United Nations

The crackdown in Burma continues while Chevron continues to make huge profits and while much of the world quietly shakes its collective head and says, "tsk, tsk."

Everyone is waggling their finger at the Burmese dictators, but as democracy is ONCE AGAIN crushed by those who refused to allow Burma's properly elected president take control very little effective is being done.

Here is the latest from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari (from BBC News):

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has described as "extremely disturbing" new arrests in Burma, calling on the ruling junta to stop detaining democracy activists.

Several prominent Burmese student leaders were arrested over the weekend.

Mr Gambari said the detentions ran "counter to the spirit of mutual engagement" between the UN and Burma...

According to the same article, the EU is progressively using their economic might to put pressure on Burma to end the crackdown. Unfortunately the impact is likely to be minor because 90% of Burma's exports go to other Asian nations. Nevertheless, the EU is taking an increasingly strong stand against Burma's dictators and their massacre of students and priests. This has, if nothing else, one major message. To paraphrase the (then) Bishop Desmond Tutu when I heard him during an anti-apartheid protest in my college days, it "backs the right horse," whether or not it is effective. And backing the right horse is sometimes the best you can do.

John Bolton famously said of the United Nations : "There is no such thing as the United Nations. United States makes the U.N. work when it wants it to work. If the U.N. Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it would not make a bit of difference".

Well, his unwelcomed time at 1 UN Plaza is over :

Bolton's attempt to hang on to his diplomatic post, already tenuous, became even more problematic after Democrats who had blocked his nomination won control of the Senate in November elections. Bolton has held the job on a temporary basis.

Bolton had a history of angering diplomats and colleagues in his previous State Department job and could not gain sufficient support from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to stay on despite winning praise from some envoys at the United Nations.

Surprising some White House officials still searching for a way for him to keep his job, Bolton submitted a resignation letter to President George W. Bush on Friday. Aides said Bush thought about it over the weekend before reluctantly accepting it.

Bush reluctantly accepted it. It being that pesky little thing called the real world. The real world being that wretched thing that keeps getting in the way of Bush's reality.

Reality ... as Marth would say, "It's a good thing".

Another awe-inspiring fuckwaddery as uttered by the Concerned Women for America. But, in reading it, I was reminded that there is a huge difference between evangelical Christians and fundamentalist Christians. And while I am neither, I happen to think that the evangelicals may at least have the advantage of conscious thought on their side.

CWA President Wendy Wright said, "It is hard to believe that a foundation that gives millions to Planned Parenthood, International Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and the Center for Reproductive Rights would give money to a group and not expect to see the results it wants. The ECI signers are linked to an initiative funded by a group utterly opposed to the basic Christian principle of life. While it is absolutely necessary that Christians be good stewards of the Earth, there is no Biblical basis for elevating the Earth above human beings in priority. We care for Nature so it can sustain God's crowning creation - the only thing made in His image - mankind. When the mission comes in conflict with the Biblical, pro-life stance that evangelicals live by, it negates itself."

What’s got their grandma-pant knickers in a twist? The fact that the Evangelical Climate Initiative, a group of evangelicals who think it’s time to deal with the impending disaster that is global warming, accepted a chunk of change from Hewlett Packard. It turns out, according to Ms. Wright, that HP wants to kill all the unborn babies in the world and convert them into silica. Okay. Not really. But the woman’s so bat-shit crazy, I would not be surprised if she argues such a thing.

Let's go back to the passage I’ve highlighted: Um. Does that register as cognitive dissonance to you?

So, the UN Security Council has unanimously imposed sanctions on North Korea for its development of nuclear weapons. I have three comments on this:

1. Since the main members of the Security Council are all themselves nuclear powers, isn't this hypocritical? I mean, I CERTAINLY don't want North Korea to have nukes, but when nations that have nukes tell others they can't have them, isn't that hypocritical?

2. It says a lot that China joined in. Usual protective of their neighbor that makes even the craziest Chinese regime seem sane, China must really be pissed at N. Korea.

3. Are these sanctions even meaningful? I mean, N. Korea has almost no contact with the outside world. Do these sanctions actually change anything, or is it merely imposing from the outside what N. Korea has already imposed on itself?

Finally, this reminds me that on Current TV there was a very good segment where Current TV reporters go to North Korea and report on it. VERY bizarre country! It really shows how even when on their best behavior, N. Korea seems insane. The best part of the segment was the way the reporters, forced to bow and speak nice things about the "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung did so with great sarcasm, which was lost on their hosts.