The UN's Priorities Revealed

If you ever suspected that the UN's priorities might be just a little teeny bit off-kilter, just take a look at a publication called "UN Daily News" for yesterday. This is an official organ of the Debating Society on the East River, and its purpose is to describe all the good stuff going on in that asbestos- and anti-Semitism-contaminated building.

The first item of business yesterday was, of course, the Middle East. Well, you know how it is. The Middle East--with all the opportunities that come with it for bashing Israel--is oxygen to the UN. Some UN bureaucrat briefed the Security Council. Routine.

Way down on page four we have--well, what is this? What is that number? "Six million West Africans face famine because of locusts and drought, UN says."

No kidding? Another six million dead. How interesting! Here is an excerpt from that item:

In some areas of Mauritania, northern Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, the prices of food, especially millet, have as much as doubled, [a UN agency] said, while the prices for undernourished cattle and other livestock have plummeted.
Children younger than 5 in Mauritania, Mali and Niger are suffering from rapidly spreading malnutrition and in Niger many villagers have been feeding themselves with wild plants, it said.

Sounds like a pretty bad situation. Better act fast! Better double aid to the corrupt, terror-ridden Palestinian Authority.

On page five we have more trivia. Starvation in Darfur. No kidding?

Not one word on any of this impending starvation and genocide from the third- , fourth- and fifth-rate hacks of the UN press corps, or even any of the few representatives of the major media there. The AP did have a story on an appeal for funds out of Geneva, which got very little pickup. (Still, this might present a business opportunity for The Nation's UN correspondent-media-consultant Ian Williams. Hey Ian! Head on over to the UN. Maybe they'll want you to write a pamphlet on this.)