The latest failures at the UN are a strong reminder that it may be an organization which has outlived its usefulness.
Earlier this week the House of Representatives passed a resolution urging the UN Security Council to charge Iranian President Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the UN convention on genocide for recent comments in which he declared that Israel should be "wiped off the map." Prior attempts to condemn Iran in the Security Council have consistently failed, including one introduced by France earlier this month in response to similar comments made by the Iranian president in the end of May which had even been endorsed by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - sr
NUKE THE FUCKERS.
27 - Dave Nalle
Why does it bother you if the Iranian President says the Israeli government should be disbanded? To equate that with genocide is absurd on its face.
Cameron, you're the second person to try to blow that particular smoke up my ass in the last two days. Where does this idea that Ahmadinejad wants the Israeli governmnet disbanded come from? Is it something the Birchers or some other extremist group is circulating.
Can you not READ the quotes in the article? He doesn't want to disband or replace the government of Israel, he wants to wipe the country out. He's said it over and over again. There's nothing ambiguous about it. He's talking about national ad racial extermination, and not being terribly subtle about it.
Iran protects the rights of Iranian Jews to practice their religion in Article 13 of its Constitution. There are thousands of Jews living in Tehran right now. Tehran has 23 Synagogues.
Except, of course for the large number of Iranian Jews imprisoned for various reasons, including on trumped up charges of spying for Israel. Oh, and the 13 who have been executed for religious or political reasons. Ah, and about those synagogues - that's great, except that the government has prohibited services in them and there are no rabbis in the country. They've also replaced the principals of the three jewish schools with Muslims and are now teaching those kids only in Persian, with a good dose of indoctrination.
And, of course, huge numbers of Jews have fled Iran. Hell, it's generally believed that a quarter of the population of Beverly Hills is made up of Iranian Jews. They didn't flee because the current regime is nice to them.
Iran has not attacked Israel. Iran has not attacked the United States. The Iranian President is not calling for the slaughter of Jews.
He has PAID for the slaughter of Jews through the efforts of his catspaws in Hezbollah.
Ahmadenijad is no different than a barking dog in a yard down the street from you. Leave him alone and he will leave you alone. He is entitled to voice his opinions.
Except that he voices them in the form of death and destruction against innocent people. Hardly a harmless 'bark', dog though he may be.
dave
28 - Dave Nalle
In it's current form, no. Clearly not. The world is littered with UN failures. We need a drastic overhaul of the institution, specifically...
www.UnitedDemocraticNations.org
The problem with the idea of the UDN, which is at least partly on the right track, is that their primary criteria is democracy, when there are a great many democratic nations - like Iran - which are still oppressive and abusive.
A real alternative to the UN should be a federal government, rather than a democratic government, and membership should be determined by objective standards of human rights and the rule of law, not just democracy, which is more of a mechanism of government than a system of government.
And frankly, there are too many countries which just aren't ready to participate in democracy within their own borders or internationally. A benevolent dictatorship could easily be more humane and less abusive than the democratic regime in Iran.
Dave
29 - gary
Dave,
Thanks for the reply. I would have to hear more about your criteria for membership...maybe our difference is just semantics. As for Iran, I doubt they would be a member as I believe they exclude candidates & parties arbitrarily.
> there are too many countries which just aren't ready to participate in democracy
Not true. Every country, every human on the planet deserves democracy immediately. Best form of government known to mankind. Churchill said it best...
"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others that have been tried."
gary
www.UnitedDemocraticNations.org
30 - Dave Nalle
Churchill was a smart guy, but there's more to it than just democracy. Democracy really isn't even a form of government at all. All democracy is at core is a method of selecting leaders. It has to be part of a larger structure of government for it to function. Remember that Hitler was elected in a free election with multiple political parties. And there are countries with a fairly low standard of democracy which nonetheless have pretty reasonable governments. I think a written Constitution and a court system to enforce it might be a qualifier.
