May 20, 2001

Un-United Nation Pays Price for Anti-U.S. Vote

The un-United Nation shot itself in the foot – narrowly missing its heart -- when by secret vote it kicked the United States off the Human Rights Commission.

It was not as if the commission performed a vital function. Like the U.N. as a whole, the 53-nation rights panel is only an international boondoggle.

What rankles Americans, though, is the symbolism of having our noses rubbed into the insult. First chairperson of the Human Rights Commission was First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

During her seven-year term she secured adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The United States held a seat on the commission continuously until last week.

Much has been made of the allegation that the United States was "replaced" by Sudan. That African hell-hole raises money by selling its black children into medieval-style slavery. Strangely blind to this  hideous abuse of human rights are Jessee Jackson, Al Sharpton and the NAACP.

The commission did vote to seat Sudan – along with China, Libya, Cuba and Sierra Leone. That these countries have been given the privilege of judging the rights records of others is monumental hypocrisy.

Nonetheless, the Judas nations that sold us out were European panty-waists led by France, Austria and Sweden.  

The so-called "election" to fill 14 vacancies on the Human Rights Commission was conducted by the 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council.

Membership in the commission is divided into five, regional groups:  western nations including United States and Europe; Africa; South and Central America; Mideast; and Asia.

Each regional group nominates its own candidates, but the Economic Council votes on all. This is similar to our system in Charlotte County where candidates have to live in a certain district to be nominated but are voted on by all county citizens.

There were three vacancies in the western-nations bloc. Customarily the United States was accorded the courtesy of candidacy because of its super-power status, tradition of representative democracy, and the largest financial contributor.

This time, European Union ambassadors met last month to black-ball the United States. France, Austria and Sweden proclaimed their candidacies in addition to that of the United States.

James Cunningham, acting U.S. representative to the United Nations, solicited and received "solid, written assurances" of support from 43 countries. Yet, the final tally was France 52 votes, Austria 41, and Sweden 32.

Only 29 votes were cast for the United States. Now the question is: what 14 countries double-crossed us? Obviously it was Europe who gave us the shiv. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he has no interest in discovering the traitors.

Maybe so, but not Congress. The House of Representatives acted quickly. It voted 252-165 to punish the U.N. by withholding $244 million in back dues until the U.S. regains a seat on the Human Rights Commission.

The money had been held back originally to protest corruption in the U.N. bureaucracy.

Tony Blankley, formerly Newt Gingrich’s right-hand man, has a great use for the money – buy freedom for Sudanese earmarked for slavery. The market price is said to be $1,300 each. The back dues could free 187,000 souls.

It would be up to the U.N. to decide which other countries would take how many illiterate, unskilled, freed slaves. How about for cotton plantations?

One can understand why China, Cuba, Libya, Iraq, Iran and North Korea have lobbied for years to oust the United States from the Human Rights Commission. But Europe?

France secretly resents being saved twice in World Wars by the United States. Germany secretly resents being defeated in two World Wars by the United States.

 Russia, nee Soviet Union, not so secretly resents being defeated by the United States in the Cold War. The other nations of Europe – with the notable exception of Britain -- resent their crabbed cultures being overcome by American traits.

The insidious competition of Europe with America is manifested by efforts to establish a European Union, a universal "euro" dollar, and a Europe Rapid Reaction Force.

Good luck! Americans could use a little help in policing the world and bankrolling failed countries. The time has come for the U.S. kiss off the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and pull our troops back home.

While change is in the air, democratic nations should insist that secret votes at the U.N. be banned.  

Thug nations of the world are gloating over America’s temporary absence from human rights influence. Self-centered nations are pleased that Uncle Sam’s whiskers have been tweaked.

We can be thankful our bitter enemies and false friends are openly identified. Thus, our true friends can be more warmly embraced.

PARTING SHOTS

Bill Clinton was hit with an egg while globe-trotting in Poland. Humpty Dumpty smiled but can not be put together again.

* * *

Obstructionist Democrat leaders in Congress have declared "war" on all Republican proposals. They believe they can’t fall off the floor.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers