As usual, Mark Steyn has the best summation of the comedy of idiocy that is the U.N. and its unbelievable gall in 1) accusing the "rich nations" (i.e. America) of being "stingy," and 2) the outrageous announcement that the U.N. is the only agency with "moral authority" to manage the relief efforts.
U. N. Humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland is still whining about the miserly response of the West to the tsunami disaster. “Here is my criticism to the rich world: Could we wake up please to those 20 forgotten emergencies as we have woken up so generously to this enormous tsunami that has hit 5 million people and killed more than 150,000?” he said Monday. “I appeal to the rich world — and the rich world, I identify as 30 to 40 nations — the rich world should be able to pick up the bill for feeding all the children in the world. It is one day’s worth of military spending.”
I know, I know. We've donated untold hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention expensive military support, to the victims of the tsunami. But it's not enough, fellow Americans. We're just a bunch of spoiled cheapskates over here, tooling around in our SUVs, drinking our Starbucks lattes as we check our cell phone messages. If we were truly generous, we would sign our entire paychecks over the the U.N. for proper international disbursement.
Even more hilarious is the indignation of International Development Secretary Clare Short over the United States forming a relief coalition with Australia, Japan, and India. “Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.“It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.”
Really? Only the U.N. has the "moral authority"? How many thousand victims of the tsunami in India would qualify their government to have the "moral authority" to help their own people?
According to Short, the U.N. can't function very well without the backup of the world's "great powers." Well, then, what does that tell you about the usefulness of this pompous, overfunded, overrated, overwhelmingly impotent organization called the U.N.?
The world has enough problems without these parasites complaining about their irrelevance in the global rush to aid the tsunami victims. Maybe if the U.N. took more action and talked less, people might pay attention.
Meanwhile, U.N. officials, we're busy helping. Please stop interrupting.
