Secretary-General Clinton?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-10-22 05:43pm

Former United States President Bill Clinton has set his sights on becoming secretary-general of the United Nations, a Clinton insider and a senior UN source told United Press International. Current Secretary-General Kofi Annan's term ends early in 2006.

"He definitely wants to do it," UPI quoted the Clinton insider as saying this week.

According to the UPI report, a Clinton candidacy is likely to receive overwhelming support from UN member states, particularly the Third World. Diplomats in Washington say Clinton would galvanize the UN and give an enormous boost to its prestige. The UPI report states that the political wisdom is that a second George W. Bush presidency would cut him off at the pass. The notion of Clinton looming large in the international arena from "the glass tower" in New York would be intolerable to the Bush White House. If Democratic candidate, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wins on Nov. 2 the prospect of Clinton as secretary-general won't exactly be welcome either, but Kerry would find it much harder - if not impossible - to go against it.

UPI quotes UN experts as saying that after a Middle East UN Secretary-General (Boutros Boutros Ghali) and an African (Kofi Annan) it is generally considered Asia's turn to fill the post. No announcement has been made, but behind the scenes China is already pushing the candidacy of Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who also seems to have U.S. support. If Clinton does emerge as a candidate, however, China would most likely shift its support, the experts say.

No American has ever been UN secretary-general, but the U.S. is both host country to the United Nations and the major contributor to its budget.

Clinton is currently recovering from the heart bypass surgery he had to undergo last month, which has kept him away from the Kerry campaign after a few initial support appearances. UPI reports that Clinton has talked of his interest in taking over at the UN since the publication of his commercially successful autobiography.

Putting Clinton in charge of the UN would be a real test of international intentions, UPI quotes observers as saying. "Critics of the UN complain that it's an organization without the muscle and will to put its decisions into effect," the UN source observed. "There's a good chance that Clinton could significantly change that situation, and then we'll see if the critics mean what they say."

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-10-22 05:47pm

Blowjobs at the UN, foreign interns getting the "special" treatment. I'd give good money to see that. It would actually be an improvement of the UN.

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-10-22 05:49pm

Bah, they're all fucking crocks.

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-10-22 05:50pm

Crooks. Stupid beer.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-10-22 06:05pm

BoredShirtless wrote:Crooks. Stupid beer.

You crazy drunken Kraut.

I think Bill Clinton might restore some credibility to the UN. And... oh dear god that sentence disturbs me. Seriously though I'll trust him a hell of a lot more than Kofi Annan.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2004-10-22 06:09pm

hed bring integrity and honor to the un.

am i joking? I cant tell...

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2004-10-22 06:15pm

One good thing about Clinton-- he's used to leading a large government. While the position of sec'y-gen of the UN is more or less a sinecure (owing more to the fact that the UN can do fuck-all when it comes to ordering countries around), he would still have a good deal of political clout-- more so than Annan, if you ask me. With Kofi, everybody's like, "What? This unknown Kenyan telling us what to do? Screw yourself..." With Clinton, on the other hand, it's more like, "Wait a minute-- the ex-POTUS is tellin' us what to do? Hmm..."

Perhaps a hasty generalization, but it would definitely play a part...

Axis Kast · Post by **Axis Kast** » 2004-10-22 07:23pm

I don't like the idea of a former American President in a position to make "suggestions" to the current American President on behalf of the international community. Especially one with Clinton's clout.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-10-22 07:33pm

Woah.. Someone who could actually make the UN work a little bit. I support this.

Loner · Post by **Loner** » 2004-10-22 07:40pm

SirNitram wrote:Woah.. Someone who could actually make the UN work a little bit. I support this.

Yes, but there's also the added bonus of freepers going batshit insane and making daily rants about it. Which would please me very much. Though this sort of reminds me of one of the later episodes of Babylon 5 where Sheridan was forced to resign his position, only to be made the President of Non-Alligned worlds.

Also, the article mentioned that the Bush administration could stop Clinton. How would they do so?

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2004-10-22 07:41pm

Loner wrote:
SirNitram wrote:Woah.. Someone who could actually make the UN work a little bit. I support this.
Yes, but there's also the added bonus of freepers going batshit insane and making daily rants about it. Which would please me very much. Though this sort of reminds me of one of the later episodes of Babylon 5 where Sheridan was forced to resign his position, only to be made the President of Non-Alligned worlds.

Also, the article mentioned that the Bush administration could stop Clinton. How would they do so?

Carpet bombing? Delta Force op?

More seriously, America still holds massive sway in the UN, and Bush can be damn obstructionist if he leans on the American representatives there.

muse · Post by **muse** » 2004-10-22 08:22pm

BoredShirtless wrote:Bah, they're all fucking crocks.

Crooks. Stupid beer.

Same idea, they're a bunch of crooked crocks!

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-10-22 08:51pm

Loner wrote:Also, the article mentioned that the Bush administration could stop Clinton. How would they do so?

Veto.

Spice Runner · Post by **Spice Runner** » 2004-10-22 10:21pm

Loner wrote:Though this sort of reminds me of one of the later episodes of Babylon 5 where Sheridan was forced to resign his position, only to be made the President of Non-Alligned worlds.

Yeah that was quite funny.

Clinton will bring prestige as a former POTUS to the office of Secretary Generala an he is a popular figure throughout the most of the world. He may have a tough time sorting through the corruption. Though I say better him than the current arrangement.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2004-10-23 12:00am

It will never happen. The UN has never appointed any representative of a superpower or from one of the Permanent Five on the Security Council to serve as SecGen. The balance of power on the General Assembly would be upset, and there are far too many small, nonaligned states to block any such appointment.