Diagnosis Nonsense

The right's overblown case againt Kofi Annan is clearly unraveling. If they continue to press it, they will be implicitly impugning the credibility of Paul Volcker. To quote a great political strategist (many of them, in fact): "be my guest!"

Lefty Britisher Ian Williams -- who I saw arguing with some jerk (I think it was Joel Mowbray) on CNN yesterday about whether or not the US should step up its foreign aid, the alternative (I guess) being to consider it business as usual when hundreds of thousands of poor people die every time there's a natural disaster somewhere OVER THERE (yes, Carl Schmitt is doing a rotisserie in his grave, seeing that even tsunamis are POLITICAL) -- says it's probably just another case of "moving the goalposts." In other words, the next time Kofi Annan criticizes a US President, or dares to suggest that a US action might be illegal under international law, David Frum will be able to point to a pile of unproved accusations about the UN and whine about moral equivalencies. Perhaps you remember that whole 'media bias' thing...