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On Wed, 7 May 2003 09:17:19 -0400 "John-Peter Hopperger" <j-ph@mindspring.com> writes: > >Hassan and Felicity may be pleased to learn that >Kofi Annan, Mr. Impotence, will manage to do >little bleating in the foreseeable future. I heard it He is impotent indeed! My impression of Kofi Annan is that he is a good man, but he truly has virtually no real power. The UN itself has hardly any power, and what power they have is dispersed, pulling in various directions, and easily ignored. Any funds or troops employed have to be begged for from the member nations, and even the Securuty Council can not pass resolutions which is not to liking of any of the five permanent members (like the child's game of "May I?": "Take 2 steps towards statehood for Palestine." "May I?" "No, you may not!".). I've heard many right-wingers in the US complain that the UN is a "wimp" (and use it to justify the war), but those same people see no fault in the US not paying dues and otherwise using it's power to degrade both the UN and international law. It isn't clear to me what sort of leader Annan would be if he did have power, but it's a moot question. He is a statue, nailed to a pedestal, free to speak but not to act in any meaningful way. Could anyone perform better in the impossible job of Secretary General? Criticism, I think, would be better directed at the nations who refuse to give the UN any real power, on an irrevokable basis -- else it is like a private police force hired by those who it is directed to police. ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk