The United Nations is to last month's deadly tsunami as King Canute's ministers were to a normal wave. There's a difference, though: While those ministers of old needed instruction in their inability to command the sea, the UN needs instruction in its inability to command charity for the victims of the sea.
I'm referring to one Jan Egeland -- the UN's "emergency relief coordinator" -- and his opinion that the wealthier nations are "stingy" with disaster relief.
The United States bears the cost of about 25 percent of the UN's budget (and, by extension, Mr. Egeland's no-doubt comfortable salary). And what does it get in return? The opportunity to be snubbed and sniffed at by megalo-dilettantes. The Jan Egelands at the UN don't want to run the world. They just make an expensive hobby of pretending they already do.
In the meantime, the U.S. has, in all likelihood, already provided more aid to the tsunami's victims than all the other nations on earth combined ever will. Not just government aid, but individual, voluntary donations of a dollar or ten or, as film star Sandra Bullock gave, a million. Wow, now that's Miss Congeniality for you.
Truth be told, Mr. Egeland's real complaint isn't about the amount of aid. It's about who controls that aid.
Money given to voluntary charities ends up buying silly, non-essential things like food, water and medical care for displaced millions, instead of a new suit for Koffi Annan or a new BMW for Jan Egeland to attach diplomatic plates to.
:devilish:
Common Sense!
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