ONE COULD be forgiven for having failed to notice that what was billed as the biggest summit ever of world leaders took place in New York this past week. Perhaps that was because national politics seemed to trump global reform at the United Nations.
World leaders seemed to use the U.N. summit as a podium from which to trumpet their respective national policies. Whether it was Venezuela's Hugo Chavez engaging in one of his tirades against U.S. imperialism or Iran's President Ahmadinejad insisting on his country's 'inalienable right' to pursue nuclear energy - in the face, one might add, of U.S. Secretary of State Rice's call for diplomacy to prevent just this eventuality - the United Nations summit seemed to belie the body's mandate of bringing nations together for the global good.
Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, the summit failed to produce an ambitious document to guide the U.N. through the reform process it needs. Indeed, on most of the issues considered at the summit, the final document had to be watered down in order to gain wide approval.
Nevertheless, the summit was not without its successes. In particular, the U.S. gave ground in its objections to the Millennium Development Goals and calls for an increase in foreign aid. Moreover, as is often the case, the real achievements sometimes occur at the margins, when governments which might deal little with one another literally find common ground for impromptu talks. Effective diplomacy is only occasionally dramatic, and it is worth setting that against the disappointments in New York.
Our own Prime Minister Patterson, speaking on behalf of the G-77 nations and China, underlined the shortcomings of the world body in meeting the millennium development goals. His comparison of the Big Power concern about the proliferation of nuclear weapons with the threat of guns to the rule of law in developing countries struck a wry note which bears repeating in other forums.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