I'm working on an article addressing how a UN alternative might be better structured to avoid the pitfalls which have destroyed the UN. I actually started it long before this article, but I think I'll finish it up in the context of recent events.
Dave
31 - moonraven
Nalle would now have us believe that HE personally translated the president of Iran's comments from Farsi to English!
The nonsense about "wiped off the map" was exposed for the--I will be generous and say mistranslation instead of outright lie--it was months ago.
But Nalle follows the Goebbels manual of propagnada and just keeps circulating the same old lies--believing that if he says them enough times they will be seen as "truths".
Disbanded is much closer to the meaning of what was said about Israel. (I do not speak Farsi but have several Iranian friends in Bahrain who DO.)
32 - Dave Nalle
MR, I've seen multiple translations of the same statements from multiple sources. Even the most generous doesn't change the basic intent of what Ahmadinejad has said. In addition I checked with a family member who's fluent in Farsi and he confirmed that these quotes are accurate and that Ahmadinejad has said even more equally egregious things which haven't gotten as much press coverage.
Ahmadinejad has ALSO made statements suggesting that the 'zionists' should be removed from power or that the state of israel's government should be disbanded, but those are separate statements which makes it easy for propagandists like your friends in Bahrain to create misdirection and deception.
I don't need to propagate lies, because I can make my points using truths verifiable from multiple international sources. Hell, even Al Jazeera confirms many of these comments.
Dave
33 - Zedd
Dave
Really!!
We have to find another way of understanding Arabs and Jews. Read Ruvy's comments and you will find the same rhetoric. Its genetic. Its called DRAMA. All of the hoopla that they create has us all running like chickens with our heads cut off. They are just being themselves, DRAMA QUEENS. For goodness sakes they talk about sleeping with a thousand virgins after death do you buy that? Its all theatrical and over the top hence the over representation of Jews as attorneys, in entertainment and medicine (areas that deal casually with life and death). DRAMA!!
Listen to any interview of an Arab on the street. Its all so bombastic. Comments like "may Allah take the lions of the devil infidel and crush them with the crashing boulders of great Mt Ararat", in response to a minor faux pas. You and I sit in our living rooms thinking daaaaaang is it that bad? Everything is operatic. Heck you may have read Elvira's responses to me a few months back. They were so off the charts, filled with conspiracy and accusations of abuse it was L'Orfeo all played out of BC... sigh. No matter what I said, it seemed really important to her that she be tormented and by the end of it I was assigned an ilk (my very first one). DRAMA.
Once we all figure that out, we will cease to pay credence to the hoopla and focus on what is real and relieve ourselves from the costs that we concur from dealing with this region.
Off course not all Jews or Arabs express themselves in such over the top ways but it is prevelant.
34 - Anthony Grande
The use the U.N. has is world unity and now this is falling apart to. I believe that the U.N. needs reform. This can be done by the U.S. resigning from the U.N. When this happens the U.N. will dissolve like the League of Nations did and from there we can set something better up.
AG
35 - Zedd
Christopher,
Please never ban MR from BC. She is hilarious!!
36 - Dr Dreadful
For goodness sakes they talk about sleeping with a thousand virgins after death do you buy that?
You know, not only do I not buy that but it puzzles me.
Considering that, in some Islamic cultures at least, it is considered desirable for a man to have more than one wife; and that presumably, after marrying these women, he sleeps with each of them... I mean, just purely from a statistical point of view, where do they think all these virgins are coming from?
37 - Zedd
Doc
I don't know. I'm guessing that all of the females who never married through out history are waiting to hook up with all of the martyrs. Obviously this would be in their culture and not anyone else's because of the virgin factor. Also, will they have the body parts to "sleep with" if they blow themselves up or do you get new parts to deal with the great demand from the thousand. Also if they are virgins, are they cute or are they rejects? Would you want to sleep with them? I suppose the idea of resting in peace would be out of the window. Seems rather busy and with a thousand women clambering after you, it cant be too peaceful.
