UN reauthorizes Darfur peacekeeping

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council has approved another year of peacekeeping in Sudan's Darfur region despite sharp divisions over genocide charges against the Sudanese president.

The United States supports the mission but abstained from the council's 14-0 vote Thursday night.

It objects to language in the resolution that notes that the African Union wants the council to freeze the International Criminal Court's prosecution of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

U.S. spokesman Richard Grenell says that language sends the wrong signal to a man who presided over genocide.

The joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force took over duties in Darfur in January.

Full Story Here
UN reauthorizes Darfur peacekeeping

I'll just bet the people of Darfur are thrilled...

Now they can be raped and killed by the U.N. too...

U.N. Human Rights Council "Crucifies" Islam

Islamic members of the United Nations Human Rights Council are attempting to shield Islamic Shari'a law abuses from any discussion within the Council.

Should the HR Council want to discuss female genital mutilation, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) wants it forbidden. Should any violence against anyone at the behest of Shari'a law be introduced on the floor of the Council, Islamic HR members want it deleted from the record.

The following is from U.N. Watch and a transcript from the June 16, 2008 HR Council general debate:

It all started when the heroic David Littman, undaunted by malicious attempts to expel him from the UN, tried to deliver a speech on violence against women and what Islamic scholars can do to prevent it. The Egyptian representative interrupted repeatedly and challenged the council president. “Regardless of the result of the vote — I couldn’t care less if I will win or lose this vote — my point is that Islam will not be crucified in this council!”

The president gave in: “Statements should refrain from making judgments or evaluations of a particular religion. . . I can promise that at the next evaluation of a religious creed, law, or document, I will interrupt the speaker and we’ll go on to the next one.”

David Littman, an historian, was at the Human Rights Council to read a joint statement of the Association for World Education, International Humanist and Ethical Union. After 4-1/2 lines into the statement, Egypt objected and the Council President Costea (Bogata) seemed to uphold Egypt's stance and called on Pakistan. Pakistan, however, wasn't finished with it:

There is an agenda behind it, and you have already given a ruling on the discussion of Shari’a law in this council. We have strong objections on any discussion, any direct or indirect discussion, any out of context, selective discussion on the Shari’a law in this council.

After statements from Canada and Slovenia, President Costea calls for a 45 minute break. He returned and allowed Littman to proceed:

Regarding FGM, our detailed written statement discusses the reasons why 96 percent of Egyptian women are still subjected to FGM despite state legislation in 1997 outlawing the practice.

“Almost 90 percent of the female population in the north of Sudan undergo FGM which in many cases is practiced in its most extreme form known as infibulation” — we are quoting from a report by the special rapporteur Halima Warzazi.

UNICEF figures indicate that over 3 million young girls are mutilated each year in 32 countries, 29 of which are member states of the OIC.

We believe that only a fatwa from Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Sayyid Tantawy replacing the ambiguous fatwas of 1949, 1959 and 1981 will change this barbaric criminal practice, which is now growing even in Europe.

Egypt objected again:

...This is an attempt to link bad traditional practices to Islam. Sheikh Al-Azhar is the president of the largest and the biggest and the oldest Islamic university in the world.

Egypt challengesd the President's ruling to allow Littman to speak and puts this on the record:

...regardless of the result of the vote, I couldn’t care less if I will win or lose this vote, my point is that Islam will not be crucified in this council! That’s why we are challenging your ruling and the result of the vote will be indicative to what all... delegations think on this issue. And it will be a matter of discussion later of the OIC [Organization of the Islamic Conference]...

The President called for another short break then repeats:

I said that statements should refrain from making judgments or evaluations of a particular religion. We’ve just heard that a certain act which is a fatwa is considered ambiguous. This is a judgment, this is an evaluation.

Germany objected to Egypt's "Islam will not be crucified in this council" remark and seems to indicate that such a statement is not "appropriate."

President Costea advised everyone to "take a deep breath."

Egypt requested the Council to:

...delete any reference to the fatwa by Sheikh Al-Azhar — to delete all reference to Sheikh Al-Azhar from this paragraph in the official records of the meeting.

David Littman received a "caution" and was allowed to speak again:

The government of Pakistan vigorously condemns the practice of so-called honour killings, and that such actions do not find any place in our religion or law.” This is a quotation from President Musharaf on the 28th of April 2000, yet this murderous practice seems to be on the increase in Pakistan and elsewhere. Even in Europe in certain communities. It must be criminalized and the law strictly applied.

