Waiting for the UN--An Exercise in Futility

I know that I have friends on both sides of the Bolton controversy--should he be confirmed or shouldn't he? My answer is and continues to be--Who cares? Even as the nattering nabobs of the Senate argue about whether this guy is "UN material" (what a joke, after Kofi, who isn't?), the UN remains what it has always been--a toilet to throw money into.

In two years, 180,000 people have died in Darfur, Sudan--2,000,000 have been left homeless, and "rape is systematically used as a weapon of warfare," according to UN Under-Secretary General Jan Egeland. The Sudanese do not protect their population and, should a woman become pregnant because of rape, she is treated as a criminal and further brutalized by the police.

In the eastern Congo, 2,000 cases of sexual abuse of women and children are reported each month, a "situation partly attributable to the breakdown of discipline in the regular armed forces." In other words, their own army is raping them. The 16,000 UN "peacekeepers" in the Congo look the other way as armed groups still operate in the east of the country.

What is the UN's answer to the senseless violence? They have asked the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes. By the time the ICC does anything and anyone is brought to justice, how many more people have to die? How many more have to be raped?

Bolton? You've got to be kidding...He could be a statesman or a sideshow freak, and the UN couldn't possibly do a worse job than it already does...Personally, I think he's a great pick, but let's suppose he alienates the UN...wow, that's even better!!