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John Metzler Archive
Monday, October 4, 2010

Nuggets of common sense
at the UN

UNITED NATIONS — In the midst of a fractious and sometimes near farcical General Assembly debate, there a have been surprisingly candid and common sense comments from the marble rostrum of the United Nations. Though the perennial political, economic, security and humanitarian themes have characterized discussions, all seemingly packaged in a predictable and set-piece presentation, some speakers added new and interesting angles to the discussions.

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As in the past, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus brought a wealth of common sense to the Assembly. Addressing the global economic crisis, Klaus left the near universal script by stating, that many countries wrongly assume that the current crisis “was a failure of markets and that the right way out of it is more regulation of markets. This is a mistaken assumption.”

Klaus a respected economist by training advised, “It is not possible to prevent any future crisis by implementing substantial, market damaging macroeconomic and regulatory government interventions as is the case now. It is only possible to destroy markets and together with them the chances for economic growth and prosperity in both developed and developing countries.”

He stated with conviction, “The solution doesn’t lie in more bureaucracy, either in creating new governmental and supranational agencies, or in aiming at global governance of the world economy.” His remarks hold as much resonance and reason in the UN as they have for the USA where an overbearing federal government in Washington has its fingers in every enterprise and its hands on the scales of commerce.

Opposing some calls for economic protectionism, Klaus stressed, “Developing countries should not be prevented from economic growth. They need access to foreign markets and they need free trade.” Certainly the poorer countries can prosper by global growth as a rising tide lifts all boats.

He also warned that the UN itself “should not haven an all-encompassing agenda. It should not turn away from political topics and towards ‘scientific’ ones. The UN is not here to determine what science is but to engage its member states in a rational, reasoned debate about political issues.” In a clear slap at the “global warming” crowd which has now evolved into the “climate change” lobby, President Klaus stated clearly, “the most harmful political debate we have been witnessing in the last couple of years is about climate and global warming.”

In comments which surprised many onlookers President Klaus asserted, “The UN’s role is not to push for global governance and to play the central role in it. The UN exists primarily to enhance friendly relations among its members and to look for solutions to problems which can’t be confined to national boundaries.”

The perennial debate concerning Security Council reform for the 15 member council came to the fore. As Netherlands Prime Minister Peter Balkenende stated, “to guarantee the legitimacy and strength of the Security Council in the future that the Dutch government continues to support reforms to the Council that reflect the geopolitical realities of today and not of 1945.. . Naturally, the exact substance of these reforms is still open to debate.” Indeed. Portugal’s Prime Minister Jose Socrates stated wisely, “In our view it is illogical that countries like Brazil or India, that have today an irreplaceable economic and political role, are still not permanent members of the Security Council.”

UN global Peacekeeping operations were naturally addressed. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini reminded assembled delegates that his government plays a strong role in such operations. “We are the sixth top contributor to the UN PKO (peacekeeping) budget, and since 2006, the first European Union contributor of troops to the UN.” Minister Frattini added, “Approximately 8,000 Italian troops are assigned to operations under the aegis or the mandate of the UN. Our presence is spread across 22 missions throughout the world: from Lebanon to Haiti, the Balkans to Afghanistan.”

Concerning global humanitarian assistance, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle stated, “Germany is the third-largest development cooperation donor. We have practically recovered from the financial and economic crisis and we are on the right track due to our robust economic growth. This strong economy makes Germany a strong global partner.”

Interestingly the President of this 65th annual General Assembly, Joseph Deiss of Switzerland set the stage and bought a dose of needed realism to the proceedings; “the United Nations is in danger of being marginalized by the emergence of other actors on the international stage,” he said, adding that the world body was also criticized as too inefficient and ineffective. Dr. Deiss’s reflections are surprisingly close to the mark.


John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for WorldTribune.com.

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