Thursday, August 18, 2005
This is what we like to see. John Bolton has been making his voice heard on the UN funding of Palestinian propaganda. (Previous item: UN cash for propaganda redux)
NY Sun: Funding of Palestinian Propaganda By U.N. 'Unacceptable,' Bolton Says
America's newly installed ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, labeled "inappropriate and unacceptable" the United Nations Development Program financing of materials bearing the slogan "Today Gaza, Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem."
Mr. Bolton said yesterday that the UNDP had failed to explain why it funneled money to the Palestinian Authority to back the production of banners, bumper stickers, mugs, and T-shirts bearing the provocative slogan as well as UNDP logos...
...In a letter to the American Jewish Congress, which had decried the funding of the propaganda materials, a UNDP administrator, Kemal Dervis, said it was "not at all acceptable" that the agency's logo was placed on the propaganda.
"We cannot be involved in political messaging," Mr. Dervis wrote. The UNDP manages nearly $4 billion in donor resources annually, operating in 166 countries.
The response from the UNDP was not sufficient, Mr. Bolton said yesterday. "Funding this kind of activity is inappropriate and unacceptable. We plan to raise the issue with UNDP and with others," he said in a statement to The New York Sun. In effect, Mr. Bolton expressed to the UNDP that the most serious problem for his office was not the logo, but the fact that the agency supported that message with its checkbook...
It doesn't matter what gets said. The problem is systemic. Even if there were real interest in enforcing accountability, and I doubt there is (why would an unaccountable bureaucrat volunteer to make their life more difficult?), there's likely little way to watch how the money is spent or audit it after it's paid out, anyway. And if it's misused? So what? What consequence will there be? A cut in aid to the PA? Don't make me laugh.
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