Why would Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan and Mary Robinson take a trip
together? Having failed in every significant venture these two men and one
women have ever undertaken they can carry on what I assume would by now be
a very depressing habit by visiting the Middle East. And that is exactly
what they are going to do. Who pays for these journeys, I do not
know. The story is in Ha'aretz, a paper I really don't like but on
which I am dependent. So maybe I do like it, after all.
I would have thought that maybe Jimmy himself would have realized by how he
was treated in Darfur that he is not respected in the troubled areas of the
world. In fact, if you recall, a captain of the guard in Darfur hadn't the
slightest idea who Carter was.
Kofi Annan, who was himself responsible for allowing two genocides to take
place (in Bosnia and Rwanda), has no persuasive power in Israel, which
after all knows about genocide and other people's indifference to it.
And Mary Robinson. Well, she needs something to do. She is one of those
stern people who smiles dourly.