Bill Clinton sets eyes on becoming U.N. secretary-general

[onnihs]

Analysis: Clinton eyes U.N. post

By ROLAND FLAMINI, UPI Chief International Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has set his sights on becoming U.N. secretary-general. A Clinton insider and a senior U.N. source have told United Press International the 56-year-old former president would like to be named leader of the world body when Kofi Annan's term ends early in 2006.

"He definitely wants to do it," the Clinton insider said this week.

A Clinton candidacy is likely to receive overwhelming support from U.N. member states, particularly the Third World. Diplomats in Washington say Clinton would galvanize the United Nations and give an enormous boost to its prestige. But the former president's hopes hang on a crucial question that will not be addressed until after the presidential elections: can he get the support of the U.S. government -- a prerequisite for nomination?

The political wisdom is that a second George W. Bush presidency would cut him off at the pass. The notion of Clinton looming large in the international arena from "the glass tower" in New York would be intolerable to the Bush White House. If Democratic candidate, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wins on Nov. 2 the prospect of Clinton as secretary-general won't exactly be welcome either, but Kerry would find it much harder -- if not impossible -- to go against it.

After a Middle East U.N. Secretary General (Boutros Boutros Ghali) and an African (Kofi Annan) it is generally considered Asia's turn to fill the post, U.N. experts say. No announcement has been made, but behind the scenes China is already pushing the candidacy of Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who also seems to have U.S. support. If Clinton does emerge as a candidate, however, China would most likely shift its support, the experts say.

No American has ever been U.N. secretary-general, but the United States is both host country to the United Nations and the major contributor to its budget. A hostile U.S. Congress held up its dues for years -- until the Clinton administration negotiated a payment plan for Washington's arrears. Clinton also revived U.S. membership of UNESCO though the Americans did not actually move back into their offices at the Paris-based scientific and cultural U.N. agency until after the start of the Bush presidency.

President Reagan had taken the United States out of UNESCO in protest against alleged corruption by former top agency officials.

Clinton is currently recovering from the heart bypass surgery he had to undergo last month, and this has kept him away from the Kerry campaign after a few initial support appearances. The former president has told friends and Kerry staffers he plans to resume campaigning for Kerry, but on a limited scale because his recovery has been gradual. He has talked of his interest in taking over at the United Nations since the publication of his commercially successful autobiography, which he recently said had sold 1.9 million copies. Writing the book kept him busy after leaving office in 2000, but he is now ready to channel his considerable political skills and energy into another role in public life.

There had been rumors that he would run the Third Way organization, the world Social Democratic movement he had talked of launching together with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. But the political alliance had come unstuck and the idea ran out of steam partly because Blair and Schroeder found themselves on opposite sides in the Bush-led Iraq war.

Putting Clinton in charge of the United Nations would be a real test of international intentions, observers say.

"Critics of the U.N. complain that it's an organization without the muscle and will to put its decisions into effect," the U.N. source observed. "There's a good chance that Clinton could significantly change that situation, and then we'll see if the critics mean what they say."

Copyright 2004 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.




I really like Clinton. This is exciting news for me. Just had to share.

[Faithless]

Hm. That's an interesting role for Bill.

Would certainly make it interesting for me.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Who are the other candidates in the running besides Clinton and Sathirathai? I remember before last year there was a lot of noise about Sergio de Mello being the shoe-in, but then he went to Baghdad and got front-row seats to the UN headquarters bombing ...

Anyway considering that the last UN Secretary General from a Western country was Gruppenfuhrer Kurt Waldheim, Clinton doesn't exactly have a high regional standard to beat ...

[fossilfuel]

He's only doing it for the sexy international interns

[Bishop]

Personally I don't think that Clinton has the balls to be put into a powerful position such as this. Remember when the U.S.S. Cole was attacked in the Persian Gulf by terrorists? What did he do? He launched a few cruise missiles and ran away. He never pressed the issue on terrorism or investigated the Middle East, plus he downsized the U.S. military which has effected all enlisted personnel moral. Thanks to that douche we are all deployed and rarely ever get to see our families.

Also, the world sees this man as a joke after the affair he had. You realize how strict the Muslims are about religion and I'm sure they think Clinton is a horrible man that goes against all of their teachings. I think that it would elevate more terrorist activity on our embassy's and friendly nations.

