition countries did not have good records on responding to international disasters.
She said the US was “very bad at coordinating with anyone” and India had its own problems to deal with.
“I don’t know what that is about but it sounds very much, I am afraid, like the US trying to have a separate operation and not work with the rest of the world through the UN system,” she added.
We have invited the UN to join the coalition.
I wouldn't trust Kofi and his racketeers with a jr. high bake sale much less with a billion dollars in relief funds.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
STAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHP! YERKILLINME!
Let the UN bitch about not getting their skim off the top.
Forge ahead W, let the world know that the UN ain't needed no-more!
Kofi Annan is on C-Span live right now. The UN is going to have another meeting next week.
That's right.
5 million homeless people without food or water and the UN is going to have a meeting.
And they have yet to mention air drops to get food and water to these people.
And they have the nerve, the gall, to say the president is undermining them?
Hey Clare...STFU plz.
What the Un is really sore about is that it will now be very hard to devert money to numbered Swiss accounts this way.
***“Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.***
I suppose she also believes that only really the UN could disarm Saddam? And where does she get off saying the US has a poor record of coordinating relief efforts? Just because we aren't as good at siphoning funds into our pockets as Coffee Anon?
It's obvious the U.N. is incapable of doing humanitarian work, in fact, I wonder if it is capable of anything?
To...............give oil for food? Food for oil?
Cash to th UN?
Right now the best system I have got for flying is my car. It sucks for the job, but it is the best system I've got. If I decide to fly, I will not build up my car, I will buy an airplane.
Shalom.
Will the UN demand a 2.2% cut right off the top along with all they can steal as they did in the UN Oil for Food Scam?
Perhaps the problem is that there is a fear that the US, Japan, Australia and India will prove more efficient if the areas are divided up. Ther is no reason that would necessarily have to be so if the UN is as good as is claimed. However few would bet on it.
Seems as though Ms. Short has a good understanding of the totally obvious.
Never fear, the UN won't get cut out. Powell just announced it is being added to the coalition.
Powell can't be replaced soon enough, IMHO.
I love when people simply and flatly declare falsehoods like this. It makes you suddenly understand the twisted result of what happens when fallen human nature is crossed with false ideologies..
Only the U.N. could take money meant for food and medicinces and divert it into their private bank accounts. Only the U.N. could call Americans "stingy" in the middle of a crisis when we are among most generous in world. Only the U.S. (and our allies) can be depended upon to liberate millions of oppressed peoples.
WTG Mr. President!! He knows damn well where that money would end up, and bypassed them to help the people directly with like minded nations interested in helping these people rather than letting them die.
First things first, right?
It's hard to think about disasters without first filling the belly with caviar and hor d'oerves, and washing it down with a bit of Champagne....
Then there's the blunt matter of who gets what "cut." Swiss bank are waiting, you know...
The UN needs the cash. They've gotten used to certain lifestyle ripping off the oil-for-food program and it would be unfair to deprive them of that just because it was illegal.
Our "assets" are being asked for to set up temporary housing for workers/medical workers..It makes a lot of sense Mr Egeland says that the US took the lead in this...(stingy though we may be)?
That was a relief effort, too, I believe. Food out of the mouths of babies...there is no depth to which the UN will not sink.
Exactly. One for the victims, one for the UN. Etc.
The UN is irrelevant.
It takes a while to gather together the right refreshments for a top level meeeting you know. /sarcasm/
Didn't hear that. I agree.
EXCUSE ME?!!! THE ONLY BODY WITH THE MORAL AUTHORITY? I am at a loss for words hearing the crap streaming from the UN today.
"5 million homeless people without food or water and the UN is going to have a meeting."
The US is sending ships, capable of generating 90,000 gallons of drinking water, per day.
Somewhere between 5 and 10 such ships. They are sailing to the area, at present.
But the UN will meet next week, to discuss France's $138,000 contribution, and to criticize the US.
Yeah Claire, it's not about effectivly helping the people in need--It's all about claiming the moral authority to say you will help those people. A$$.
GOOD!
Yup. We've also sent forensic scientists to help identify the dead. Those people will be transported, housed, and paid a salary. Equipment donated. Millions right there.
I love Bush
Ms. Clare, One prairie dog could undermine the U.N.!
I understand why they are so upset after I seen how they robbed the oil-for-food program....
President Bush would actually like to see the money and aid GET to the victims instead of lining the pockets of the UN. How dare he!
Did she say it with a straight face?
"It is the only body that has the moral authority."
The only good thing that may come out of this horrible disaster is that the UN may self-destruct. We need to help this process by demanding that our representatives initiate action to stop funding the UN, withdraw from the UN and throw them out of the country.
Ah, yes, that big thinker, Clare Short. This entire mess would be funny were it not so tragic. They reveal what they are every time they open their mouths and stick their feet inside.
"I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up," she said.
I'm actually thinking that the fact that we are already getting aid to these people while the UN is planning a meeting next week to discuss how to go about getting aid to these people might lead one to conclude that UN might not actually be the best system for this type of thing.
That's just me of course.
(These people have some unbelievable nerve to say sh#t like that)
Kofi is desperate. The train is leaving the station without him. They're irrelevant, which the entire world should be able to see...except for the likes of Clare Short.
Undermining the UN.......I should hope so!!!
“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN..."
Why, yes it is...how perceptive of you.
"...when it is the best system we have got..." Well, thats a laugh line, right?
"... and the one that needs building up,” she said." No, it needs to be scrapped, destroyed and scuttled.
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