Ohhh, don’t get me going on the UN. IMO one of the worlds biggest black holes of resources. Now, I’m sure a lot of people within the UN do good work but it appears to me that the excessive input in money and energy bears no resemblance to the outcome/effect of their missions. (O.K., I do realise that that is hard to measure).
My first eye-opener was the three days I spent in Dili, capital of East Timor, during my leave in 2001. The few buildings (colonial mansions) that were still intact had been occupied by numerous UN departments, with nice ‘golden’ plaques at the gates. Their brand-new 4WD were parked on the lawns and hardly ever saw the road…….the population would throw rocks at them.
I was in Kathmandu two years ago (holiday) and the hotels were full of UN officials ‘monitoring’ the elections etc. Many of them were there for some two years. Speaking to a few of them, some had no idea why they were there and invented reasons. Also heard rumours (can’t confirm) that the danger-pay there went up from $150 to $200 per day. Yes…..danger-pay….in Kathmandu hotels! They too had nice big shiny 4WD that they used to ferry themselves from hotel to hotel, while cheap taxis waited outside for work
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WHO is another example. Again, I’m sure they do a lot of good stuff, but consider this: 85 % of the money that comes in the front door at HQ Geneva never leaves the building, that is, it gets used to pay the wages of the staff. How much of the remaining 15 % that feathers out to countries that need it disappears as a result of corruption is another story.
It appears to me that these monsters have become so large and unwieldy that they have become self fuelling gravy trains. Someone on another thread not long ago used the term ‘self licking ice-cream cones’.
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