They're Finally Getting It

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Many of the democracies of the world met at the United Nations Thursday to examine an issue close to U.S. President George W. Bush's heart -- how to advance democracy, freedom and human rights around the world. While Bush's campaign was welcomed, Chile's U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz said the Community of Democracies believes it's better to promote democratic values collectively than individually where a country could be perceived to have "hidden agendas." So why is this news? Isn't the UN supposed to be advancing democracy, freedom and human rights around the world 24/7? As for this Munoz guy, Mr. Munoz, if you think Bush should be doing this in a group rather than alone, all you have to do is follow his lead. Join the group, form a group, whatever. Nobody in the rest of the world has shown the desire to lead, so either follow or get out of the way. What's really amusing about this whole thing is watching Pelosi, Kennedy, Kerry and their ilk choke on their own bile as they have to admit that something is happening in the world and that Bush is "partially" responsible. It's also funny watching all these hypocrites jump on the bandwagon now that the end of the parade looks to be in sight. But I'm not counting my car bombs before they're defused. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it happened very quickly. But Europeans and the Soviets had the benefit of not being....well, nuts. Muslims have been brainwashed since the seventh century to believe that lunatic mullahs have the divine right to tell them what to do -- no matter how insane. I'd just stay a few paces back from that band wagon in case some people decide to jump off. Imagine being hit by a flying Ted Kennedy. While Bush's campaign was welcomed, Chile's U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz said the Community of Democracies believes it's better to promote democratic values collectively than individually where a country could be perceived to have "hidden agendas." The day-long seminar on the state of democracy worldwide was organized by Chile's U.N. Mission and the U.N. Development Program ahead of a ministerial meeting of some 100 democratic countries in the Chilean capital, Santiago, from April 28-30. "This is a very appropriate moment because democracy seems to be spreading from the streets of Kosovo to the unprecedented elections in Afghanistan and ... in Iraq and in Palestine, as well as the developments we may see in Egypt and in Lebanon," Munoz told a press conference during a break in the seminar. Neither Munoz nor any other speaker would respond when asked whether Bush should be working in a group, not alone, in promoting liberty and democracy. But Munoz stressed that acting together ensures that young democracies, established democracies, and countries where democracy has broken down and is being rebuilt, are cooperating and working to advance "the values of democracy and freedom and human rights." The United States is a member of the Community of Democracies and the U.S. delegation to the seminar was led by Michael Kozak, the State Department's acting assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, and Shirin Tahir-Kheli, a special assistant to the president specializing in democracy and human rights. Mark Malloch Brown, who is Secretary-General Kofi Annan's new chief of staff but still head of the U.N. Development Program, said he slightly resented the question "that somehow democracy is President Bush's invention." "I think there are 42 other presidents who might resent that as well," he said. Malloch Brown also noted that East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, who was sitting next to him, won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democracy in his country while it was under Indonesian rule -- years before the democracy campaign "was taken up by President Bush." "Democracy has a lot longer roots and a lot more friends than just the current campaign of President Bush," Malloch Brown said. "That said I think one welcomes this direction in American policy. The promotion of democracy is an admirable objective for the U.S." Chile's Vice-President Jose Miguel Insulza said the Community of Democracies was started during the administration of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the Bush administration has continued to support it "for which we're grateful." "But it's not an initiative that can be linked to any government in particular," he said. During the seminar, the issue of setting criteria for democracies was raised. Ramos Horta said one measure should be how many international treaties on human rights and humanitarian law a country has ratified and has taken steps in its domestic laws to incorporate. For next month's conference, Munoz said, the 24-member organizing committee has decided that some countries whose democratic credentials have been questioned should be observers -- not participants. A few days ago, it barred Nepal from attending, he said. The Community of Democracies was founded at a foreign ministers conference in Warsaw in June 2000. At the second ministerial conference in Seoul in November 2002, participants adopted a plan calling for wide-ranging cooperation among the world's democracies. The upcoming Santiago conference is the third ministerial meeting. At the first conference, Annan said, "When the United Nations can truly call itself a community of democracies, the (U.N.) Charter's noble ideals of protecting human rights and promoting `social progress in larger freedoms' will have been brought much closer."