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Former U.N. Sec Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Feb 16, 2016#1

GasBandit

Newsweek doesn't have a lot good to say about him.

Feb 16, 2016#2

PatrThom

I mainly knew of him as the material for jokes due to his unusual (in the West) name.

--Patrick

Feb 16, 2016#3

Gruebeard

PatrThom said:
I mainly knew of him as the material for jokes due to his unusual (in the West) name.

--Patrick

That seems like a requirement for the job.

Feb 16, 2016#4

Dave

Yeah, I only know him because of David Letterman.

Feb 16, 2016#5

GasBandit

Gruebeard said:
That seems like a requirement for the job.

Between Banky Moon and Couscous Bengali, Kofi Annan seemed almost a garden variety name. And let's not even get into the scandinavians that were Sec-Gen 50 years ago.

Feb 17, 2016#6

Bubble181

Not surprising Newsweek's not a fan. BBG was probably the last sec-gen who dared to stand up to the USA. While it is true he also didn't achieve much as sec-gen, he did do some good stuff beforehand and after - he helped stop the Israeli-Egyptian war, helped push for more oil drilling during the 70s (wait, is that still considered a good thing these days?), and he did have a point in dealing with Africa, even if he made it horribly. Better than Ban-ki Moon, honestly - at least BBG kept the UN in the news, and tried to get the major powers to do things together. Nowadays, might as well not have a sec-gen for all the good the UN does.

Feb 17, 2016#7

GasBandit

Bubble181 said:
Not surprising Newsweek's not a fan. BBG was probably the last sec-gen who dared to stand up to the USA. While it is true he also didn't achieve much as sec-gen, he did do some good stuff beforehand and after - he helped stop the Israeli-Egyptian war, helped push for more oil drilling during the 70s (wait, is that still considered a good thing these days?), and he did have a point in dealing with Africa, even if he made it horribly. Better than Ban-ki Moon, honestly - at least BBG kept the UN in the news, and tried to get the major powers to do things together. Nowadays, might as well not have a sec-gen for all the good the UN does.

Actually, Newsweek usually is rather critical of the US as well (especially its right wing), when it comes to politics, which is why it surprised me it was so negative on Boutros-Ghali..

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