South Korea has gotten a well deserved seat on the UN Security Council for the next two years:
South Korea and Australia were elected to two-year terms on the United Nations Security Council, strengthening the hand of the U.S. with two Pacific allies as it faces tensions withChina and North Korea.
Argentina, Rwanda and Luxembourg also were elected yesterday to fill seats on the 15-member Council, the highest decision-making body of the world organization. Bhutan, Cambodia and Finland ran and failed to get enough votes from the UN’s 193 members to win any of the five contested seats.
“Australia and South Korea may be able to act as bridges for more effective diplomacy with the Chinese, and if you have a crisis on the Korean peninsula they will almost certainly line up with the U.S.,” Richard Gowan, associate director at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation said in an interview. Still, he said, if the U.S. and China have a security showdown, Australia and South Korea may find themselves in an uncomfortable situation. [Bloomberg]
Something I found interesting about one of the other countries elected to the council is that I just read this article in Foreign Policy about how Argentina is a deadbeat country. When the Koreans had their financial crisis they paid back their IMF loan money early while the Argentine government is refusing to pay back the loans they were given after their own financial crisis. The Argentine government also routinely publishes phony economic information to hide the real state of their economy. That doesn’t seem to be the behavior of country anyone would want on the prestigious UN Security Council.
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5:49 am on October 20th, 2012 1
Your commentary is astute and well-taken. ROK and Australia are qualified and deserving members and were probably able to accordingly garner the needed votes. It also took a bit of national courage for the reasons noted in the article you quoted.
That being said, there is little basis to look for reasoned logical actions in the UN. A perfect example is the recognition and seating of Red China while it is an opposing party (to the UN) in the UN’s Korean War and refused to honor the ceasefire provisions.
Another example of the UN mission breakdown is the fact that Gadhafi was on, and once headed, the UN Human Rights body up to the time of the US White House war of aggression was launched leading to his ouster and death, and subsequent take-over of Libya by al-Qaeda.
Gadhafi remains the only leader ever to give up his weapons of mass destruction; the results of his having done so is likely to be noted by other dangerous regimes. As the Kim’s (DPRK) have long demonstrated, the pursuit of such weapons is good dictatorial life insurance.
Syria and Iran are other examples of those who observed and learned.
9:00 am on October 20th, 2012 2
Dear Mr. Dechert, your commentary is not astute. Al Qaeda has not taken over Libya. Some criminals perpetrated a terrorist outrage there. Maybe they were affiliated with Al Qaeda, maybe they weren’t. Some criminals, definitely affiliated with Al Qaeda, perpetrated a far larger outrage in the USA, 11 September 2001, but the USA was not taken over by Al Qaeda.
9:56 am on October 20th, 2012 3
Your inferred illustration, 9/11/2001 to 9/11/2012, was literally half a wrold away off
Good try. I stick with what I stated as stated by the dead ambassador, US AFRICA COMMAND, and the deployed Special Forces units. Pedal your disinformation defense to the Obama House–they need it before Monday.
“Until we see the world like it is we will never be able to make it what it ought to be.”
LTD
10:23 am on October 20th, 2012 4
CORRECTION:
That got away from me before checking and completing.
Your inferred illustration, 9/11/2001 to 9/11/2012, was literally half a world away and a decade off.
Good try. I stick with what I stated, as stated by the dead ambassador, rest his soul, US AFRICA COMMAND, and the deployed Special Forces units. Perhaps you ought to peddle your opinion/defense to the Obama House–they need it before Monday.
“Until we see the world like it is we will never be able to make it what it ought to be.”
No American official–whatever level and branch–can state what we ought to be doing better than George Washington did in his first address to Congress, in NYC:
“If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.”
Reagan restated part of that as “Peace through strength.”
Thanks for the discourse.
11:34 am on October 20th, 2012 5
No evidence found of Al Qaeda role in Libya attack. Ken Dilanian and Shashank Bengali report for the LA Times.
Louis T Dechert and I agree on one point: “Until we see the world like it is we will never be able to make it what it ought to be.” If the greatest generation had tried to fight the Second World War believing that the Germans had bombed Pearl Harbor, or that the Japanese were occupying France, the outcome might have been different.
As to Reagan’s peace through strength: after the Marines were killed in Lebanon, he bugged out.
2:21 pm on October 20th, 2012 6
Good thought; however, Germans and Japanese were were national peoples, recognized nations; al Qaeda is a worldwide radical sect; Asymmetric and Irregular Warfare.
