I have to admit to being somewhat bemused by the attitudes in some Western nations concerning the United Nations and the looming war with Iraq.
In Australia for instance, opinion polls show that a clear majority of Australians support a US-led war against Iraq provided it has UN backing. On the other hand, the vast majority are against a US-led war not supported by France, Russia, China, Syria, Angola and whatever other despot-led nation happens to have a say in world affairs this week.
To borrow a phrase from a former US ambassador to the UN, Kenneth Adelman, the UN is a theatre of the absurd. Most Jews of course, having witnessed this morally bankrupt organisation?s shameful treatment of Israel, have long known this fact. For more than half a century, Israel, a democracy, has been the only nation to be denied membership of key UN bodies such as the Security Council. Meanwhile all sorts of filthy dictatorships get their turn to sit on and even chair these bodies. When challenged on this, a UN official will tell you that Israel has been barred on a technicality - it hasn?t gained membership to a regional body. In fact, we all know the real reason don?t we? Israel is a Jewish state - that says it all.
The frightening thing, however, is that many otherwise decent people living in Western democracies don?t seem to understand what the UN really is. They actually think this corrupt parasitic organisation has the moral and legal authority to sanction or prohibit wars. They actually accord legitimacy to this ramshackle collection of representatives of fiefdoms, theocracies and dictatorships, interspersed with a few democracies. Somehow, somewhere along the line, large numbers of snow-blinded people living in the free world have come to believe that the UN is their government, superseding the powers of their own democratically elected representatives.
Perhaps someone should remind those people, who so easily cede the sovereign rights of their hard won and highly evolved democracies to the UN, exactly how moral and just this self-appointed protector of our values is. We don?t have to go back too far in recent history.
Does anyone remember what happened in Rwanda? How about Srebrenica? In both cases, the UN was exposed as the contemptible, spineless, hypocritical body it is. Cowardly UN troops abandoned entire populations to their fate in the face of imminent slaughter. It?s a good thing the UN didn?t exist during World War II, the D-Day landing at Normandy might never have taken place.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan warned recently that the US would be flouting international law if it engaged in military action against Iraq without a Security Council mandate.
Oh really, Mr. Annan? Which international law is that? And by the way, please explain to us members of the free world, who elected you anyway? I sure as hell didn?t. The US doesn?t need your permission to liberate people from murderous dictators. Israel doesn?t care what you or your anti-Semitic cronies say when it takes action to protect itself from its enemies. The leaders of both countries know that the only ?peace? that the UN has ever been able to achieve in this world is a piece of the high life in Manhattan for overpaid member representatives.
Those of us lucky enough to live in the free world, with the exception of Israelis, have unfortunately become complacent. We take our freedom for granted. Most of us have forgotten what our parents and grand parents had to endure in order for us to grow up in societies that value the right of individuals to pursue a life of happiness. Marchers for peace should bear in mind that it is necessary at times to defend our freedom, because the barbarians have no intention of stopping at the gate. Neville Chamberlain didn?t understand that. Fortunately for the free world, Churchill and Roosevelt did.
The barbarians are banging at our front door again. We can either meekly invite them in or go out and meet them head on. The choice belongs to us, not the UN.
--------------------------------------------------------
Stan Beer, a business and technology journalist, lives in Melbourne, Australia.
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.
In Australia for instance, opinion polls show that a clear majority of Australians support a US-led war against Iraq provided it has UN backing. On the other hand, the vast majority are against a US-led war not supported by France, Russia, China, Syria, Angola and whatever other despot-led nation happens to have a say in world affairs this week.
To borrow a phrase from a former US ambassador to the UN, Kenneth Adelman, the UN is a theatre of the absurd. Most Jews of course, having witnessed this morally bankrupt organisation?s shameful treatment of Israel, have long known this fact. For more than half a century, Israel, a democracy, has been the only nation to be denied membership of key UN bodies such as the Security Council. Meanwhile all sorts of filthy dictatorships get their turn to sit on and even chair these bodies. When challenged on this, a UN official will tell you that Israel has been barred on a technicality - it hasn?t gained membership to a regional body. In fact, we all know the real reason don?t we? Israel is a Jewish state - that says it all.
The frightening thing, however, is that many otherwise decent people living in Western democracies don?t seem to understand what the UN really is. They actually think this corrupt parasitic organisation has the moral and legal authority to sanction or prohibit wars. They actually accord legitimacy to this ramshackle collection of representatives of fiefdoms, theocracies and dictatorships, interspersed with a few democracies. Somehow, somewhere along the line, large numbers of snow-blinded people living in the free world have come to believe that the UN is their government, superseding the powers of their own democratically elected representatives.
Perhaps someone should remind those people, who so easily cede the sovereign rights of their hard won and highly evolved democracies to the UN, exactly how moral and just this self-appointed protector of our values is. We don?t have to go back too far in recent history.
Does anyone remember what happened in Rwanda? How about Srebrenica? In both cases, the UN was exposed as the contemptible, spineless, hypocritical body it is. Cowardly UN troops abandoned entire populations to their fate in the face of imminent slaughter. It?s a good thing the UN didn?t exist during World War II, the D-Day landing at Normandy might never have taken place.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan warned recently that the US would be flouting international law if it engaged in military action against Iraq without a Security Council mandate.
Oh really, Mr. Annan? Which international law is that? And by the way, please explain to us members of the free world, who elected you anyway? I sure as hell didn?t. The US doesn?t need your permission to liberate people from murderous dictators. Israel doesn?t care what you or your anti-Semitic cronies say when it takes action to protect itself from its enemies. The leaders of both countries know that the only ?peace? that the UN has ever been able to achieve in this world is a piece of the high life in Manhattan for overpaid member representatives.
Those of us lucky enough to live in the free world, with the exception of Israelis, have unfortunately become complacent. We take our freedom for granted. Most of us have forgotten what our parents and grand parents had to endure in order for us to grow up in societies that value the right of individuals to pursue a life of happiness. Marchers for peace should bear in mind that it is necessary at times to defend our freedom, because the barbarians have no intention of stopping at the gate. Neville Chamberlain didn?t understand that. Fortunately for the free world, Churchill and Roosevelt did.
The barbarians are banging at our front door again. We can either meekly invite them in or go out and meet them head on. The choice belongs to us, not the UN.
--------------------------------------------------------
Stan Beer, a business and technology journalist, lives in Melbourne, Australia.
************
Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.