01-29-2006, 05:28 PM
புதிய முகம் தேவை <!--emo&
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Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations, will demit office on December 31. The race for his job has started. Three distinguished Asians from Sri Lanka, South Korea, and Thailand have already started lobbying for the job. They believe, following an informal tradition, that it's now Asia's turn. "Not so fast,'' says the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton. "We don't believe that the next secretary general belongs to any particular region,'' he informs.
The truth is that there has been an informal geographic rotation for the top diplomatic post at the United Nations. To date three secretaries-general have come from Europe, two from Africa, one from Latin America, and one from Asia. According to the Sri Lankan candidate, "We are not asking for affirmative action for Asia But there has been a tradition of rotation; this is why there is a widespread consensus that the next secretary general should come from Asia.''
The United States has identified characteristics of the sort of individual who will get its nod. A US official said that Washington seeks a "strong manager who's comfortable making tough decisions.'' Decoded, that would mean: one who believes that the US is above the UN; one who would act to tailor UN's actions to conform with US policy; one who is a lukewarm multilateralist but believes US interests best serve the world; and one who would not dare to call any US actions "illegal,'' as Kofi Annan did.
As a rule, the prospective secretary general is nominated by the Security Council after which the name is submitted to the General Assembly for a vote. Before Kofi Annan assumed office in 1997, three women were in the running: Norway's Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland. Definitely out of the running is any individual from the Big Five on the Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This is an attempt to prevent the over-concentration of power in any country's hands.
Any candidate who wishes to be successful must have the support of the permanent members of the Security Council who can veto any nominee. Among the Big Five, it is obvious that it is the United States that holds the most influence as the world's only superpower. In other words, among equals some are more equal. That's precisely why it was a US official who stepped up to state the requirements for the job and to pooh pooh the ambitions of the Asian candidates. Wherever one finds the United States these days, one can be almost certain to find the British in tow. "We are looking for the best person capable of meeting the demands of the job,'' echoes Britain's ambassador to the UN.
The appointment of top diplomat at the UN is as political as it comes. This was emphasised from the outset because the first appointment came after World War II when the Cold War was beginning to heat up and each of the major protagonists, the United States and the Soviet Union, wanted to corral votes at the UN. Today, the Cold War is over but some residual effects persist. Furthermore, which top dog wants to lose its spot!
The superpower wants to ensure that the UN serves as an extension of US foreign policy. For this, Bolton, George W Bush's man at the UN, is the perfect advocate.
John R Bolton, in whom US President Bush has expressed "complete confidence,'' is a neocon, Republican loyalist, a hawk on US foreign policy, and a most strident opponent of the United Nations. An avowed anti-multilateralist, he believes that international law has no validity, that " There is no such thing as the United Nations,'' and " If the UN secretary (sic) building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a lot of difference.'' After the UN voted not to authorise the administration's planned invasion of Iraq, Bolton saw the decision as "further evidence to many why nothing should be paid to the UN system.'' To say that Bolton is in New York to do a hacking operation on the UN is an understatement. It is not difficult to see why his nomination was stalled in Congress for five months and GW was forced to bypass Congress and make a recess appointment. We will follow the appointment of the next Secretary General with interest.
ஆதாரம்
--><img src='http://www.yarl.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tongue.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&--><img src='http://www.yarl.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tongue.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&--><img src='http://www.yarl.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tongue.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&--><img src='http://www.yarl.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tongue.gif'><!--endemo--> Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations, will demit office on December 31. The race for his job has started. Three distinguished Asians from Sri Lanka, South Korea, and Thailand have already started lobbying for the job. They believe, following an informal tradition, that it's now Asia's turn. "Not so fast,'' says the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton. "We don't believe that the next secretary general belongs to any particular region,'' he informs.
The truth is that there has been an informal geographic rotation for the top diplomatic post at the United Nations. To date three secretaries-general have come from Europe, two from Africa, one from Latin America, and one from Asia. According to the Sri Lankan candidate, "We are not asking for affirmative action for Asia But there has been a tradition of rotation; this is why there is a widespread consensus that the next secretary general should come from Asia.''
The United States has identified characteristics of the sort of individual who will get its nod. A US official said that Washington seeks a "strong manager who's comfortable making tough decisions.'' Decoded, that would mean: one who believes that the US is above the UN; one who would act to tailor UN's actions to conform with US policy; one who is a lukewarm multilateralist but believes US interests best serve the world; and one who would not dare to call any US actions "illegal,'' as Kofi Annan did.
As a rule, the prospective secretary general is nominated by the Security Council after which the name is submitted to the General Assembly for a vote. Before Kofi Annan assumed office in 1997, three women were in the running: Norway's Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland. Definitely out of the running is any individual from the Big Five on the Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This is an attempt to prevent the over-concentration of power in any country's hands.
Any candidate who wishes to be successful must have the support of the permanent members of the Security Council who can veto any nominee. Among the Big Five, it is obvious that it is the United States that holds the most influence as the world's only superpower. In other words, among equals some are more equal. That's precisely why it was a US official who stepped up to state the requirements for the job and to pooh pooh the ambitions of the Asian candidates. Wherever one finds the United States these days, one can be almost certain to find the British in tow. "We are looking for the best person capable of meeting the demands of the job,'' echoes Britain's ambassador to the UN.
The appointment of top diplomat at the UN is as political as it comes. This was emphasised from the outset because the first appointment came after World War II when the Cold War was beginning to heat up and each of the major protagonists, the United States and the Soviet Union, wanted to corral votes at the UN. Today, the Cold War is over but some residual effects persist. Furthermore, which top dog wants to lose its spot!
The superpower wants to ensure that the UN serves as an extension of US foreign policy. For this, Bolton, George W Bush's man at the UN, is the perfect advocate.
John R Bolton, in whom US President Bush has expressed "complete confidence,'' is a neocon, Republican loyalist, a hawk on US foreign policy, and a most strident opponent of the United Nations. An avowed anti-multilateralist, he believes that international law has no validity, that " There is no such thing as the United Nations,'' and " If the UN secretary (sic) building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a lot of difference.'' After the UN voted not to authorise the administration's planned invasion of Iraq, Bolton saw the decision as "further evidence to many why nothing should be paid to the UN system.'' To say that Bolton is in New York to do a hacking operation on the UN is an understatement. It is not difficult to see why his nomination was stalled in Congress for five months and GW was forced to bypass Congress and make a recess appointment. We will follow the appointment of the next Secretary General with interest.
ஆதாரம்