The UN is at it again

Found the following gem at The Diplomad:

A colleague came back from a meeting held by the local UN representative yesterday and reported that the UN rep had said that while it was a good thing that the Australians and Americans were running the air ops into tsunami-wrecked Aceh, for cultural and political reasons, those Australians and Americans really 'should go blue.' In other words, they should switch into UN uniforms and give up their national ones. Now you all know that The Diplomad is not a cynical or suspicious being, but there is something funny going on here . . . what could it be? Could it be a genuine concern for local 'cultural and political sensitivities' that would be offended by the presence of Aussies and Yanks in their own military uniforms saving thousands of lives? Maybe . . . or, might it not be an odd coincidence that just after the infamous Mr. Anan (see prior posts) says the UN will be setting up air traffic control in Aceh, the UN wants to show that it has an ATC system operating? What better way than to continue in the UN tradition of taking credit for others' work? And this just before Mr. Anan arrives in Indonesia on January 6.

I link to this story, not only because it's both amusing and disgusting, but because it brings back a half forgotten-memory of something I read -- in a novel or a newspaper -- about U.S. aid drops to some beleaguered country during the Cold War. My memory says that the local communists seized the dropped goods, obliterated all references to the U.S. on those goods, re-identified them as communist sponsored goods, and then, at last, distributed them to the country's unhappy citizenry. In that way, the U.S. footed the bill, and the communists got the goodwill. Whether my memory relates to fact or fiction, the UN clearly has heard the story and wants to turn it into fact for its own advantage. Kudos to Diplomad for exposing the UN's chronic duplicity, footdragging, and self-serving conduct.