The stoning of women for alleged adultery still occurs regularly in Iran, Sudan, and other countries. In Iran, they are buried up to their waists in pits, and blunt stones are used thereby increasing their agony in death. The marriage age for girls in Iran remains at 9 years old. In the year 2000 the Iranian parliament attempted to increase the age to 14 but the law was overturned by the Council of Guardians. Last week…

Iran objected and is given the floor:

Mr. President, the statement and the references made by the speaker in this statement is false and has nothing to do with the realities in my country. I just wanted for the record to say that. “The stoning of women occurs regularly in Iran” — that’s not true. It’s completely false and out of question.

Cuba and Slovenia gave short statements, it seems in support of President Costea, who gave the nod to Littman again:

Integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations System is part of Item 8, under paragraph 140. I will conclude, sir. Last week, Noble Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, speaking in Geneva, denounced the fact that in Iran, a girl is considered an adult and liable to punishment, even execution, at 9, and a boy, at 15. She rejects the concept of cultural relativism, as does the French Secretary of State for Urban Affairs, Fadela Amara, who recently strongly criticized the ruling of a French judge in Lille for annulling a marriage between 2 Muslims because the girl lied about her virginity in the marriage contract. Mrs. Amara rightly called this aberration, and I quote, “A real fatwa against the emancipation and liberty of women.” [President bangs gavel.] Thank you, Mr. President, I was quoting a Minister in France, sir.

Costea banged his gavel, declared that time was up and the Council disband until the next day's session.

Related:
U.N. Weakens Freedom of Expression to Coddle Islam
Rape in War: Will the U.N. Walk its Talk?

UN sends top envoy to plead with Myanmar over aid

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A senior U.N. envoy went to Myanmar Sunday to urge its military junta to accept more international aid for cyclone survivors, as a British minister suggested the isolationist regime may be relenting.

John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, was greeted by Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu at the start of a three-day trip that will include a tour of the Irrawaddy delta, the area most severely hit by Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3.

Holmes also will meet with high government leaders, said Daniel Baker, a senior U.N. official.

He did not elaborate but other officials have said Holmes' mission is to assess the needs of survivors and urge the isolationist junta to open its doors to more international aid before people begin dying from starvation and diseases.

Full Story Here:
UN sends top envoy to plead with Myanmar over aid

Burma has many people dying, and I mean right now dying and they already have tens of thousands dead because of the cyclone that hit them, and the U.N. is going to BEG the rulers of Burma to accept aid?? Beg them?? You would think it should be the other way around wouldn't you?? The leaders of Burma being the ones pleading for help for their people??

Sorry folks, my sympathies only extend so far, what's going on in Burma right now is wrong, I know it, you know it, most reasonable and sane people know it, but it's Burma, short of going in and taking over there's not too much we can do to change their lot in life, it's their leaders that are keeping massive aid from reaching the people, and yes, I know they seized leadership, but if the people of Burma can't re-take their nation, then they are going to have to suffer that which fate has in store for them...

Very similar to that which faces us here in the USA right now, a people can make a government do the right thing, they can hold their leaders feet to the fire, but 1st there has to be a willingness to do so, and an acceptance that you may die trying...

I would much prefer to die standing and fighting than lying on my back starving at the hands of a tyrannical dictatorship...

Cross Posted at: TexasFred's

UN secretary-general calls food price rise a global crisis

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A sharp rise in food prices has developed into a global crisis, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.

Ban said the U.N and all members of the international community were very concerned and immediate action was needed.

He spoke to reporters at U.N. offices in Austria, where he was meeting with the nation's top leaders for talks on how the United Nations and European Union can forge closer ties.

"This steeply rising price of food - it has developed into a real global crisis," Ban said, adding that the World Food Program has made an urgent appeal for additional $755 million.

"The United Nations is very much concerned, as (are) all other members of the international community," Ban said. "We must take immediate action in a concerted way."

Ban urged leaders of the international community to sit down together on an "urgent basis" to discuss how to improve economic distribution systems and promote the production of agricultural products.

Full Story Here:
UN secretary-general calls food price rise a global crisis

The U.N. cries about global warming and encourages the production and use of E85 ethanol, and that is a crock, Algore and his global warming crowd have urged the world to turn foodstuffs into fuel...

Food needs to be just that, food, stop the nonsense and allow the drilling for oil, use corn to make cornbread and not some BS gas additive that doesn't do any good to anyone...

People like Gore, the U.N. and even George Bush have got to make a decision, and soon, are we going to feed the world and develop alternative energy or do we starve the world by touting the useless??

U.N.: Up to 300,000 dead in 5-year Darfur conflict

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. officials say the five-year conflict in Darfur is getting worse.

They point to a rising death toll of perhaps 300,000 and a delay in fully deploying a new peacekeeping force until next year.

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes and Rodolphe Adada, the joint representative for the U.N. and African Union in Darfur, gave the grim reports to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.

They say the suffering in Sudan's Darfur region is getter even bleaker with thousands of additional people uprooted from their homes and food rations to the needy about to be cut in half.

SOURCE:
U.N.: Up to 300,000 dead in 5-year Darfur conflict

It's pretty amazing to me, the U.N. can keep all kinds of statistics but they can't do a damned thing to actually stop the violence...

Useless Nutjobs, it suits them well...

The UN Continues Corrupting Itself - A Chavez Connection

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook


The United Nations simply cannot be shamed. The anti-poverty agency within the U.N., the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), is using it's procurement power to favor Hugo Chavez.

This is a dizzying web of deceit...it isn't easily explained, and the UN is hiding it's paper trail as I write. All the details are not known but here's my summary:

The UNDP is charged with fighting poverty - their mission is anti-poverty development. The UNDP needs to procure goods and services to fulfill its mission. The agency has rules governing how those procurements are made. The rules require that bids be "let" and that the bidding environment be "competitive."

Fox News (April 18th, 2008) discovered that much of the bidding was anything but "competitive," in fact, competitive bidding was waived "on more than half of the $1.5 BILLION in goods and services it paid for over the past three years."

The same UNDP documents also show that by far the largest and most frequent requests for UNDP procurement cash — and their subsequent approvals — come from countries with questionable track records for government honesty and transparency. Among the big winners are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Honduras and Iraq.

William Easterly, a former World Bank economist, is quoted as saying:

The totals are “shocking,” and “scandalous,....There could be some extraordinary circumstances involved, but even those cannot possibly explain why the bulk of UNDP operations are waivers of competition.”

According to Fox News, the waivers for competitive bidding broke down this way:

The value of the waivers ranged from $259 million, or 50 percent of total purchases in 2005,...

to a high of $409 million, or two-thirds of the total for 2006,...

before settling back to $210 million, or 54 percent of the total last year.

Well, so far, this is not good...but then, it is the United Nations, and of course, it gets worse.

UNDP’s procurement procedures became an issue on April 1, when FOX News questioned the agency’s 2007 authorization of 19 airport walk-through body scanners worth $2.3 million, on behalf of the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez.

While it appears that corruption in bidding occurred, it is not clear who or what actually paid for the scanners for Venezuela, but it seems, at the least, UNDP acted as a mediator between a Venezuelan manufacturer and Chavez.

Fox News' George Russell points out the obvious questions, at least obvious to those of us with reasonable common, and moral, sensibilities:

Behind the foggy complexities of UNDP’s role in the airline scanner puzzle lies a deeper question: what role is an agency devoted to alleviating international poverty playing as a general contractor for the authoritarian rulers of an oil-rich nation, who are also avowed supporters of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere?

And another question: whether the close, often secretive, and apparently quite profitable relationship that UNDP has forged in Venezuela really serves the high-minded goals of the United Nations as a whole.

Fox News on the benevolent UNDP's affinity for Venezuela:

Oil-rich Venezuela, with an estimated GDP per capita of $12,800 in 2007, shares one characteristic with many of the biggest beneficiaries of UNDP funding: its low ranking on the Transparency International corruption perceptions index. In 2007, along with four other countries, it ranked 162nd — in the place immediately above the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Two Fox reports that I've linked to include PDF's of UNDP documents, including "confidential UNDP minutes," and a list of Venezuela's waivers for 2007.

To add some more fuel for those warm fuzzies we're feeling toward the U.N. right now, this also from Fox:

(The U.S., which is on the executive board, pays roughly 22% of UNDP’s $5 billion annual budget.)

Homeland Security speaks:

Sums up Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a member of the U.S. Senate’s homeland security and government affairs committee: “We simply cannot afford to give President Chavez or the UNDP any benefit of doubt.”

UN Weakens Freedom of Expression to Coddle Islam

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

This is how we protect the human rights of Muslims from themselves

The United Nations Human Rights Council has been busy protecting the rights of religion...well, not religion - just Islam.

