Bush administration seeks change to the UN

As an update to one of my previous posts about change at the United Nations, the Washington Post reports that the US is seeking significant change at the UN. In less than a month world officials are scheduled to meet in New York for a summit on poverty and UN reform. According to the article, "The United States has only recently introduced more than 750 amendments that would eliminate new pledges of foreign aid to impoverished nations, scrap provisions that call for action to halt climate change and urge nuclear powers to make greater progress in dismantling their nuclear arms. At the same time, the administration is urging members of the United Nations to strengthen language in the 29-page document that would underscore the importance of taking tougher action against terrorism, promoting human rights and democracy, and halting the spread of the world's deadliest weapons." It seems very contradictory to me that the US can call for the spread of human rights and democracy while at the same time opposing increased foreign aid to impoverished nations.

--Tom Hayes