Kofi Annan at Stanford

     Steven Torok writes:
     As a veteran of the UN system for the past 18 years (till Aug 31 1998) and a Stanford Alumnus, I congratulate Gerhard Casper for having invited the Secretary General of the United Nations as Commencement speaker! Where there could be several opinions about the UN and lack of interest among the students and faculty, the task at hand is to reform the UN, where 180 some national bureaucracies and a legacy of the cold war render effective action extremely difficult!!! I am certain Kofi Annan will give a good speech and can get this opportunity to initiate a constructive dialogue for constructive reform of the United Nations that is now underway."


     My comment: As I said, the basic problem at Stanford is the lack of serious general and research interest in the UN, and, until a debate with someone like Pat Buchanan is initiated, the response to Kofi Annan's speech will be just polite applause.

Ronald Hilton - 3/3/00