Muslims furious over everything, but especially the 2007 cartoon publications in a Danish newspaper of Prophet Muhammad, galvanized the Islamic countries within the Council to muscle through a resolution opposed by most non-Muslim countries.

According to the International Herald Tribune: This is

There are 17 Muslim countries in the 47-nation human rights council. Their alliance with China, Cuba, Russia and most of the African members means they can almost always achieve a majority.

Human Rights Watch said the resolution could endanger the basic rights of individuals.

The initial resolution was a "mandate renewal" and was sponsored and co-sponsored by over 50 countries, including Canada, Uganda, The U.S., France, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Germany, the U.K. and Australia.

China and Pakistan, however, manuevering on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Belarus and the Cuban delegation, insisted on a weakened [restricted] freedom of expression resolution. They won. The "West" lost.

UN Watch reports that "Western states agreed to add a preambular paragraph:

Mindful also that article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that exercize of the right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities and may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but that these shall be only such as are provided by law and are necessary for respect of the rights or reputations of others, or for the protection of national security or of public order, or public health and morals, and that article 20 provides that any propaganda for war or advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

A question: If the above is prohibited by law - whose law and how is such a law enforced?

Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism - or any other religion - are not mentioned - only Islam.

Article 19 reports that they, in conjunction with the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) "condemns the resolution," and they point to the fact that the UN Human Rights Council spreads their hearings over several weeks - making it difficult for "most civil society organisations" to sustain effective advocacy and lobbying strategy...."

Iran is a member of The UN Human Rights Council. In 2007, the Council dropped Cuba and Belarus from their blacklist of human rights abusers, BUT at the same time, blatantly targeted Israel for "permanent indictment under a special agenda item." The details of this condemnation are astounding. You can read it United Nations Seals the Condemnation of Israel.

At the same link, Anne Bayerfsky, writing for the Wall Street Journal and Eye on the UN:

The political lesson here is that the U.S. and Canada don't have the power to push the council to protect human rights, and the European Union would rather sacrifice Israel and hide its own weakness by joining the consensus.

And...

Israel holds the distinction of being the only country on the planet that the U.N. deems a human rights abuser:...not genocide in Sudan, not child slavery in China, nor the persecution of democracy dissidents in Egypt and elsewhere.

So, the UN sees it as their mission to place the religious rights of some [Islam] above the religious rights of all others, and definitely above your individual rights.

UN to US: Do More Against Racism

GENEVA (AP) - U.N. human rights experts told the United States on Thursday to step up efforts to combat racial discrimination in the detention of African-Americans and Hispanics and questioned the treatment of illegal immigrants.

U.S. Ambassador Warren W. Tichenor said United States had made great strides toward equality but he conceded that "we still have significant work to do."

The United States was making its first appearance since 2001 before the experts of the U.N. panel on the elimination of racial discrimination. The 18 independent experts, who are unpaid, periodically review the performance of countries that have signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Linos-Alexander Sicilianos, who led the questioning, said there was overwhelming evidence of police brutality against African-Americans, Arabs and Muslims, Hispanics and other minority groups.

Full Story Here:
UN to US: Do More Against Racism

1st, let me say to the U.N., you seriously need to sweep your own doorstep before you sweep ours...

2nd, the U.N., in it's entirety, collectively or 1 at a time, can all, each and every one, kiss my ass, try taking a ride on the midnight shift in most any town in the USA and you'll see more racial abuse perpetrated AGAINST the police than you ever will against the citizens, in most cases, so-called police abuse and racism is usually just a matter of self defense and the cop won...

3rd, you have not yet begun to see the likes of racial abuse and discrimination that WILL be a certainty in this nation if the American people ever find out where they put their balls...

We, the American people, are being over-run by these so called minorities, and when the rounds start going off the U.N. will be powerless to stop the insurrection, much like they are in damned near every other place on earth...

UN: 12,000 Flee Darfur for Chad

GENEVA (AP) - Up to 12,000 refugees fled Sudan's Darfur region to neighboring Chad over the weekend following air strikes by the Sudanese military and thousands more may be coming, the U.N. refugee agency said Sunday.

The agency was bringing emergency assistance to the Chad border where the Darfur refugees were giving detailed descriptions of air attacks Friday on three West Darfur towns.

The refugees are "destitute and terrified," said Helene Caux, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees headquartered in Geneva. "They told of their villages being looted and burned, and encircled by militia." Most of the new refugees in Chad are men and they told the U.N. that thousands of women and children are on their way, Caux added.

