It's Time the UN Stopped Congratulating Kim Jong Un

"Protocol has its uses, not least at the United Nations. But when it comes to lavishing on murderous tyrants the same pro forma felicitations accorded to the elected leaders of free nations, it's time for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to clean up the act of the UN Protocol and Liaison Service -- which reports to him.

What's the problem? There are many problems, actually, and they stem from the UN's morally incontinent practice of doling out to all member states - whether totalitarian or democratic; North Korea or Costa Rica - the same perquisites, including a lot of diplomatic swag for the most monstrous dictators on the planet.

Lest that sound too abstract, let's turn to one of the latest outrages. This cameo starts with a UN communique to war-wracked Syria, where last month the state news agency, SANA, reported that President Bashar al-Assad had just received 'a cable of congratulations from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the occasion of Syria's independence day.' According to the SANA dispatch, (boldface mine) Guterres in this cable 'expressed his warmest congratulations to the Syrian people and government on this occasion.'...

Not least, this UN protocol sideshow doesn't end with Syria. Curious about whether the UN sends out this same 'generic' message of congratulations every year to, say, North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un, on his country's national day, I asked the UN press office. They provided a copy of the generic text, and confirmed that, yes, the same message goes out to Kim...

Apparently, it makes no difference to the UN Secretariat that Kim's regime is not part of any 'shared' effort to 'ensure peace, development and human rights for all.'..."