Comment by JLand on Wednesday, Aug 8 at 05:03 PM

An interesting discussion with a very accomplished man... Unfortunately his leadership skills were not up to the most significant challenges of his tenure at the UN: so although he tried and was frustrated in trying to reform the institution, lamentably, his legacy will be systemic impotence in the face of a genocide in Rwanda, another in Dafur, and the tragedy of Iraq. Even if the Member States at the end of the day bear most of the blame -- events have clearly shown that Member States, or a handful of them, drive the agenda, and one is left with the impression that the Secretary General serves a largely perfunctory role. However, with Condi at the State Department and Kofi at the UN, it turns out we were ill-advised to expect that Africa or its interests might have fared better. It is a shame. His smug words about I told you so...regarding Iraq, therefore do not impress much.