A New U.N.?

While I for one would like to see the U.N. gone and a parking lot put up, or maybe even a mall (go capitalism), the new Secretary General of the U.N. is Ban Ki-moon from South Korea. Back in September of '05 he won the James A. Van Fleet Award from the Korea Society for friendly relations between America and South Korea. Now on Thursday he said something most have been waiting on the U.N. to say (from al-Reuters):

UNITED NATIONS - Incoming United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Iran on Thursday it was unacceptable to deny that the Holocaust took place or to call for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Ban was responding to a question asked at a news conference about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who since coming to power in August last year has caused an outcry by terming the Holocaust a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumor" in the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad just ended a two-day international conference on the Holocaust that was dominated by speakers who questioned the extermination of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in World War Two.
"Denying historical facts especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust is just not acceptable," Ban said.

"Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of states or people," Ban said. "I would like to see this fundamental principle respected in both rhetoric and practice by all the members of the international community."

Now that Kofi is gone, maybe, and this is a big maybe, the U.N. will actually be worth something. I highly doubt it, though it is nice to see a change in leadership. (hat tip: LGF)