The Times of London reports the United States Ambassador to Indonesia, Lynn Pascoe, is the frontrunner to obtain the vaunted Secretary-General for Political Affairs position at the United Nations. The S.G. for Political Affairs is the top political post. The Times reports England wished to gain that spot, which makes me wonder if the following is just sour grapes.

The UN’s political chief is responsible for mediation efforts in sensitive hotspots such as Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and the Palestinian territories, where an American will find it hard to distance himself from official US policy.

That is certainly true, that Pascoe might argue on behalf of the United States in several matters, but it is just as presumable a British diplomat would argue on behalf of England, a French diplomat would argue on behalf of France, etc. Or is it just that it’s an American who might get this top position that rankles the Times? One wonders.

In what symbolizes my angst towards the United Nations, following the execution of Saddam Hussein, new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated “the issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide.” What a groundbreaking statement! The UN Secretary General is in favor of member states having their own laws to guide their own decisions.

Ki-Moon was out of step with his UN colleagues, as he soon found out when the furor over not stating the UN’s objection to capital punishment. But the UN finally got something right, and for that the new S.G. was lambasted.

Who knows, maybe Pascoe wil remind the United Nations it’s function is to provide common ground on numerous issues, but not intervene within each individual state’s own right to determine legislation.