Blair throws down gauntlet to UN

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4247500.stm

"
Blair throws down gauntlet to UN

Tony Blair has said the UN must take a lead in promoting democracy and
fighting terrorism.

The UN is meeting in an effort to find consensus on moves to reform the
body, as well as tackling poverty.

In his address to the UN, the prime minister called for more work on
stopping proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

He also said it was now recognised that the UN could intervene in
countries which were failing their own people.

Having earlier had backing for his call for international action against
those who incite terrorism, Mr Blair said the UN had a key role.

The prime minister said: "The terrorist attacks of the 7 July have their
origins in an ideology born thousands of miles from our shores.

"The proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons will
never be halted outside of an international consensus to do so.

"The UN can be the instrument of achieving the global will of the
people. It must give leadership on terrorism.

"There is not and never can be any justification, any excuse, any cause
that accepts the random slaughter of the innocent. Wherever it happens,
whoever is responsible we stand united in condemnation."

Mr Blair also spoke about poverty and the need to fulfil the millennium
development goals, to improve life for the world's poorest people.

"Stalking this summer like a spectre are the millennium development goals.

"The struggle against global poverty will define our moral standing in
the eyes of the future."

Mr Blair did not directly refer to the genocide in Rwanda, often cited
by critics of the UN as one of its worst failures, or the situation in
Darfur or Sudan.

But he said it was now recognised that states' sovereignty could be
overridden by the UN when people were suffering.

"The United Nations peacebuilding commission must become the means of
renewing nations where war and the collapse of proper systems of
government have left them ravaged and their people desolate.

"For the first time at this summit we are agreed that states do not have
the right to do what they will within their own borders but that we in
the name of humanity have a common duty to protect people where their
own governments will not."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/4247500.stm

Published: 2005/09/15 00:02:19 GMT


© BBC MMV

HAVE YOUR SAY
The UN can only be as strong as governments allow it to be
Su, Vermont, Australia

The struggle against global poverty will define our moral standing in
the eyes of the future
Tony Blair
"

Wat is er toch aan de hand met die leiders? 'The moral standing' zal
gedefineerd worden door het inzicht dat de leiders krijgen in de eigen
handelen. Wat is er 'moral' aan het buitenspel zetten van de VN zelf met
het najagen van niet bestaande WMD's in Irak?

Wat, Tony Blair is hier de moraal van je verhaal, als je zelf mede
oorzaak bent? Waarom de VN voor dat moreel defecte verhaaltje spannen?

Je klinkt meer en meer naar die andere moreel defecte clown, MP Balkenende.

Henk Elegeert

BTW: Balkenende: "We shoot .... the bird in the wing?

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