The Boss and his bitch or what body language can tell us

Accurate title. Has been the case ever since the USA resumed its funding.

It is difficult for me not to identify the UNO as the Whore of Babylon. Ridden by those will pay regardless of law or principle – Libya was clearly ultra vires. One could cite its uselessness: 100,000+ dead in the Kashmir deadlock, and many others.

But the Haiti cholera outbreak takes the biscuit: “An outbreak of cholera has been ongoing in Haiti since October 2010. As of October 17, 2013, 684,085 cases and 8,361 deaths have been reported since the cholera epidemic began” (http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/watch/haiti-cholera). Connected to a contingent from Nepal, victims filed a suit against the UNO for compensation. “Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said in February of this year that the United Nations advised the legal representatives of the cholera victims that “the claims are not receivable pursuant to Section 29 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities.” (http://rt.com/news/un-haiti-nepal-cholera-court-940/). Once upon a time, UNO representatives were required to have diplomatic accredition. Now the UNO wants that status for all its staff, it seems. As a 19th century English politican remarked – power without responsibility is the prerogative of the harlot.

But what is this UNO I write about? Nothing but the UN of course. It was always referred to as the UNO when as a boy I began reading other people’s newspapers across the carriage on boring train journeys. That was before the notorious British war asset, the Nazi Waldheim got the top job. As I reflect now on a half century of its achievements since then, I find its most unalloyed success was persuading people to drop the O from UNO when referring to it. Now most people read the U in UN as if it were the U in USA, which it manifestly is not.