Inside the swamp

The American Enterprise Institute has posted Mark Falcoff’s review of a new book by a UN insider, an American who served on the staff of the Secretary-General. Falcoff’s review is “A stagnant cesspool at Turtle Bay.” Falcoff deems it “a remarkable book” revealing the organization’s “principal characteristic” as its massive waste of resources. Falcoff describes the book’s account of the evolution of the Secretariat from the Cold War to the present:

Since the end of the Cold War, Soviet hegemony at the Secretariat has been replaced by the growing influence of the Islamic bloc. Further, before 1989 the U.N. was basically a playground for representatives of irrelevant Third World states to pretend to be important (and enjoy shopping at Bloomingdale’s), while the U.S. and the Soviet Union confronted one another in more important places. Since the collapse of the latter, however, the Secretariat has refocused on undermining the United States–and the U.N.’s other bugaboo–Israel.
Indeed, the most shocking part of this book is the unwholesome obsession of the U.N. culture with Jews real or imagined, whether in Israel or the United States. Although Israel should have roughly 15 nominees working in the Secretariat, until recently there wasn’t a single one; even now, a disproportionate number are Palestianians with Israeli passports. As for the United States, it is alleged to be wholly under the thumb of Jews. When congressional critics like Senator Nancy Kassebaum or the late Senator John Heinz raise embarrassing questions that have nothing to do with Israel–say, about the U.N.’s finances–they are blithely dismissed as Jews themselves.
Apparently the first question put to Mr. Sanjuan himself when he joined the secretary-general’s staff (by his Soviet deputy) was “So your father was a Jew, yes?”) That such nonsense could take place during the tenure of a recycled Austrian Nazi like Kurt Waldheim can hardly surprise, but what are we to say when they continue under his successor, a low-rent Peruvian with the made-up name of Perez de Cuellar?

On a related note, Jewish Current Issues has alerted us to the transcript of the September 15 interview of Secretary Rice by the New York Post editorial board before her remarks to the UN General Assembly. Also of interest is the transcript of her September 15 interview with the NBC editorial board and a certain Katie. Jewish Current Issues proprietor Rick Richman points out the following exchange:

QUESTION: …I don

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