[Mr.Lum]

Also, the world sees this man as a joke after the affair he had. You realize how strict the Muslims are about religion and I'm sure they think Clinton is a horrible man that goes against all of their teachings. I think that it would elevate more terrorist activity on our embassy's and friendly nations.

I don't think most Muslims are that strict about affairs. Especially in terms of a man. Furthermore, mostof the people that see him as a 'joke' are Americans. The foreigners I have met recently think that was just a waste of time and can't figure out why it was news (these are Italians, Lebanese and Algerians mostly) plus msot of the muslims in my family didn't care. It wasn't like any other leader hadn't messed around in office.

[onnihs]

Originally Posted by Bishop

plus he downsized the U.S. military which has effected all enlisted personnel moral. Thanks to that douche we are all deployed and rarely ever get to see our families.

I take it you're a soldier. so was I.

let's remember that before Clinton "downsized" the military, the US Army had somewhere around 20 divisions that were undermanned and not fully combat operational. if a full-scale invasion were to occur during that time, it would have been a disaster, much less a complete logistical nightmare.

What Clinton did was consolidate and reorganize the armed forces. instead of 20 fragmented combat divisions, 10 fully manned and operational divisions were allocated and created. That leaves us with a much more efficient fighting force.

[YuheiCarreau]

Originally Posted by Bishop

Personally I don't think that Clinton has the balls to be put into a powerful position such as this. Remember when the U.S.S. Cole was attacked in the Persian Gulf by terrorists? What did he do? He launched a few cruise missiles and ran away. He never pressed the issue on terrorism or investigated the Middle East, plus he downsized the U.S. military which has effected all enlisted personnel moral. Thanks to that douche we are all deployed and rarely ever get to see our families.

He was the American president for 8 years. That's a position of considerably greater power - but I'm not sure what you're getting at with this argument, since being UN secretary general has a lot more to do with diplomacy than military actions.

Also, the world sees this man as a joke after the affair he had. You realize how strict the Muslims are about religion and I'm sure they think Clinton is a horrible man that goes against all of their teachings. I think that it would elevate more terrorist activity on our embassy's and friendly nations.

Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh think Bill Clinton is a joke; no one else really cares. For better or worse, Clinton is something of a 'rock star' politician in western Europe, and I don't think anybody else has strong feelings about him one way or the other.

[SunWuKong]

Originally Posted by Mr.Lum

I don't think most Muslims are that strict about affairs. Especially in terms of a man. Furthermore, mostof the people that see him as a 'joke' are Americans. The foreigners I have met recently think that was just a waste of time and can't figure out why it was news (these are Italians, Lebanese and Algerians mostly) plus msot of the muslims in my family didn't care. It wasn't like any other leader hadn't messed around in office.

a lot of people in HK and Asian immigrants that i know also don't understand why the affair was as big of a deal as it was. they think that the affair has nothing to do with his abilities as a political leader.

[Bishop]

Originally Posted by SunWuKong

a lot of people in HK and Asian immigrants that i know also don't understand why the affair was as big of a deal as it was. they think that the affair has nothing to do with his abilities as a political leader.

I guess it's just an issue that the American people stress about then....thanks for shining some light on it

[fossilfuel]

Originally Posted by Bishop

I guess it's just an issue that the American people stress about then....thanks for shining some light on it

it would probably be weird if a foreign head of state DIDN'T have a mistress or two.

I think being the POTUS is considerably more power than being the head of the UN, Clinton is probably just an attention whore that wants to be in the spotlight again.

[Shogun Empress]

Originally Posted by onnihs

There had been rumors that he would run the Third Way organization, the world Social Democratic movement he had talked of launching together with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. But the political alliance had come unstuck and the idea ran out of steam partly because Blair and Schroeder found themselves on opposite sides in the Bush-led Iraq war.

Sounds too much like a New World Order version of the Third Reich to me...

[Mr.Lum]

^I think it also may have had something with Blair moving steadily towards the right and farther and farther away from the social democratic values of the Labour party.

[truMp]

Originally Posted by Shogun Empress

Sounds too much like a New World Order version of the Third Reich to me...

lol seriously.

Clinton being in the spotlight again wouldn't be all too bad; the question should be whether or not he would be able to uphold such a position with his frail health.

[AngryABCGirl]

I couldn't mind it.