As to the liberal media at LA Times, Ken Dilanian and Shashank Bengali, shades of Vietnam!
Not to quibble, as they like to do in DC: if a guy is shooting at you, he is your enemy regardless of his religious or other motives–and in the case of al Qaedo they tell you on the TV waves that they are doing it–as they did in Libya. Doesn’t make any difference to the man being shot at what is being said in DC, or in the LA Times!
As to the apparent slur attempt at Reagan, the Barracks was attacked Oct 23, 1983; the withdrawal was ordered Feb 7, 1984, and completed Feb 26, 1984, mission accomplished.
That time lapse by the way (Oct -Feb), had troops deployed longer in Lebanon, before withdrawing, than the final arriving troops (dwell time) Obama begrudgingly sent to AFGHANISTAN in his “show” surge. That whole sham was too little, too late, dribbling in, the lead elements leaving before the trailing elements arrived.
After Lebanon US Forces were not again openly attacked until Clinton cut and ran from SOMALIA and subsequently refused to accept custody of al Qaeda leader bin Laden, when offered, then refused sometime later to take him out in AFGHANISTAN. 9/11 followed.
bin Laden personally attributed Clinton’s action re: SOMALIA as the clincher in deciding to send al Qaeda on the attack worldwide.
3:34 pm on October 20th, 2012 7
“prestigious UN Security Council”….lol!!!
There hasn’t been anything prestigious about the UN for the last 50 years…..
3:43 pm on October 20th, 2012 8
The not so liberal Foundry at heritage.org says:
“The failure of the peacekeeping mission led to renewed fighting between Lebanese factions and the ascendancy of Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria. Moreover, the Marine barracks bombing, which was the deadliest terrorist attack against Americans before the 9/11 attacks, later inspired Osama bin Laden, who viewed the United States as a ‘paper tiger’ because of its rapid withdrawal of peacekeeping forces from Lebanon and Somalia after suffering casualties.”
The fact remains, Al Qaeda has not taken over Libya. Moreover, the murderers in Benghazi don’t seem to have been Al Qaeda operatives.
Correctly identifying enemies does make a difference, if you want to defeat them. Understanding which countries have been taken over, and by whom, is also helpful.
9:41 am on October 21st, 2012 9
Now craps really going to get ill rational
2:23 pm on October 21st, 2012 10
#8 I find it very hard to believe that the withdrawal of forces after the barracks bombing had any impact whatsoever on Al Qaeda’s perception. See highway of death for details.
On the flip side, offensive military retaliation under those conditions would definitely have empowered them, as we would have been seen to side with Israel directly.
2:36 pm on October 21st, 2012 11
Liz, if the withdrawal after the barracks bombing had no impact on Al Qaeda’s perception, please explain to Louis T Dechert that the withdrawal from Somalia had no impact, either.
2:48 pm on October 21st, 2012 12
LTD: The withdrawl from Somalia had no impact, either.
If anything, it was the fateful decision to launch a manhunt for Aidid, that unintentionally fed into Somalia’s cycle of violence. We didnt’ leave quickly enough.
3:04 pm on October 21st, 2012 13
FWIW, regarding bin Laden’s statements about Somalia, he also asserted that he wasn’t responsible for 911. Truthers call this “evidence”. Think we should probably take his statements with a cupful of salt, him being a murderous thug and all.
3:04 pm on October 21st, 2012 14
I disagree with the assumption that having South Korea on the UN Security Council strengthens the USA’s hand against North Korea. That depends on who South Korea elects as President on December 19th. Are you telling me that a liberal South Korea President will follow the USA at the UN? C’mon. We all know that a liberal South Korean President would do nothing but stir up trouble against the USA. If anything, that will weaken our hand against North Korea and in other parts of the world.
5:58 pm on October 21st, 2012 15
Unfortunate but it seems likely that a leftist Presidential candidate might be elected as the President of ROK.
That would complicate things for the U.S.
Although you have the U.S.F.K on the Korean Peninsula, South Koreans might become more pro-Chinese. That would pull ROK away from the American influence. It would be the U.S.-Japan vs. China and the little ones.
Interesting indeed.
9:42 pm on October 21st, 2012 16
The ROK government should do what they did back during the 1988 presidential election… Call out the riot police and put the military on alert in case the “wrong” candidate wins
I keed…I keed
1:57 am on October 22nd, 2012 17
That damn well better be one vote in our pocket.
4:26 am on October 22nd, 2012 18
LOL Leon!