UNcertain on Iran

Just ran into this story; a story that could've only been told had a certain UN fail to enforce a certain deadline, August 31, 2006.

It seems the UN is uncertain about itself...

From the AP:

Iran has doubled its capacity to enrich uranium by successfully executing the process with a second network of centrifuges, a semiofficial news agency reported Friday, sending a defiant new message to the U.N. Security Council.

Council members are working on a draft resolution that would impose limited sanctions on the Islamic republic because of its refusal to cease enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a civilian nuclear reactor or fissile material for a warhead.

The Iranian Students News Agency quoted an anonymous official as saying Iran has successfully begun injecting gas into a second network of centrifuges.

Of course Iran is decidedly certain on what it can get away with.

UNeffective.

There's an important vote tomorrow in the UN Security Council on North Korea, and apparently we have unanimity.

From Bloomberg:

The United Nations Security Council will vote tomorrow morning on a draft resolution sanctioning North Korea, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said.

"We do have unanimous agreement,'' Bolton said. North Korea announced Oct. 8 that it had it carried out its first nuclear test, drawing condemnation from around the world.

Of course this unanimity came at a cost:

In a concession to China, the U.S. dropped explicit reference to a part of
the UN Charter that would make sanctions militarily enforceable, changing it to
Article 41 of Chapter 7, which only authorizes diplomatic and economic
sanctions. Agreement on a draft Security Council resolution circulated by the
U.S. on North Korea sanctions had been held up because of opposition from China
and Russia.

But why would China support diplomatic and economic sanctions if they "often justify their refusal to pressure North Korea by citing the risk of an economic collapse that would send millions of refugees northward into China?" And why if "the Chinese government argues... that the Koreans are economic migrants rather than refugees" and subject to deportation?

Because A: they're bluffing.

Or B: they're cheating.

The UN resolution will not work thanks largely in part to China. Sanction North Korea and find Chinese convoys of food, pipelines of fuel, and cables of electricity keeping North Korea alive and America on edge. Or from answer A, China would be honest about enforcing the resolution, creating more tension between them and North Korea, while the free nations save money. But it would be rather odd in bringing Chinese honesty out of their original dishonesty.

The UN is perhaps one of the greatest international political tools of power that China has, why use it to aid their adversary when not necessary? China will succumb to fixing North Korea when they realize it is in their best interest, or when it is forced upon them.

Kofi Annan - Financial Records Kept in Deep Cover

Kofi Annan's financial form/records are to be kept in deep cover, as in secret. Of course they are.

The UN, known for its minimalist thinking and acting has once again demonstrated why it is the model for the world and for world leaders everywhere when it comes to openness, fair-mindedness, and integrity. We had the oil-for-food scandal; now we have the hide-the-financial-records memo.

How can we, who are by and large supporting this travesty, have nothing but contempt for it when the highest official there won't even follow the procedure he set forth for those of lesser stature?

With no respect for the position and less for Mr. Annan, I find him the epitomy of the arrogance and high-mindness so flagrantly demonstrated among those who would tell us how to live and how to be. He has the arrogance of the very far-left in America; the far-left in academe who from such lofty towers look upon the peasants and swoon over the sorry state they perceive us to be in, forgetting for a nanosecond that it is they who have taught us our history, our political process. Of course, the masses are unlearned due to the very hand of these elite. Their desire is to keep us illiterate and ignorant. In that they have not failed. American students today are among the least educated in all of the industrialized nations. Shame on you pompous elite. What the future portends may well be too good for you. We'll see what you have wrought.

I love the autumn. The turning of the leaves, the freshness in the air. I will not wish it away but I will not miss the removal of Mr. Annan as Secretary General of the disfunctional and corrupt United Nations. The Secretary General is gone! God save the Secretary General! Would that it could be the lady from the Pacific!