Jewish World Review Sept. 21, 2006 / 28 Elul, 5766

Imagine the world without the United Nations

By Michael Goodwin

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Riots in Hungary, a coup in Thailand, genocide in Darfur, threats against the Pope and terror bombs shattering life and limb throughout the Mideast — it all happened Tuesday.

Imagine the world without the United Nations.

Actually, it would be pretty much the world we have now because the UN is next to useless. Its only function is to give a stage to the world's troublemakers and throw up obstacles to those seeking solutions. As for really doing something, fuhgeddaboudit!

So even as the world seemed on the verge of exploding yesterday, there was no real news from, and no backbone in, Turtle Bay. Of course, with the leaders of the rogue nations in town, New York was probably as safe from a terror attack as it's ever going to be.

The only suspense was whether President Bush would cross paths with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He didn't, so they dueled with words in speeches hours apart.

Bush went first and did his part to shake things up with yet another forceful address on the threats of terrorism, this time to the General Assembly. It was noteworthy that he used the gathering of autocrats, terror sponsors and timid time-servers to put a stick in the eye of many Mideast governments sitting before him. His calling Syria "a crossroads of terrorism" and "a tool of Iran" was about as direct talk as the UN has heard since Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe on a desk there in 1960.

Bush aimed his most hopeful remarks directly at the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Palestine. He pledged that America wants peace, has no quarrel with Islam and urged them to stand for democracy. He talked about human rights and the original goals of the UN, which must have seemed quaint notions to the smug crowd before him.

The hall was two-thirds empty when Ahmadinejad took the stage about 7:30 p.m. The delegates didn't miss much, except a squirrelly, 30-minute recitation of his complaints against America and Israel and promised his nuclear ambitions were peaceful. Adopting the pose of the defender of the world's oppressed, the Iranian president demonstrated top-notch acting ability.

With a straight face, he cited instability in Iraq and elsewhere in the region as concerns. Never mind that many of the terrorists get their funds and weapons from Iran. Only the UN could stage such a farce.

But the day was not an entire waste for American audiences. Just before Bush began, a leading Democrat, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, said he hoped Bush would be "conciliatory." So at least we saw a clear difference on how America's two parties approach the world. With Dems already confused about how to fight the war on terror, and even how to talk about it, Bush's approval ratings are climbing again. Nothing happened yesterday to change that dynamic.

Richardson didn't sound so different from French President Jacques Chirac. In an entirely predictable move that shows France can't shake the habit of prematurely surrendering, Chirac used a photo-op with Bush to outline how France had capitulated to Iran over its nuclear program. He said France, a permanent member of the Security Council, would not support any move to sanction Iran in hopes that Iran would suspend its nuclear enrichment program.

That was the opposite approach that Washington had wanted, and assumed it was on the way to achieving. It wanted Iran to suspend enrichment before talks started, and wanted strong sanctions if Iran balked. The Security Council, although Russia and China were reluctant, seemed on that course. And then along came France, as usual.

The really amazing thing is that Bush managed to smile and shake hands with Chirac, who had the gall to claim the U.S. and France agree on Iran.

I guess that means Bush is becoming a statesman. He has learned to smile while he's being stabbed in the back. The UN taught him that.