United Nations

Wednesday June 4, 2008

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 4, 2008

Food summit delegates enjoy banquet dinner

After a day spent debating the world food crisis, the 40 heads of government taking part in the UN food summit were rewarded with a banquet at a palazzo designed by Raphael.

The leaders sat down to dinner in the frescoed halls of the Villa Madama, a sprawling palace on the lower slopes of Monte Mario in Rome.

Robert Mugabe was not invited to the banquet, which was hosted by Silvio Berlusconi and Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general.

The Zimbabwean leader brought his own cadre of chefs and waiters with him to Rome, and installed them in the kitchen of the five-star Hotel Ambasciatori Palace, where he has a suite.

A source at the hotel said the Zimbabwean delegation had brought “crates” of African food with them and were dining in their rooms.

Earlier, the heads of government sat down to a decidedly more modest lunch than the one served at the 2005 food summit in Rome.

Delegates were served vol au vents with sweetcorn and mozzarella, paté of crevettes and pumpkin, veal with cherry tomatoes, spinach and then a fruit salad. (Source: Telegraph) 

 

Saturday March 8, 2003

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 8, 2003

The U.S. and the U.N.

In pushing forward America’s agenda, Bush turned up the heat on the United Nations Thursday by insisting that diplomacy is “in its final phase.”

Translation: The U.S. is getting tired of UN Security Council waffling which is frustrating America’s plans and making the world’s only superpower appear to be a self-indulgent bully. The U.S. position was clarified yesterday by a resolution tabled by its closest friend, Britain, which would give Saddam Hussein 10 days to comply with UN inspections or face war.

It’s a political resolution designed to give the anti-war nations a last chance to fall in step with the U.S.

Should the resolution fail, and it certainly will, the United States will still go to war, insisting that it doesn’t need anyone’s permission to look after its own security interests.

In the face of this certainty, the temptation is to write off the United Nations as an organization whose credibility and value has crumbled under the weight of U.S. foreign policy. (Hamilton Spectaor Editorial)

 

Wednesday April 24, 2002

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 24, 2002

Canada Addresses a Meeting of the Insecurity Council of the United Indignations

Fidel Castro on Monday offered the world a chance to eavesdrop on a falsely cordial exchange between heads of state and the behind-the-scenes choreography of a summit meeting. Upset at Mexico’s support of a U.N. condemnation of Cuba’s human rights record last week, Mr. Castro released a tape of a phone call he received from Mexico’s president, Vicente Fox, before last month’s U.N. aid conference in Monterrey. Mr. Fox was outwitted by Cuba’s wily 75-year-old dictator. Contrary to his claims that he had not pressured Mr. Castro to leave the meeting early, Mr. Fox is caught on tape asking ”as a friend” that Mr. Castro do just that. After Mr. Castro agreed to leave early and asked what else he could do for his Mexican ”friend,” Mr. Fox requested that the Cuban leader refrain from criticizing the United States and President Bush. Mr. Castro was incensed. Mr. Fox’s call was akin to a dinner party host reaching out beforehand to an ill-mannered guest. (The New York Times)