38 - Dr Dreadful
Zedd,
Well, presumably Allah glues you back together again before letting you loose in Paradise. And I'm not entirely sure if you even get to sleep with the virgins. I think they're just there to feed grapes to you and stuff. But why does a dead man need grapes?
Secondly, if you do succumb and sleep with one, she would no longer be a virgin and you would be left with only 999 virgins. Do you get a replacement from the reserves to bring your quota back up to a round thousand?
I do know some cute virgins. Although I suspect that they'd have to convert to Islam in order to be eligible for martyr duty, and I don't think they're prepared to go that far.
39 - Zedd
Doc
It doesn't say how old the virgins are or were when they went to be with Allah. You may be looking at some granny virgins. I suppose gandpa martyrs need grapes too.
Good point on the replacement virgin theory. Wow these martyrs need to slow down, we are going to run out of virgins.
Naaah, I'm thinking you only get the 1000. After that, too bad, so sad. Eternity is a long time. Perhaps one succumbing per millenium.
Hey, do virgins from other galaxies count or is it just earthling virgins? I cant imagine that with the earth being so young that Allah didn't have anything to do before then. There must be other planets. So I'm guessing that there would be alien virgins. Is that a good thing?
40 - Dr Dreadful
Oh, boy. If we're gonna go extra-anthropic, what about organisms who reproduce asexually? Does the term "virgin" even make sense there?
41 - Zedd
Funny!!!!
42 - Dr Dreadful
SOMEBODY STOP US!!!!!
43 - Zedd
One name Salman Rushdie
ehhmm did I say I lived in Texas, I meant Tazmania, yeah thats it... and I'm a virgin?
44 - Dr Dreadful
Yup. That'll do it.
:-)
45 - RJ
Nuke Zimbabwe.
46 - RJ
"Iran has not attacked the United States."
Yes they have. They're killing our troops in Iraq with explosively formed projectiles, a kind of IED. And there are reports that they are assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
47 - RJ
"Every country, every human on the planet deserves democracy immediately. Best form of government known to mankind."
The Palestinians got democracy when Arafat died. They elected Hamas.
The Egyptians tested the democratic waters recently. And the murderous, radical Muslim Brotherhood make great gains.
Iran has some democratic elements. And the people there apparently chose Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Venezuelans chose Hugo Chavez Frias. Iraqis chose a government which allies itself with Muqtada al-Sadr and sharia law. Russians seem to love Putin.
Clearly, democracy ain't perfect...
48 - Zedd
We chose Bush and now 600,000 Iraqis are said to be dead.
49 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I was going to chime in and say that YOU AMERICANS had democracy and chose Bush - twice.
But better that Zedd chime in instead and that I stand near (but never within, heaven forfend) her amen corner...
Of course the question is how much democracy do YOU AMERICANS still have, but that is desalt with at another post, I believe...
50 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
While I'm desalting my logic, I might point out that we Israelis allegedly have democracy - and we chose Olmert the idiot, and the parliament we chose, chose Peres the vulture to be president.
51 - troll
RJ - do you see a moral difference between Iranians arming Shia to fight Americans in Iraq and the US arming the mujahideen to fight Russians in Afghanistan - ?
the solution of course is for Israel to nuke D.C.
52 - troll
and why isn't Afghanistan's poppy crop traded on the commodities market - ?
53 - MCH
"Yes they have. They're killing our troops in Iraq with explosively formed projectiles, a kind of IED. And there are reports that they are assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan."
- RJ Elliott
All the more reason for those who haven't served yet to sign up and help out.
54 - troll
don't let anyone tell you who to kill...don't sign up
55 - Clavos
"and why isn't Afghanistan's poppy crop traded on the commodities market - ?"
if we legalized drugs, which we should do, it could be.
56 - moonraven
Troll,
It isn´t on the commodities market because the CIA runs the whole operation. That's why the US invaded Afghanistan after the Taliban wiped out the poppy business.
