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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Point to Ponder as Bush Addresses the UNtied Nations


Strange Politics Inside the UN

The hottest election on the planet this fall isn’t for control of the U.S. Congress, it’s for secretary-general of the United Nations. Kofi Annan, the public face of the UN, ends his 10-year term in December. The race to replace him is a story of Byzantine politicking and stealth candidates. “This is an extremely disorganized, haphazard process,” says Sir Brian Urquhart, who spent 14 years as UN undersecretary-general. “Last time, no one even interviewed the candidates. It’s amazing they haven’t had a real disaster.” (TM interjects - Hello! Somalia,..Bosnia,..Darfur,...Lebanon,..???)

There are no primaries or debates. In fact, for one of the world’s most visible and important jobs, “there isn’t even a search process, as you have with a university or corporation,” Urquhart explains. “Diplomats think it’s somehow ill-mannered to look too far into someone’s qualifications.” Candidates either nominate themselves or are submitted by their governments. So far, the front-runners are Ban Ki-moon of South Korea and Shashi Tharoor of India. The other two nominees are from Sri Lanka and Thailand.

None of these four has wide support, however, and most insiders believe the institution is waiting for a surprise candidate to appear. (“Let’s hope the UN gets lucky at the last minute,” says Urquhart.) Then he—or she, although a woman has never been seriously considered for the post—must be recommended by the Security Council and approved by a majority of the UN’s 192 members. (The vote could be as early as this month.) Why no big names, such as Bill Clinton or Tony Blair? Custom dictates that the Security Council’s five permanent members, including the U.S. and Britain, can’t field candidates.

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