Born too late

Ban Ki-Moon and the UN, born too late:

[June 6, 1944]

Axis nations demanded that the council adopt a presidential statement calling for an immediate cease-fire following the allied launch of a ground offensive in Normandy earlier Tuesday, a view echoed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon…

Ban telephoned Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt and said he was disappointed that the Allies launched a ground offensive and “alarmed that this escalation will inevitably increase the already heavy suffering” of German civilians, the UN spokesman’s office said in a statement.

“He called for an immediate end to the ground operation, and asked that the Allies do all possible to ensure the protection of civilians and that humanitarian assistance is able to reach those in need,” the statement said.

Ban reiterated his call for an immediate cease-fire and urged regional and international partners “to exert all possible influence to bring about an immediate end to the bloodshed and suffering,” the statement said. –  Jerusalem Post (with minor changes)

If Churchill had been like Olmert:

The Allies will allow Qatar to airlift humanitarian aid to Germany in the coming days, after Prime Minster Winston Churchill, US President Roosevelt and Soviet Foreign Minister V.M. Molotov agreed yesterday to a formal request from the Qatari government. Several aircraft from the Persian Gulf nation will land in Britain, and from there food and medicine will be transferred … to Germany.

“Britain will act with an iron fist against the Nazis, but with silk gloves against [the] civilian population,” Churchill said yesterday. Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said Britain would assist in any humanitarian effort as long as it was coordinated with British authorities ahead of time. — Ha’aretz

NGOs are born too late, too:

The U.S. section of Amnesty International sent an “urgent” letter Friday to Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius Jr., calling on him to end what it called Washington’s “lopsided response” to the ongoing Allied air strikes on Dresden that have reportedly killed more than 400 Palestinians 25,000 Germans, including scores thousands of unarmed civilians. — IPSNews

Technorati Tags: , ,

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.