I don’t know how many would be interested in reading this review. But for those who are willing to read, I put forward my take on the ongoing UN summit of world leaders.
Day before yesterday I heard Mr. Bush live on CNN talking to world from the dais of UN. He named a lot of countries in his speech but the change in style was prominent this time round. He was addressing the citizens of the countries directly ( in most of the cases). The most interesting moment came when he praised the citizens of Iran for their culture and some thing something.. and .. at the same time given them an indirect hint ( or a direct threat?) to question their leaders or otherwise face consequences.
The other ridiculous part of his speech was when he mentioned Lebanon and conflict between hizbullah and Israel. Mr. Bush sympathized with people who got killed in the crossfire (?). Crossfire?? Mr. Bush it was not crossfire, it was bombs and missiles of US funded Israel who killed people of Lebanon. Who is going to count how many of them were Hizbullah militants? Crossfire?? Mr. Bush is Lebanon situated between a land which belongs to Hizbullah and Israel?
Now, what he was trying to do there? Trying to tell the world that he is a power beyond UN ( for all practical reasons, he is, but till the world bow down to US lets continue to believe in the integrity and powers of UN).
Second most interesting chapter of this round of UN meet is the speech of Venezuelan president Mr. Hugo Chavez. I have never come across such an animated and fierce speech on this big a global platform. From the word go he was targeting US and specially President Bush. The indirect hints later got direct, so much so, that he addressed President Bush as a Devil. You got to see this to believe how charged up he was when he said “The devil was here yesterday, he was in this chamber, he was at the place where I am standing” before doing a “cross” and continuing his Bush bashing.
Chavez openly admitted his growing intimacy with Iran and even invite world leaders to join them to combat terrorist stare of USA. He made a lot of references to the speech made by Bush day before and went to the extent of calling US a terrorist state for giving shelters to people who conspired to kill him and disturb peace in Venezuela. Mr. Chavez finished his speech with saying if UN wants to keep it’s sanctity alive, it needs to be moved out of US. The reason he gave is hard to believe but is true. US security forces did not allow Security personnel of Chavez to accompany him and were made to stay in the aircraft they flew in.
I have been following such international events since I was 14 or something but am finding it difficult to remember ever in the history leaders use such sarcasm and assault for others. And here I essentially mean international platforms. It is scary to see we are so aggressively working towards the end of our planet. Where else do you think all these conflicts will take us. If you think nuclear arms are accessible to very few countries in the world, I would only say “Amen”, the reality is that time is ticking for the first ever nuclear explosion by a terrorist outfit. It can happen any where any time.
Now the question is, if we have a body which is suppose to handle all cross border affairs of states in some sort of dispute, why are we allowing a country or a lobby to dominate its proceedings. Alliances like NAM have lost their credibility and power. The fact is if even all NAM countries join hands and want to give a country a seat in permanent security council, they will not be able to do so. The handle is so powerfully tilted to some countries that it is becoming useless to have institutions like UN, of course, till we find a greater formulae to give meaning to such institutions.
Till than, hopeless and politically motivated speeches shall be made and benefits extended to world from such summits shall be zilch.