We have just started a newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee called the "UWM Times". Our first edition was just published 2 weeks ago. Needless to say, our paper is more conservative-leaning and the school managed to shut us down in 2 hours and 46 minutes after distribution. I'll mention why they did in a later post - a pretty weak reason. It could possibly be that some of the deans don't like the fact that a Conservative group had put out a publication that offered an alternative to some of the more liberal publications on campus. The article I wrote might have contributed to the agitation of some of our liberal deans. Here it is in full:
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You Can't Spell "Unethical" Without UN
What do Cuba, Sudan, Syria, North Korea, Libya, China, Pakistan and Swaziland all have in common? If your answer was that they are all human rights violators and states where liberty and political dissidence is suppressed, you would be correct. However, that is not the answer I was looking for, but we will get back to that later.
Most likely, not a day goes by where the United Nations does not make the news. This comes as no surprise, as the United Nations is the proclaimed international forum to engage in discussion and promote peace and freedom around the world. Yet, it is startling to see that the news covering the UN is not revealing its true nature: The UN is a failure on all levels. International talks at the UN are a joke, the UN is not a powerful advocate of peace nor is it a defender of freedom. Rather, the organization is riddled with corruption, mismanagement and scandal.
I can already sense the anger seeping through some people’s veins as they are reading this. How dare I criticize the international bearer of all that is good! After all, look at all they have done for the many countries in the world. Right, about that, when was the last time the UN did something good that benefited peace and liberty? Oil-for-Food? Well, let’s not bring that up seeing that it didn’t work out so well.
Here are some little known facts about our good friend, the United Nations: Of the 191 members that comprise the UN, fewer than 50 (yes, that number is accurate) are democracies. If we put that number directly at 50, that would mean a whopping 26% of the nations within the UN are democracies. That seems strange doesn’t it?
The United States is the leading financial contributor to the UN. What is the US funding exactly? It is possible that we our providing the 17,000 UN bureaucrats with some very comfortable living arrangements. After all, “directors” and “assistant directors” within the UN (and there are many of them) make anywhere between $126,713 and $186,144. They also get rent subsidies, US tax exemptions, expense accounts for entertainment and numerous other perks. Secretary General Kofi Annan receives $227,253 a year, in addition to his $25,000 entertainment allowance, house, and car. Compare these salaries to our own congressmen who make $158,100 and the average Joe in the US who pocketed about $36,764 in 2002 and there’s a big problem. In fact, American taxpayers pay 22% of the UN's annual budget! These bureaucrats are being way overpaid; or, at the very least, they are not doing nearly enough within the UN to warrant their hefty salaries and perks.
It is amazing that the UN is not laughed out of operation. The UN peacekeeping force is a farce. What other international body overlooks genocide (see Sudan) while brutal dictators massacring their own people are allowed (North Korea, Zimbabwe)? Just examine the Security Council, the UN’s most important organization whose goal is to maintain international peace and security. The Council is comprised of 5 permanent members (US, Britain, France, China and Russia) and 10 members elected to 2-year terms. Any member can be elected to the Security Council, except ONE. Israel, you are not allowed to be nominated or elected to the Council; it does not matter that you are a democracy – you cannot participate. Meanwhile, the Council’s authority seems to be irrelevant. When Saddam Hussein refused to follow the 17 Security Council resolutions demanding him to disarm and allow unlimited access to weapons sites by UN inspectors, the Council reacted with inaction.
The UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) is a joke. Where else would you find flagrant violators presiding on the Commission? In 2001, the United States was thrown out of the UNCHR while the bastion of human rights Cuba was kept on. At the same time, the UNCHR was welcoming the terrorist states of Libya and Syria. In 2005, the Human Rights Commission elected Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe to decide which cases of human rights violations should be brought before the Commission. That’s like allowing sex offenders to choose where they want to live. Am I missing something here?
Perhaps, the UN’s most damaging and dangerous claim is that it is the sole executioner of what is or what is not “legitimate” international action. I cringe at the thought of the US being subjected to a “global test” before we use military action as was mentioned by some candidates during our last presidential election. Does that not blatantly conflict with the US Constitution? Article I Section 8 Clause 11 states that the “Congress shall have power to declare war.” Handing over the constitutional power to declare war to the UN would give the UN the power it so desperately seeks. After all, the UN’s real initiative is to grab as much power as possible while in the process spewing out anti-American garbage.
Remember the question I asked at the beginning of the article? Parade Magazine came out with its most recent list of the ten worst dictators in the world (Feb. 15, 2005). Out of the 10 named in the article, 9 are honored members of the UN! The countries I listed at the beginning of this article are all on this list.
What is the solution to the UN problem? Leave. Immediately. The UN has no accountability when democracies are the minority within its buildings. The US should withdraw from the organization and take with it as many other democracies as possible. The United Nations originally offered the opportunity to establish a forum where the world’s peace-seeking nations could come together and solve international problems. Former US Ambassador to the UN and former Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan described the UN as “a theater of the absurd, a decomposing corpse, and an insane asylum.” The time has come to start over with a new organization truly committed to establishing freedom and democracy throughout the world.
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I don't know...maybe it's just me. However, one thing is certain: look for the next issue of the UWM Times in early December.
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