Immediately the crop was back up to record levels, and the CIA rolling in proceeds.
Dave Nalle has an Iranian reltive....!!!!
Right. Pull the other one.
57 - Dr Dreadful
#55: You betcha. And companies like Glaxo Smithkline would be making bank.
Even more than they already are...
58 - troll
the Nalle cartel - ?
59 - Clavos
#57,
Yep. Pharma stocks do very nicely, better, even, than energy stocks.
60 - Dave Nalle
Dave Nalle has an Iranian reltive....!!!!
Actually, that's not what I said, MR. I said that I had talked to a relative who is fluent in Farsi. Interestingly you can speak the language without actually being a native. But I also have Persian relatives by marriage - double marriage, since they're married to my brother-in-law's brother. But I do see them regularly. And do keep in mind that I once spoke the language fluently too, though it was when I lived there as a kid. You need to pay attention - all of this has been covered before.
Dave
61 - Christopher Rose
The most glaring question with regard to the Afghani harvest is why the street price of heroin in the west has plunged to record low levels?
Are we supposed to believe that a bunch of Afghan farmers and a small group of freelance warlords are able to outwit, effectively to defeat, the Western powers and the Taleban, when they couldn't defeat the Taleban alone?
62 - moonraven
Nalle,
You have absolutely no shame. You go to the most ridiculous lengths possible to try to be right.
I am aware that one can speak languages fluently without being a native, as I speak several and am bilingual English/Spanish--and am also a specialist in foreign language acquisition.
You, however, are just talking out your ass--and I don't believe that shit has been accepted as a legitimate language. Yet.
I know, I know--you are working on that....
63 - Clavos
"The most glaring question with regard to the Afghani harvest is why the street price of heroin in the west has plunged to record low levels?"
The most logical answer is: the market is flooded, but I'm just guessing.
64 - troll
what's glaring is how fun it is to say 'poppy crop' quickly
65 - Dr Dreadful
I tried it, and after about three repetitions it started coming out as "pocker pop".
I could never be a cattle auctioneer, I fear...
66 - Clavos
"I could never be a cattle auctioneer, I fear..."
They sell heroin at cattle auctions, now???
When did that start?
67 - Dr Dreadful
D'oh!
How else do you account for those farmers being able to understand exactly what the price of each animal is when all the rest of us can hear the auctioneer say is "HUP-hurrthnr-hurrthnr-hurrthnr"?
68 - Clavos
Of Course!!! Thanks, Doc. Yet another of life's great mysteries solved!
Doc, you da man!
69 - Christopher Rose
Clavos, I'll assume you misunderstood rather than were being intentionally obtuse.
My point is how is that much heroin getting out of a country with such strong military control?
70 - troll
I think we all caught that oh serious one...I like your 'nally' suggestion btw
71 - Clavos
I did misunderstand, Chris, but the answer seems obvious: In Mexico, we call it Mordida.
72 - troll
I stand corrected
73 - Marcia L. Neil
Perhaps going into those foreign nations 'Hilton-first' is not the most diplomatic way to initiate formal relations.
74 - alessandro Nicolo
My Farsi is not perfect but I think this is what he really said. "Iran is a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed."
"The UN was economically gutted by the US--who holds it hostage to rubber stamp its massive menu of acts against international law'
It's official: MR is a pipi caca.
"This can be done by the U.S. resigning from the U.N. When this happens the U.N. will dissolve like the League of Nations did and from there we can set something better up.'
With or without the U.S.?
The United Staes was instrumental in conceiving both organizations and like it or not, they will survive only with their leadership. What we've done is allowed the maniacs to take over the UN asylum and there's no way out. If anything, the UN shows the true dysfunction of other nations more than it does the US.
So yes, the UN needs massive reform. Maybe Hugo Chavez is the man to save the world.
75 - Lumpy
I thought Ahmagonnastartajihad said "durka durka mohammed jihad"