Do As We Say, Not As We Do
I am not glad that the situation has deteriorated in Ivory Coast. Hyperlink. I am not happy about the death of French soldiers; these are young men who love their country and who are in Ivory Coast to help that country get back on its feet. I feel the French mission in Ivory Coast has a noble goal. But, I feel it necessary to point out that though there are UN peacekeepers (typically ineffectual) in Ivory Coast, the 4,000 French troops are not part of the UN force. The French are not under UN command. When the French invaded Ivory Coast to halt the civil war, they did so without a mandate from the United Nations Security Council. My question is: why hasn't Kofi Annan denounced the unilateral French invasion of Ivory Coast as "illegal," as he has the American-led Coalition invasion of Iraq? Why were the French so dead-set against the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia invading Iraq without their approval when they went into Ivory Coast without asking Washington for so much as a "by your leave"?

This is why I have lost all faith in the United Nations. This is why I view the French Republic with such contempt. I could understand if they simply opposed us, but I cannot swallow their hypocrisy.

The League of Nations
By and by, the latest Security Council resolution on Darfur has worked like a charm. And by that, I mean that the situation has grown worse, the janjaweed continue to run wild, and as many as 70,000 people have now died. Thank Bog for the "moral authority" of the United Nations. Whatever would we do without it?

H-A-N
Have a split night.