But where is James Bond?

But where is James Bond? What a bizarre question, you may say. And yet, it’s the question that should be on everyone’s lips given the recent events. In the films that Hollywood has been churning out over the past decades, the hero – a man of action – always arrives at the last minute to stop the bad guys from blowing up a building full of innocent people or from destroying part – the good part, according to Bond – of mankind. But now dear James has let us down. Baddies with an implausible script achieve what no scriptwriter would ever have imagined: destroying towers, sending poisoned letters, shaking the foundations of the economy, even society.

Faced with a few men who’ll stop at nothing, regular armies – modern-day lumbering dinosaurs – hit here and there without much effect on the troublemakers. This is how we discover to our horror that Rambo is no stronger than the heroes of children’s fairytales, some kind of brawny little red riding hood.

Maybe it’s time to come back to earth and realize that a handful of (even rotund) diplomats talking about the real problems of the world can be just as effective as their mythical muscular counterparts.

Some say the UN is not perfect, and they’re right. But, frankly, even if we agree with the mainstream and calculate costs and benefits, it seems to me that over the past few years the UN has cost a great deal less and achieved a great deal more than the armies of the 20th century.

Finally, as no one seems to want to congratulate us on our Nobel peace prize, UN Special takes this opportunity to do so. Congratulations to all of us for this welldeserved reward. May I suggest that we use the award to set up a foundation for the orphans of national and international staff who have given their lives to defend the ideals of the Organization.

Le rédacteur en chef, Jean Michel Jakobowicz.