As IF Times

link Chinas UN diplomat in drunken rant against Americans – Telegraph.

Staff were quick to brush this over as merely a rant initiated by too much fortified grape juice.  Actually, this is the most illuminating story to come out of the useless U.N.  in decades, if not ever.  It’s a poorly hidden secret that diplomacy is all about smiling in the face of your enemies until you can find a rock big enough to hit them over the head with. 

At the outset, the goal of the UN was to provide a civilized, structured forum for resolving issues between nations versus the historic option of waging war and destruction.  As some may know, this organization arose from the ashes of the precursor League of Nations, formed after WW1 in order to prevent world war from happening again.  This group disbanded upon the onset of WW2.  Since that didn’t work too well, the UN is actually the second attempt to play nicely among world nations.   At the end of WW2, the founding nations came together to create the structure we know today.  They included China, Russia, France, the UK and of course the United States.  The U.S. of course had the most money and military might at the time, so therefore the most influence.

Fast forward 65 years later and we notice that the peace loving founders find themselves at odds on many major policy issues, sort of like siblings that begin to resent each other.  Rather than work collectively for ‘world peace’ as per the original intent, they found themselves working to forward the best interests of their own nation states.  Resentment of the U.S.’s disproportionate power and financial influence has become more apparent as nations developed economically and increasingly flex their political muscle.   Except of course in the case of France.  They had resentment from the git go. 

So in this new atmosphere of increasingly equal national powers, the US has commensurately become isolated in their votes on major and minor policy issues.  The most notable dissension arises from the Americans’ support of Israel.  As of now, there is not so subtle competition going on for the world’s resources as everyone maneuvers to gain access to oil, commodities and markets.  Underneath the diplomatic veneer of civility at the UN are fierce battles to get or retain key strategic markets by all nations, notably by China and Russia.  The recent outburst by Sha Zukang is a diplomatic gaffe but lays bare the  resentment for the U.S. that is shared by all UN members.  

Here’s a suggestion.  Why don’t they serve drinks at all UN meetings?  Make it mandatory.  In this way, you can circumvent the charade of diplomatic negotiations and get to the nub of the matter.  You know the old Latin saying, ‘ in vino veritas’.  They’ll more quickly find out the various viewpoints and it won’t be couched in verbal gibberish.  This guy Sha has set new ground in political negotiations; he’s a no spin zone guy.  If you serve booze at the meetings instead of after, you’d likely have much more lively debates and quicker resolutions.   Plus, you wouldn’ t need armies of clerks, secretaries and interpreters to decipher what was said and what was meant.  

At the moment, the only people who are honest and candid about their intents are the ‘bad guys’ like Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong, etc.  They make their positions clear.  Ahmadinejad says, ‘we want to nuke Israel’: the west responds with, “well let’s see if we can find some middle ground’.  Kim Jong sinks a South Korean ship: the west responds with, ‘well it’s an accident, anyone could have done it’.    If we brought booze into all UN meetings, you’d bring back some realism to political debate.  In the 60’s, the Soviet’s Nikita Kruschev achieved notoriety for banging his shoe on his desk at a meeting to get attention.  It’s unknown whether he was over-refreshed at the time, but it’s time we brought back some sincerity to political debate.

You may get the odd fist fight a la Taiwan’s parliament, but better at the UN than in the real world.

link Britney Spears accused of sexual harassment – Yahoo! Canada News.

How did men become such weenies?  If you’re in the bodyguard business, that implies you must be prepared to risk possible bodily harm during the course of performing your job.  Presumably, you’d be physically capable of moving unwanted people aside while protecting your client.  This poor guy was not prepared for the rigors of guarding Miss Spears.  The paparazzi, the fans, ok, but to have to look at her naked, well apparently, that was too much.   Mr. Fernando Flores is,

“…accusing the pop star of repeatedly parading herself around in the nude and having sex in front of him…”

 Where did Britney hire this guy from?  The Pee Wee Herman bodyguard agency?   We’ll assume our hero was not an ex military type but rather a pool cleaner perhaps who thought that being a bodyguard would be a better career path.  That being the case, he was probably looking to fill in the shoes left behind by the former Mr. Spears.  We all remember Kevin Federline who somehow managed to carve off a big slice of Britney’s dough without any evidence of redeeming value or good taste.  You have to give Flores credit for trying I suppose.

This guy is mildly retarded and a weasel. If he thinks seeing Miss Spears naked is stressful, he obviously has never worked for Rosie O’Donnell or Joy Behar.  He’s must be looking to make a career change since I can’t imagine there are hordes of clients out there willing to hire someone who can’t handle the stress of viewing a nude pop star.  If he wants to sue because he was exposed to Britney’s privates, then the whole world has a potential class action lawsuit in the works. 

As usual, I blame the lawyers.  Mr.  Flores somehow managed to corral a lawyer while on a break from chasing ambulances and convinced him/her that Flores had been heinously violated.  Sensing fame and possibly a big fee for telling their story, off to court they go.  They are off to feed on the biggest source of ‘success’ today, fame and notoriety.  In place of producing anything meaningful, the path taken by many is just fame for the sake of fame.  This is all encouraged by the popular media who need fodder for their sensationalist headlines.  How many times can you write about Angelina fuming at Brad anyway?  Or Lindsay in rehab episode 14.  

Maybe this is all a ruse to get into show business.  I’m sure there will be a tell-all book, which leads to a movie and possibly a Broadway musical and a reality show.  Maybe he’s not that dumb.  However, in the immortal wail of the famous You-Tube geek, “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!”