A distressingly large number of governments represented at the UN rule without the consent of their people. China and Russia, each with veto power at the Security Council, are committed to protecting anti-democratic regimes around the globe for reasons of basic self-preservation. Just as the 22 states that comprise the Arab League look after Palestinian interests at the UN, China and Russia look after the interests of autocrats and fascists. (There is significant overlap, of course, between the Arab League and the more informally organized but still potent League of Autocrats.)I suggest you read the whole thing, as they say.
What's most maddening about the UN is that even its democratic members sometimes crumple before the diktats of autocrats. South Africa -- home of Nelson Mandela! -- abstained on the Syria vote. South Africa, in fact, is becoming an expert at caving to China, its largest trading partner. On Oct.4, the Dalai Lama said that he had canceled a trip to South Africa, which he had hoped to visit to celebrate Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday, because its government "seems to find it inconvenient to issue a visa." China's influence was clear.
In a talk a few days later, the Dalai Lama noted that "for the communist totalitarian system," hypocrisy and "telling lies has unfortunately become part of their lives."
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/the-terrible-hypocrisy-of-the-un-on-syria-and-much-else/246477/
