Update: ‘An International Laughing Stock’: UN Appoints North Korea to Head Conference on Disarmament; Canada Boycotts

Viva la Canada!

Update July 12, 2011: Canada boycotts UN body over North Korea Appointment – “Canada is boycotting a UN body dedicated to disarmament to protest against North Korea being named its chair, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Monday.

The Conference on Disarmament, where UN members negotiate disarmament and other arms control agreements, is heavily focused on the prevention of a nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament.

‘North Korea is simply not a credible chair at this United Nations body. The regime is a major proliferator of nuclear weapons and its non-compliance with its disarmament obligations goes against the fundamental principle of this committee,’ Baird said during a call with media to make the announcement.

‘North Korea’s chairmanship undermines the integrity of both the disarmament framework and of the United Nations, and Canada simply will not support that.'” Read more.

June 30, 2011: The stupidity and nonsensical appointment by the Useless Nitwits knows no bounds.  Next thing you know they’ll elect let’s-stone-women-to-death Iran to their women’s rights commission.  Oh, they did that already, too?

By ANNE BAYEFSKY – “On Tuesday, the United Nations again made itself an international laughing stock – except perhaps to the American taxpayers who continue to foot 22 percent of the bill – by appointing North Korea chair of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. That would be the same North Korea that, according to an article this week by Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has ‘twice tested nuclear weapons … is developing missiles to carry them … has built facilities capable of producing highly enriched uranium for more nuclear weapons’ and has defied a U.N. arms embargo by exporting weapons and sensitive technologies to rogue regimes…

North Korea assumes the Conference chairmanship by being the next state in the alphabetical rotation of the 65 members, which include five nuclear weapons states and 60 other countries such as Iran and Syria. North Korea will preside over the Conference for a four working-week period.” Read more.

North Korea threatens a ‘sacred war’ on neighbor – “North Korea threatened yesterday to launch ‘a retaliatory sacred war’ against South Korea for alleged slander as the two sides held rare talks on a stalled joint tourism project. A Pyongyang government spokesman accused the South Korean frontline army units of displaying slogans slandering the North’s ‘army, system and dignity’ and said they are ‘little short of a clear declaration of war.'” Read more.

North Korea-Iran Nuclear Cooperation – “The release of U.S. diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks and North Korea’s revelations about its uranium enrichment program have raised concerns about North Korea’s proliferation activities, especially to Iran. ‘Most illicit nuclear programs depend very heavily on procurement networks, and North Korea has invested heavily in these supply networks,’ says Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia nonproliferation program at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.” Read more.