Panama Gets UN Security Council Seat in Compromise

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez wanted a seat on the UN Security Council so he could use it to hector the Bush administration. Naturally, the Bush administration sought a candidate to prevent that, and thus, it backed Guatemala, run by a much friendlier regime. After 47 ballots, neither had won the 2/3 majority of the General Assembly necessary, so they are both withdrawing in favor of Panama. It’s a win for the Busheviks, since their entire goal was to stop Mr. Chavez.

Like Mr. Orwell’s pigs, some members of the UN Security Council are more equal than others. The permanent members (USA, Britain, France, China and Russia) can stop a resolution simply by voting “no,” their vetoes enshrined in the UN Charter thanks to Mr. Stalin. The other 10 members get elected by the General Assembly every couple of years, and they act as second-class members representing their geographic regions.

This latter point means that there are seats set aside for each region. Africa gets 3 seats; Asia, Latin America and Western Europe have 2 apiece and Eastern Europe gets 1. Arab nations are represented either by an African state or a member of the Asian bloc (currently Qatar). Usually, a region will pick a representative and the GA will rubber-stamp its approval. This time, there was no consensus in Latin America, so the voting went on and on.

Foreign Ministers Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala bowed out with reasonable grace, “We are concerned about the idea of divisions between the north and the south of Latin America and would like to put the idea to rest by seeking a country that is well received at both ends of our continent.” He added that having US support was “a double-edged sword,” adding, “In some ways it probably damaged our campaign, in others it helped.”

Venezuela’s officials was a bit spikey about it all. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said, “Venezuela will continue to try for the democratization of the United Nations,” and saying that the world needed, “a system that serves peace, that worked for the entire world and not one power.” Nonetheless, he made the right noises, “We are recognizing today this role of Panama as a political and geographical meeting point.”

Truly, had Mr. Chavez not made such a big issue out of a seat for his country he wouldn’t have lost anything. Since Venezuela has been on the UNSC four times already (1962–63, 1977–78, 1986–87 and 1992–93) and Guatemala never has, the fairness he demanded might better have been served by keeping quiet. As it is, he has handed the bumbling Busheviks a win that they don’t deserve over an issue that doesn’t matter. The White House remains lucky when it comes to the quality of its opponents.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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