Singing 'Kumbaya' at the UN....

Another useless session begins at the UN....

The new president of this year's assembly (not to be confused with Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon) is Father Miguel D'Escoto, Nicaragua's former foreign minister. In his opening address, he called for the U.N.'s democratization and a dedication to the "dispossessed of the world." He added, that the problems must be solved in a spirit of global brotherhood and sisterhood. He later told correspondents "it sounds like something from songs or poetry but it is the only way out of a quagmire of insane selfishness." Everyone had to take steps to bring the Earth back from the brink.

Seemingly promoting the happy spirit of peace, harmony and all-round political 'Kumbaya' for the General Assembly session, Father Miguel, a Maryknoll priest known as a proponent of the Catholic "liberation theology," offered a litany of rambling philosophical ideas for a reformed and more effective U.N. to help both the world's poor, confront climate change, and to democratize the powerful fifteen member Security Council. Fine, but what about addressing human rights issues in Burma, Cuba, or Zimbabwe? Not a word, but perhaps we should play the soundtrack of Kumbaya!

It was sadly telling when in a press conference, Father Miguel, an avuncular but dedicated Sandinista, returned to form. When questioned as to whether he considered the recent Russian military invasion of Georgia as aggression, D'Escoto professed not to hear or understand the question, but then said "there were irregularities being committed all over the place such as the war in Iraq." When pressed on the point, he slyly stated that Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia was certainly aggression!