The most ancient, and most widely used Weapon of Mass Destruction is famine. It is time for us to take aim at the most pernicious practitioners of this weapon. We already dispatched one–Saddam Hussein–but there are plenty more of them in the world. And their headquarters is in New York City.
I sometimes wonder if the purpose of the UN isn’t to provide a place for despots to gather and compare notes on how best to destroy political enemies within their own borders. Genocide is only the most visible tool in use, but it requires a great deal of effort, and tends to draw attention to the operation. It is much cleaner, and far more profitable, to simply starve your enemies. This brings all kinds of foreign aid which can be redirected to feed your military forces and political cronies.
Ethiopia’s Mengitsu was a great practitioner. He managed to starve thousands during his rule, and received gifts from the US and Europe while doing so. Mugabe has pretty much destroyed what was once Africa’s breadbasket. Saddam had no problem with diverting all the Oil-for-Food dinars into his palaces and claiming the sanctions were killing children in Iraq. While Palestinians live in squalor, Arafat eats well and fattens his bank account with foreign aid dollars and Euros.
I believe we need to declare war on this particular WMD. And we can’t do it in an altruistic manner. We’ve tried that for years. We have to eliminate the tyrants who practice it. It will simply require a slightly different angle in the approach to the GWOT. We can do the same things, but couch it in different words.
The first step is to move the headquarters from NYC to Baghdad.
Wasn’t it the old John Birch battle cry: “Get the US out of the UN, and get the UN out of the US”? I’ve been hearing that for 30+ years, so long, in fact, I’ve forgotten where I first heard it. Funny thing is, although I was never a “Bircher”, I always agreed with that sentiment.
Does anyone recall in 2000, the UN roundly rejected a bid from the US to lower the percentage amount of dues owed/paid by the US from 25% to 22%? The claim was that the dollar was so much stronger than the Euro they couldn’t afford to let Uncle Sugar off the hook. With the Euro now 20% stronger than the dollar, I wonder how that arguement would fly now. Personally, I think we could find a more productive place for that annual 1 Billion in UN dues, plus the 30% tab they run on the US for the worldwide peacekeeping bills.
I was always in favor of moving the UN to that pillar of neutrality, Switzerland, as for moving it to Baghdad, that’s a cute twist.
Comment by john — October 1, 2004 @ 11:57 am
Google “Mike New”, or check out my blog 9/29. The UN, sKerry & Clinton have only one aim; One World Unity! God forbid! And God Bless Mike New for his courage and stamina!
Comment by DagneyT — October 1, 2004 @ 4:05 pm
I think/wonder if he meant “Lubyanka”, which was the Moscow HQ of the KGB. When you play fast and loose with words, and the truth isn’t the object of the exercise, it’s easy to mis-speak these things.
Comment by john — October 1, 2004 @ 4:57 pm