DUBAI, 28 June 2006 — “Can an Arab be the next UN secretary-general?” This question could truly be a great reality TV show, even giving a run for “Superstar” (the Arab version of “American Idol”). In fact this issue has all the spice of an Indian curry and all the ingredients of a Korean kimchi to grab international headlines in the coming month.
After the Iraq war, the Arab public has viewed the United Nation as an organization which is powerless and lacks the will and muscle to control world affairs in general and the interests of Arab states in particular. Given this scenario, the nomination of an Arab for the post of UN secretary-general can send the right message to the Arab region. This can also herald a paradigm shift in the way Arab states envisage their role in multilateral institutions.
Kofi Annan’s term is ending on Dec. 31, and a handful of aspirants are already hard at work, advertising their qualifications at international summits and appealing for backing from Washington and other Security Council members.
I propose we all demand that Muammar al-Gaddafi should be the next Secretary General of the United Nations – afterall he holds no “public or official” posts and I cannot think of another world body that deserves him more.
1 comment:
That's a hilarious idea but I think it would end up backfiring.
Conservatives will no doubt see Gaddafi as the scheming shiftless terror-plotting revolutionary he once was and declare the UN a worthless, defunct agency getting the governance it so richly deserves.
Liberals will see Gaddafi as a heroic, colonialism-fighting former revolutionary unfairly maligned and attacked by the Reagan administration; now properly rehabilitated and placed in a well-deserved seat of honour.
I give the guy credit for self-restraint in only promoting himself from captain to colonel after his successful coup. A lesser man would have self-promoted himself up to general and self-awarded every service medal and government title available. But that's as far as my charity toward him goes.
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