A Stitch in Haste

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of Israel's demand that Iran be expelled from the United Nations after its newly elected president called for Israel to be "wiped off the face of the world."

So far, we're at the diplomatic equivalent of DefCon 2 — the infamous "summoning" --

Britain's Foreign Office said Thursday it intended to summon Iran's charge d'affaires to protest Ahmadinejad's remarks, calling them "deeply disturbing and sickening."

Other world governments on Wednesday issued statements criticizing the Iranian's remarks, including Britain, Canada and Germany.

In Madrid, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos summoned Iran's ambassador to protest Ahmadinejad's comments. French Foreign Minister Jean-Baptiste Mattei also condemned the remarks "with the utmost firmness."

I'm sure the Israeli people will sleep soundly tonight knowing that the French are so utmostly firm in their inaction.

Of course, nothing can come of such a preposterous demand as limiting the United Nations to civilized, freedom-loving nations, since the uncivilized, freedom-hating dictatorship of China would block any such measure (as would, most likely, the only slightly less pathetic Russians).

Neither should one expect something creative from Washington, such as declaring Iranian leaders persona non grata in the U.S., thereby preventing them from physically reaching the U.N. headquarters. That would be too easy undiplomatic.

There are many ways to describe the United Nations. My favorite three are of course:

A theater of the absurd, a decomposing corpse and an insane asylum.

Incidentally, about 25% of that insane asylum is financed by the American taxpayer.

Talk about a bridge to nowhere...

More thoughts from California Yankee.