From Davids Miedienkritik on the real purpose of the UN:
If the UN is the “solution”, what is the problem? Certainly not anything real, like stopping genocide in Sudan or organizing relief efforts after the tsunamis in SE Asia/India. The UN could really earn its weekly pay if it did something other than the usual grandstanding, but it’s already blaming Bush for this and that.
Doubtless a commission will be appointed, which will spend vast amounts of money exploring the beaches of Phuket and Sri Lanka on fact-finding missions (once they’re cleaned up, of course: can’t possibly go somewhere dangerous), after which a hefty report will be produced. It will be presented at a five-star conference, where the assembled conferees will, in between morning snorkeling and evening pub crawling, bash the US for only giving 10x more than anyone else. Northern European countries will bask in the aura of accomplishment, proud that they “did something”, while showing off nice tans and cheap trinkets they bought at the conference.
The only good effects of all of this will be to pump a few million into the economies of hard-hit tourist areas…
It is nice to know that there are some conservative Germans left.