By arthur Weinreb
January 4, 2005
The December 26 tsunami caught a lot of countries with their leaders absent. Paul Martin, George W. Bush and Tony Blair were just three leaders who happened to be on vacation when the killer tsunamis struck South East asia.
The Canadian media were highly critical of Martin remaining in Morocco while the asian death toll climbed upwards towards the 100,000 mark. and in the United States, George Bush was also taken to task for remaining in Crawford Texas and accused, as was Martin, for not speaking enough about one of the worst natural disasters in history.
Martin was criticized despite the fact it appears things would have not been any different had he graced Canadians with his underwhelming presence. In the space of four days, Defence Minister Bill Graham announced that initial $1 million promised in aid would be increased to $40 million. The delays in deciding on any military deployment had more to do with former Finance Minister Paul Martin’s cuts to the military budget than it did to current Prime Minister Paul Martin’s whereabouts. The government was functioning as it should.
But where was Secretary General Kofi annan after the tsunamis struck? Well, it seems Kofi too was on vacation. annan only returned to New York, three days after the devastation hit. While Jan Egeland was calling the West (that is, the United States) stingy in its relief efforts, Kofi was not anywhere to be found. He didn’t surface until he spoke at the U.N. on December 30. Yet there was almost no criticism of annan’s refusal to immediately return to New York like there was for Paul Martin and George W. Bush.
Despite being in Texas, Bush did manage to form another coalition; this time with Japan, australia and India to provide relief for the victims of the tsunami. Many news outlets, if they reported that at all did so as a tiny addendum to their massive coverage of the asian disaster. Few media outlets reported that this was the U.S. president’s way of helping out the devastated countries by bypassing the U.N.
Whether it’s oil-for-food or sex-for-food scandals or Kofi’s late arrival in New York, it seems the media is extremely reluctant to criticize either the United Nations or its head. It’s almost like the 11th commandment, "Thou shalt not criticize the United Nations".