Again The Glitch

Again the glitch! cross reference

What is there about the United Nations that causes "breakdowns in communication" leading to botched votes?

U.S. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick last week sat through a long afternoon of tirades by "non-aligned" nations against Great Britain for resisting aggression in the Falkland Islands, and against the United States for supporting the same principle.  

Then she followed the British ambassador in vetoing a cease-fire resolution that would have left invading Argentine troops in place.

At that point, it seemed, Kirkpatrick was dutifully obeying Secretary of State Alexander Haig's orders to tilt toward Britain.  She and he had exchanged heated words the week before about the U.S. stance.  Mrs. Kirkpatrick felt strongly we should defer to Latin American emotions.  

Inasmuch as the British veto was sufficient to kill the vaguely worded resolution, the unnecessary U.S. veto appeared to be rubbing someone's nose into the dirt - Kirkpatrick's for challenging her boss, or various Latin American countries for siding with an aggressor.  

Ambassador Kirkpatrick's bowed head as she responded to the call for nays indicated that she felt to be the victim.  

But, no!  Just three minutes later, she grabbed her microphone to explain that the veto was in error.  "Were it possible, I have been requested by my government to change from a veto to an abstention."  

The "embarrassed" Kirkpatrick told newsmen that her initial instructions had been to veto.  A new directive to abstain arrived too late from Paris where Haig was helping President Reagan summitize the European heads of state.  

Certainly there is delay and confusion when several crises demand consideration simultaneously.  Yet, no good was served by Mrs. Kirkpatrick's flip-flop in public once the deed was done.  By a lame reversal we earned only scorn from both sides.  

One suspects that Madam Ambassador was one-upping the Secretary of State.  It looks like President Reagan will have to make another trip to the Woodshed - this time with two of his aides by their ears.  

A similar, controversial UN vote just over two years ago also was attributed to a breakdown in communications.  Our ambassador at that time was Donald McHenry who joined a unanimous council call for the dismantling of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.  

After a three-day fire storm of protest by U.S. Jews, President Jimmy Carter said it was all a "glitch."  

Herbert Berman, spokesman for the World Jewish Congress, professed not to know the meaning of glitch.  "The explanation that the ambassador was not aware of U.S. policy I find incredible," he said.  

A delightful book titled, "The Joy Of Yiddish," by Leo Rosten, defines a glitch as: "A skid on a slippery surface, a risky undertaking, a shady affair."  

Perhaps glitches lurk in the UN air conditioning system and come out only when the United States treads slippery surfaces.  Someone should tell our foreign policy team that the way to avoid glitches is to stop changing direction suddenly.  

It is hard to understand why the United States feels it has to tip-toe in the UN.  We seem to have some kind of compulsion to be loved by our enemies, to play Dutch Uncle in every fight.  

America will give the UN a billion dollars this year - one-fourth of the total UN budget - in return for a lot of guff and one vote in the general assembly.  The Soviet Union is assessed half that of the U.S. and casts three votes in the assembly on the assertion that two of its integral "republics" are sovereign states.  

By that logic, the U.S. should have one vote for each of its 50 sovereign states - plus one more for the District of Columbia.  

Half the members of the UN are smaller than General Motors and pay only country club dues.  Yet they swing as much weight in the UN assembly as Uncle Sam.  

Ironically $60 million of the U.S. contribution goes to UN peace keeping forces in Lebanon.  Yet, when the Israeli tanks rumbled across the border a few days ago UN "solders" were directed by the UN secretary general to stand aside.  The French captain in command of the UN border guard told a TV news interviewer, "The UN is a mess."  

Ambassador Kirkpatrick, suffering the first glitch of her career, has expanded on her initial frustration.  "The United Nations is a Mad Hatter operation," she now opines.  

The time has come for the United States to cut its UN contribution in half and put the savings into the Army's rapid deployment force.  

As an instrument for peace, the United Nations is a toothless tiger.  Soviets ignore it.  PLOs ignore it.  Israelis ignore it.  Vietnam, Cuba and Argentine ignore it.  

And none of them are bothered with glitches.

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