U.N. officials say the worsening situation in Darfur has been exacerbated by a recent rebel attack on the capital of neighboring Chad. Chad has accused Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir of backing those rebels in a bid to prevent deployment of a European peacekeeping force in the Chad-Sudan border region where some 400,000 refugees are living.

Sudan's Arab-dominated government has been accused of unleashing more attacks by its allied janjaweed militias, which are accused of committing the worst atrocities against Darfur's ethnic African communities. At least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since the violence began five years ago.

Full Story Here:
UN: 12,000 Flee Darfur for Chad

But I thought the U.N. was the end all, do all BE all?? I thought they could fix everything??

How long have they been 'trying' to bring peace to this region of the world??

The U.N., a failure on every level...

Truck Hijackings Imperil Darfur Food Aid

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - A surge of truck hijackings threatens to cut off food rations for more than 2 million people in Darfur, the World Food Program said Wednesday, after 22 of its vehicles were attacked and stolen this month alone.

With 18 drivers still missing, the U.N. agency said its main contracting companies refuse to send more food convoys into Darfur.

"If the situation continues, we'll be forced to cut rations in parts of Darfur by mid-February," Kenro Oshidari, the head of WFP operations in Sudan, said in a statement.

The increase in violence comes barely three weeks after the United Nations took over peacekeeping in the remote region of western Sudan where 2.5 million people have been chased into refugee camps by five years of war.

Five separate attacks targeted aid workers throughout Darfur just on Tuesday, officials said. Among those were ambushes of two WFP convoys in West Darfur and the detention of five WFP staff when their cars were stolen near the North Darfur state capital of El Fasher.

Full Story Here:
Truck Hijackings Imperil Darfur Food Aid

OK, correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't the U.N. an ARMED force?? Aren't they capable of providing protection to their own convoys??

And people wonder why some of us call for the abolishion of the U.N.

2 Nations Opt Out of UN Force for Darfur

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Sweden and Norway dropped plans Wednesday to send about 400 troops to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur because of opposition from Sudan's government.

The two Scandinavian countries had planned to send a joint engineering unit to the peacekeeping force in the troubled region, but their foreign ministers said in a joint statement that "Sudan's opposition makes it impossible to maintain the offer of a Norwegian-Swedish contribution."

The U.N. mission known as UNAMID is the latest international attempt to quell fighting in the western Sudanese region, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million were chased from their homes since ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in 2003, accusing it of discrimination.

For months, Khartoum resisted a U.N. peacekeeping force for Darfur. Under a compromise deal reached earlier this year, the hybrid U.N. and African Union force must be predominantly African.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir reiterated warnings in November that he would not allow some European nations to take part in the force. He singled out Scandinavian countries, where some media had reproduced caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

"Anyone who spoke blasphemously about the Prophet will not set a foot on Sudanese soil," he said.

Full Story Here:
2 Nations Opt Out of UN Force for Darfur

Tell me again, WHY do we even care about Darfur or any other Muslim nation??

Bhutto's Husband Calls for UN Probe

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Benazir Bhutto's widowed husband accused members of Pakistan's ruling regime of involvement in his wife's killing and called Saturday for a U.N. investigation, as British officers aiding Pakistan's own probe pored over the crime scene.

"An investigation conducted by the government of Pakistan will have no credibility, in my country or anywhere else," Asif Ali Zardari, the effective leader of Bhutto's opposition party, said in a commentary published in The Washington Post. "One does not put the fox in charge of the hen house."

Calls for an independent, international investigation have intensified since the former prime minister was killed Dec. 27 in a shooting and bombing attack after a campaign rally. Opposition activists denounced the government's initial assessment that an Islamic militant was behind the attack and that Bhutto died, not from gunshot wounds, but from the force of the blast.

President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged that investigators may have drawn conclusions too quickly and mishandled evidence, including hosing down the site hours after the attack. But he insisted the government was competent to run the investigation with the help of forensic experts from Britain's Scotland Yard. The United States said it did not believe a U.N. investigation was needed.

Full Story Here:
Bhutto's Husband Calls for UN Probe

I am sitting here LMAO... Seriously, LMAO...

The Paki people need to rely on MI-6, Scotland Yard, the FBI or CIA, hell, Inspector Clouseau even, they'll ALL get to the bottom of this before the U.N. does...

U.N.: Tasers Are A Form Of Torture

(CBS/AP) A United Nations committee said Friday that use of Taser weapons can be a form of torture, in violation of the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

Use of the electronic stun devices by police has been marked with a sudden rise in deaths - including four men in the United States and two in Canada within the last week.

