October 19, 2005

UN Weapons Ban Is Toothless

(Sana'a, Yemen) In a report from last week, it was confirmed that the Yemeni government sold weapons to Somalia in violation of a UN imposed ban. Discussions of the issue between the UN Security Council Weapons Experts Committee and the Yemeni government have consisted primarily of bickering over semantics with no consensus. Furthermore, according to the Yemen Times, there will likely be no consequences.

The difference of opinion is getting Yemen into hot water, but with international resources already so overstretched international grumbling is unlikely to have any real teeth.
Of course, the international grumblers are the UN weapons experts.

In summary, the government of Yemen knowingly violated a UN imposed weapons ban by selling arms to Somalia. When accused of the violation, the Yemeni officials merely argued, fully expecting no further action by the toothless United Nations. To add insult, the country's major newspaper publishes the fact that the UN is considered to be just a bunch of grumblers and there's no expectation that it will do anything.

I think the Yemenis are on to something.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 01:01 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 It will take more, many more, of the same type of egregious violations, flaunted publicly, for people to wake up and see how the UN is not only not useful, and not only useless, but actually has a negative impact in global relations. The UN does not hinder criminal nations, but rather those who would stop them.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at October 19, 2005 03:30 AM (0yYS2)

2 Yeah but they got a real stern letter I'm sure. And according to Scrappleface, Kofi Annan insists he has fulfilled his role of fostering global peace by "holding meetings, eating in fine restaurants and speaking very softly in a charming accent." Jeez, what do you people want?

Posted by: Oyster at October 19, 2005 05:34 AM (YudAC)

3 Speaking of Kofi, ever notice that when he talks, his eyes swivel back and forth like he's a cornered rat looking for a place to run to? I have a sixth sense about people, call it what you will, but I can tell within a very short time what someone is like, and I'm rarely wrong by any amount. I have always been an observer of people and have met all sorts, and I use things like body language, manner, patterns, and tone of speech, word usage, etc., to determine whether someone is honest or not. I have been watching Kofi for a long time, and I can tell you that he has never spoken a word of truth in his life. His speech is always slow and guarded; he is hesitant because he must lie with every breath, and lying takes far more brain power than the truth, because one uses the creative side of the brain to lie, instead of the logical side, so he has to think about what he's going to say, and it's apparent that he's not very bright, so this is hard work for him. As I mentioned, his eyes are always busy; looking out in case trouble should erupt. He is paranoid, and rightly so, because I'm sure that carrying that much ethical baggage would be a heavy burden. He probably worries constantly and looks over his shoulder in case justice should be catching up to him. He knows he has betrayed the oppressed peoples of the world, and it bothers him, but not because he is at heart a good man with a conscience, but because he knows that he deserves to be brought to justice, and is afraid.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at October 19, 2005 06:10 AM (0yYS2)

4 The weapons ban is a farce so now the UN want to disarm all americans in fact next year theres going to be a meeting by the UN to discuse the idea of world wide gun control and disarming us all its time to just pull out of the evil UN and its tyranical plans

Posted by: sandpiper at October 19, 2005 08:38 AM (g0rz7)

5 Here in NYC, I've always viewed the UN as an interesting tourist attaction with some really beautiful gardens and a great view of the river. Other than that - is there anthing else?

Posted by: hondo at October 19, 2005 10:30 AM (bayez)

6 This whole scenario with Yemen and many other rogue states is being and will be played out for the next I don't know how many years. What is really at play here is a lack of fear on the part of rogue states no matter the location, whether No. Korea or Iran. It doesn't take a genius to see that three watershed events caused these problems to mushroom, the first being the takeover of the US embassy by Iran, the second being the defeat of the Russians in Afghanistan, and the other being the withdrawal of US forces from Somalia. The former superpowers are not seen as super when either lack of will or avoidance of even light casualties cause national and international interests to be abandoned. The radical Muslims have stepped into the breach, and they will be difficult to dislodge. The Europeans couldn't even defeat a rump state like Serbia, much less confront a determined enemy. The Chinese may be the wild card here in that they will be a challenge for the Muslims on their left flank. But I still see a long, hard struggle for people who desire a modern culture. T

Posted by: jesusland joe at October 19, 2005 10:30 AM (rUyw4)

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