Kofi Annan's farewell speech

[malaise]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6170089.stm
A scathing condemnation of Bush and his neo-cons.
<snip>
In short, human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security and prosperity. As Truman said, "We must, once and for all, prove by our acts conclusively that Right Has Might."

That is why this country has historically been in the vanguard of the global human rights movement. But that lead can only be maintained if America remains true to its principles, including in the struggle against terrorism.

When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused.

And states need to play by the rules towards each other, as well as towards their own citizens. That can sometimes be inconvenient, but ultimately what matters is not convenience. It is doing the right thing.

No state can make its own actions legitimate in the eyes of others. When power, especially military force, is used, the world will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose - for broadly shared aims - in accordance with broadly accepted norms.

No community anywhere suffers from too much rule of law; many do suffer from too little - and the international community is among them. This we must change.

The US has given the world an example of a democracy in which everyone, including the most powerful, is subject to legal restraint. Its current moment of world supremacy gives it a priceless opportunity to entrench the same principles at the global level.

As Harry Truman said, "We all have to recognise, no matter how great our strength, that we must deny ourselves the licence to do always as we please."

[applegrove]

1. Well said. n/t

[EFerrari]

2. K&R

[Spazito]

3. All things considered, Mr. Annan was inordinately circumspect

in his criticism. As usual, he was right on point and made his points with class and dignity.

[psychopomp]

4. On the bright side, he will be able to

fully enjoy the celebrations marking Ghana's 50th year of independence! Lest we forget, Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah, was the first African nation to gain independence in 1957. Kwame Nkrumah was anti-colonialist and a pioneer of pan-African unity.

[kiteinthewind]

5. We were there today!

I live in Independence, MO and I was there with half dozen of my peace loving friends to show support for Kofi and for the U.N. We had pro-UN and pro-Kofi signs. Of course there were 6 nasty anti-UN people there, too, unfortunately, but we got the most media attention! I took my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter, Haylie, and she held a sign and kept flashing the peace sign, which of course we have been nurturing for a while! Here is a link to an article in the local paper (2nd article down):

http://www.examiner.net/breakingnews/

:hippie:

[nicknameless]

9. Nice

:)

[kiteinthewind]

6. Kick up this poll/link!! Do you agree or disagree with Annan?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2647602
:kick:

[Zhade]

7. kick

kick

[Vidar]

8. Annan nails it. He will be missed. Recommended.