Sometimes it seems that the United Nations goes out of the way to prove its own fecklessness. The latest example? A government- (read: Robert Mugabe) chosen representative from Zimbabwe is about to be named the chair of the UN's 53-member Commission on Sustainable Development. Of course the UN is not acting alone — in the rotation for chairs, it was Africa's turn to choose their representative, and gallingly the continent apparently chose Zimbabwe. Nonetheless, the idea that Mugabe's Zimbabwe should receive such a position within the UN even as Zimbabwe crumbles is a pretty sad statement on the UN's values and credibility.