Canadian authorities are taking a second look at them, and in the United States, there is a wave of demands to BAN them.

The U.N. Committee Against Torture referred Friday to the use of TaserX26 weapons which Portuguese police has acquired. An expert had testified to the committee that use of the weapons had "proven risks of harm or death."

"The use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use," the committee said in a statement.

Full Story Here:
U.N.: Tasers Are A Form Of Torture

OK, that does it for me, the UN said Tasers are torture, so, NO MORE TASERS, just go ahead and beat the crap out of em or shoot em, but for Gods sake don't use a normally non-lethal method of subduing an agitated or violent offender, we can't have that now can we??

What the hell, why even shoot the bad guys?? Just let em run wild, it doesn't matter what the police do, there's going to be some asshats that are always at the ready to condemn the cops, even if a cops gives his life in the line of duty, some asshat will find fault in the way he did it...

The U.N. is the most useless organization that has ever existed, and I honestly believe that given the opportunity, they would love to totally govern the USA, and with the Globalist designs a certain U.S. president has, the idea isn't all that far fetched...

The U.N. seeks to disarm our citizens and now condemns Tasers as torture, just another move towards total disarmament of the American people, it's easier for U.N. forces to take over that way....

Cross Posted @ TexasFred’s

Durban II; It Ain't Dick!

From DeMediacratic Nation:

In an opinion/essay follow up to Saturday’s post “UN Summit: Boycott Israel” posted by Basti comes this from Anne Bayefsky at NRO, “Durban II; the coming “anti-racist” spectacle.”

“Last Friday in Geneva, the U.N. launched a two-year plan which will culminate in a full-throated anti-American and anti-Israel world conference on racism in 2009. Modeled on the notorious 2001 Durban “anti-racism” conference, Durban II similarly promises to attract terrorist sympathizers and anti-Semites from around the globe. The spectacle of last week’s planning session might be described as the theater of the absurd, except that the check handed to the American taxpayer for 22 percent of the costs was very real.”

The UN has many different offices that work toward “peace” on earth, one of which is the “powerful” Security Council, however, with all the interest groups that help direct government on the planet the Security Council doesn’t hold the propaganda sway that others do.

Consider the “Human Rights Council,” the lead instigator in the revisiting Durban I and serving as the preparatory committee (PredCom) for Durban II:

“At its third session, the Human Rights Council in its resolution 3/2 decided that the Human Rights Council will act as the Preparatory Committee for the Durban Review Conference which shall be open to the participation of all Member States of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies and also to the participation of observers in accordance with the established practice of the General Assembly. It further decided that at its organizational sessions the Preparatory Committee shall elect, on the basis of equitable geographic representation, a bureau for the Preparatory Committee and that, at the same session, the Preparatory Committee shall decided on all the relevant modalities for the Conference in accordance with established practice of the General Assembly, including deciding on the objectives of the Review Conference, the level at which the Review Conference shall be convened, regional preparatory initiatives, date and venue.”

According to Bayefsky:

“On the first day of the session the PrepCom elected Libya as its chair, Cuba as rapporteur, and Iran as a member of its executive — to plan a conference about human rights.”

The Organization of the Islamic Conference or OIC (for entertainment purposes glance at some of the OIC news on its homepage) holds the majority of seats on the African and Asian regional groups, so it effectively is in charge in the quest to guide the world in recognizing and doing something about human rights.

Some of the PrepCom’s issues it would like to and very likely will include are:

• adopting objectives far beyond the original idea of a “Durban review conference”;
• creating another U.N. committee to prepare for Durban II;
• issuing special participation invitations only to the U.N. investigators (rapporteurs) on racism and Islamophobia, and freedom of religion;
• adopting new rules of procedure especially designed for the Conference;
• introducing vetting for a pre-conference questionnaire that might have asked potentially intrusive questions of states about actual protection from discrimination;
• paying for the Durban II preparations from the U.N.’s regular budget (that is the West); and
• allowing every NGO that participated in Durban I to participate in Durban II unless objections were made in just 14 days.

These are pretty cute when you take a look at them and fall pretty much in line with any UN led initiative including the usual lack of accountability that defines the “austere” body. Rather than pacify, members of this committee are those that enflamed Islamic sensibilities during the “InkQuisition.”

The unrecognized war of civilizations continues with the usual suspects in the UN in the lead.