Originally posted by TrueLies
Lot's of stories of corruption in the un
www.google.com...
harassment+cases&num=100&hl=en&lr=&output=search
The first article about the UN comes from "American Daily", which looks to me like a site with a conservative bias. I don't trust sites with
biases, but I looked at the links the guy posted in his article. One of those deals with an Integrity Survey conducted for the UN by Deloitte&Touche
(
www.un.org...) - its aim was to ascertain UN employees' perception of the organization. Among others, the study
finds that 52% of the UN employees are satisfied with the UN's integrity. 68 percent of them believe the UN has clear guidelines regarding ethical
behavior (page 74) - and true, 55 percent say that they are sometimes asked to bend the guidelines in order to get things done. Another article is by
UNICEF (surely corruption-ridden, since part of the UN) regarding the impact of the Rwanda genocide ten years later. Another one is the report of the
commission on the actions of the international community in Rwanda - it does underline the need for the UN to better prepare and coordinate
peacekeeping missions, and urges the UN to acknowledge its part of the responsibility in not preventing the genocide. Another source is interesting:
www.nationalreview.com... Although it contains interesting facts, it's an opinion article. And notice the ads for
Bush on the right?
There are articles that truly worry me. Like this one about some peacekeepers in Congo-RDC exploiting women sexually
news.bbc.co.uk... and this one about children being sexually exploited by international relief organization workers
news.bbc.co.uk...
Back to that Google search, another site calling the UN "A miasma of corruption" also has an agenda: "Individual liberty, Limited Governments, Free
Markets and Peace" (
www.cato.org...). I'll pass on that one. And this one
www.freerepublic.com... criticizing the UN's grab for power comes from a site calling itself "A conservative forum".
So that's the first page of that Google search. I'll also mention that you have a few very good articles coming FROM the UN or UNICEF (United States
branch) doing excellent whistle-blowing work on corruption and sexual exploitation happening in African countries - not all because of the UN.
What I'm saying is, when you have a bias or an agenda, it's easy to see everything in black. Of course the UN has problems, and has had its shameful
moments. Of course it's not perfect. But we have to take a balanced view at this - and count in the good that the UN does.
Originally posted by TrueLiesMurderer's, rapists, abuser's, and money hungry aholes are all in charge of the UN.... I'm surprise not
many people know about this...
Right now, the only rationale I see is "There's proof of corruption and inefficiency in the UN, so ALL the UN is corrupt and inefficient." That's
the same thing as saying "There's proof of corruption by French officials in Iraq, so ALL the French are corrupt."
Or, to make a closer strike, "Ulysses Grant, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were corrupt Presidents, so ALL the American Presidents were
corrupt."
Hence the need for a balanced view.
Furthermore... Time magazine reported that when a country, an organization or a person opposes his policies, President Bush likes to know, more than
the content of that opposition, the reason WHY the opposition arose, what interests are at stake.
I think we need to ask the same question here. There is apparently a conservative discourse about the UN, saying more and more that the U.S. should
get out of it. What I want to understand is not the content of that opposition - I already know that - but the MOTIVATION.