{"id":2857,"date":"2006-01-17T17:23:02","date_gmt":"2006-01-17T22:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=2857"},"modified":"2006-01-17T17:22:57","modified_gmt":"2006-01-17T22:22:57","slug":"a_big_helping_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2006\/01\/17\/a_big_helping_o\/","title":{"rendered":"A thick slice of Bubba pie"},"content":{"rendered":"

My friend and international man of mystery Parag Khanna just published an essay which made the cover of Harper’s<\/em><\/a>, Jan. 2006 (not online yet). Congrats, Parag! It’s a modest proposal for reforming the U.N. by putting Bill Clinton in charge:<\/p>\n\n

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Indulge me for a moment as I fix the world. First, rich countries must raise their development budgets… underdeveloped societies must root out corruption and boost investment in social welfare… we must strengthen the capacity of international institutions to manage global collective security against the threats of terrorism… we must move rapidly toward free and fair global trade, and involve NGOs and the international business community in providing responsible and accountable delivery of public goods around the world… \n

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… there is only one solution… Embed a super-American at the highest level. That man, at this moment, is Bill Clinton.<\/blockquote>\n\n

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p>But is Bubba the right plumber for these pipes? <\/a><\/p>\n\n

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Allegations of widespread sexual abuse<\/font> came to light in a U.N. refugee camp in Bunia, Congo. Blue-helmets were paying girls as young as thirteen or fourteen with bread, milk, or a little cash… \n

U.N. personnel… have eased the burden they bear in lightening poverty with fermented marijuana cocktails<\/font> along the banks of the Mekong River.<\/blockquote>\n\n

Parag tells of his first experience with the U.N.’s legendary inefficiency:<\/p>\n\n

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I first got involved with the United Nations just before its fiftieth birthday. In 1995, at age seventeen, I was likely the youngest intern wandering the corridors of the two glass towers… One week the Youth Unit had exceeded its quota of printing paper, so we simply were not allowed to make photocopies until our stock was replenished. I started to wonder: If the unit, or even the whole Division for Social Policy and Development, ceased to exist, would anyone miss it?.. <\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

… the posturing to frame and release studies is a routine so stale that one may quickly forget that people are dying<\/font>… The Economist<\/em> derided the sham of summitry by declaring: “Let them eat reports…” As Australia’s former foreign minister and High-Level Panel member Gareth Evans recently remarked, “It is still the piranha pool of diplomats enjoying tearing flesh off each other, to the total exclusion of any enthusiasm for high principle or effectiveness of the organisation.”<\/blockquote>\n\n