First Day Post of the Durban Review Conference

I’ve logged less total sleep in the past six nights than I usually get in two nights. I am five pounds thinner from the experience. I am virtually fifteen pounds heavier with knowledge. I now know first hand about diplomacy and the difference between bi-national and multi-national diplomacy. I now know the commonly accepted practice of diplomats saying one thing to each other privately but the opposite in public.

I know Durban II was no Durban I, B.H., and the international Jewish community deserves praise for rescuing the Israel portion of the Conference. That said, the voice of the Islamic Fundamentalists is loud, clear, organized, and powerful here, much more than the non-aligned and the Western voices. In my opinion, this needs to change. The addition of the United States to the UN Human Rights Council will help.

The Conference’s first day remains the confrontational thief of attention, stealing so much from so many human rights issues and conditions that all need immediate engagement. Darfur, for example, remains the darling of talk but the orphan of action. And in Geneva, I’ve heard of a dozen more.

“Western Liberalism” will not end, Mr. President (you can choose which one), but it needs to hear the call to arms.

The topic of human rights needs to get on the agenda of the Human Rights Council. Israel honestly and publicly regrets killing the few human shields who are purposely placed in harm’s way. The gamble almost never works; Israel exclusively chooses to give up targets if there is the possibility of civilian injury.

Mistakes happen, however, and Israel is singled out as the willing and sole worst human rights violator of the world. Hamas throws its political opposition from the rooftops (literally), puts its citizens in harms way purposely, and includes the goal of death to Jews worldwide in its Charter. They are cuddled by the UN Human Rights Council. Libya is the poster child for human rights violations. I’ve detailed them previously. And Libya chairs the Durban Review Conference Committee! Saudi Arabia imprisons rape victims and lashes them one hundred times after convictions of adultery, the latter killing most. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the belle of this week’s Conference Committee, denies the Holocaust, calls for the destruction of Israel, and presides over a government that executes more children annually then there are days of the week.

It will be long before I forget how Ahmdinejad was welcomed earlier this week with open arms to Geneva and hosted for dinner by Switzerland’s President Hans-Rudolf Merz. Remember, I now know about diplomacy. That wasn’t diplomacy.

Israel arrived at the Conference wounded, but not mortally. She leaves in slightly better health with positive opportunities for improved diplomatic wellness. Her new government will have much to do with the fulfillment of those opportunities.

What have I learned this week that I haven’t already made clear? Western-style democracies, whether liberal, conservation, or moderate need to wake up, band together, exercise some strong leadership with purpose, and fight back. With that, they need to finally take back the UN. A “League of Democracies” not in opposition to the UN, but INSIDE the UN, improving lives and, more importantly, saving lives.

Au revoir et salut, Genève.

Thank you for reading these dispatches.