Austin Bay does a darn good job discussing the real reforms needed at the United Nations, specifically as the second part of the Volcker report has just come out causing Annan to justify his job once again. Bay pretty much says it all with this sentence:
Corruption at the United Nations has worked hand-in-glove with incompetence to produce institutional paralysis and political irrelevance.
Indeed. Bay then goes on to suggest the real fixes needed,
...the first reform is to force Annan to resign, now. His refusal to resign is ego-crat at its worst. The second reform is to prosecute the thieves. The third is to end the ridiculous requirement that jobs be distributed by nationality, a feature that feeds "connected elites" into U.N. staff positions instead of experts hired on merit.
As for real reform: (1) strip France of permanent U.N. Security Council (UNSC) status; (2) keep Russia as a permanent member, but with no veto (all it has are nukes); (3) add India and Japan as permanent UNSC members (though with no veto). Now Britain wields the European veto, China the Asian and America the real veto.
I had already thought about the India/Japan security council part, but not stripping France. I would say that if Europe really does plan on forming a full EU, then they deserve only one permanent seat on that council. Finally, Bay suggests a wonderful choice for someone to replace Annan, and this is not the first time it's been mentioned - Vaclav Havel. I said it myself many months ago. I will not hold my breath, however. If there is one thing bloated bureaucratic institutions are good at, it's resisting change, especially change that might spell the downfall of the very same system that keeps it in power. But one can hope because I agree with Bay - the U.N., if structured correctly, could be a major benefit in fighting Islamic terrorism and keeping the international peace. That is all.
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