At The Un, Money Talks

THERE were champagne parties, dinners and all-expense-paid trips for envoys galore. In the weeks preceding the October 21 vote to fill in five of the 10 non-permanent slots in the UN Security Council (SC), lobbying reached dizzying heights in New York. And it seemed to have paid off.

At the debt-stricken UN, money spoke louder than anything else: India lost the Asian non-permanent seat to Japan. Though Tokyo라이브 바카라 victory caused little surprise to anyone, least of all to New Delhi, the other big debacle of the day fazed not just the loser but even experts and officials. Before the vote, Australia was almost certain of gaining entry into the SC. Riding on the crest of success after its initiative in bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to the General Assembly for a consensus vote, Canberra was considered a certain entrant by many.

On the other hand, India—the main dissident on the CTBT—was as uncertain as Australia was confident of gaining a non-permanent seat. It enjoyed widespread support from other Third World states, many of whom lauded India라이브 바카라 uncompromising stand on the CTBT even though they themselves voted in favour of the treaty. But New Delhi was also aware of the implications of being pitted against an economic superpower at a time as crisis-stricken at the UN as the present.

But how did Portugal pip Australia at the post, 57 to 124? What turned the tide of popularity against India during the first round itself, 40 to 142? "Money," said one diplomat. "At every vote, there are routinely 16-18 countries which still have arrears towards the UN and have to abstain. This was evident when the CTBT came up for vote at the General Assembly. But curiously, the day this issue came up, only two countries had arrears. So somebody must have paid up—in return for votes." And though speculation is rife at the UN headquarters, it라이브 바카라 clear that that ‘somebody’ was Japan. Tokyo handed out first-class return tickets to envoys, who were then royally indulged. And, Japan is said to have picked up the tab vis-a-vis the coffers of the UN for many of the poorer member-states.

As for Portugal, it simply rode home on the solid support of the other states of the European Union and that of African states, where Lisbon has tirelessly campaigned over months. Observers attribute Australia라이브 바카라 loss largely to its unpopular Permanent Representative Richard Butler, whose "vainglorious figure" and campaigning style put many potential supporters off.

However, it would be churlish and myopic to attribute India라이브 바카라 losses to Japan라이브 바카라 economic clout alone. India is no longer the major player in the international arena it imagines itself to be—and the reasons are many. The first misfired shot probably came from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) itself. As the results came in, there was stunned silence from the MEA. And for once the fault lies clearly with MEA officials rather than the political leadership.

External Affairs Minister I.K. Gujral met 77 of his counterparts in New York and appealed to them to back India. Ministry sources say only 44 countries had committed their vote to India. Of which four finally backed out. But this figure was earlier rejected by senior officers of the ministry, especially India라이브 바카라 Permanent Representative to the UN Prakash Shah, who instead painted a rather bright picture of the whole contest. Others point to Foreign Secretary Salman Haider for going along with Shah라이브 바카라 assessment. As head of the foreign service, they say, he can’t escape the blame for this debacle. Shah and other officers are believed to have argued that Japan was unlikely to get the two-thirds majority in the first ballot and imagined that a compromise would have been worked out with Tokyo after subsequent ballots.

India라이브 바카라 lobbying efforts were also laid waste. Five secretaries in the ministry, former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey and India라이브 바카라 Permanent Representative to the UN from 1980-86, N. Krishnan, and many others had been despatched to lobby around the world. Most Indian envoys were said to have received less than enthusiastic response from them. In fact, when an Indian team reached an African country, it found a group of Japanese officials already there, chequebooks in hand.

바카라 웹사이트 New Delhi라이브 바카라 dissident stand on the TBT, experts aver, was of little consequence. After all, Australia, which won laurels for bringing the CTBT across the Atlantic to the UN General Assembly in New York, lost too. Rather, they point to India라이브 바카라 somewhat unstable domestic political standing, its problems in Kashmir and its dogged reliance on crumbling institutions as factors contributing to its defeat.

바카라 웹사이트 As a high-ranking Asian diplomat at the UN said: "The bottomline is: India no longer enjoys the kind of international clout it did in the past decades. There are various reasons: the decline of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) and India라이브 바카라 increasingly defensive stand on Kashmir, for another. The latter especially, has cost New Delhi the support of Islamic states."

The loss exposed India라이브 바카라 pretensions to multilateralism and leadership of Third World countries. The decision to contest was not based on ground realities. No effort was made when the decision was taken two years ago to see if there was an Asian consensus on the Indian candidature. Not only does Japan generally conform to mainstream views on disarmament, human rights, etc, but it could also exploit the sorry state of financial affairs at the UN. However, New Delhi went along with the bid.

Says a South Block official: "When South Korea became a member last year, we thought that Japan, coming from the same sub-region, may not push its case. But it did." Officials concede that their lobbying indicated the support for India was not unqualified. And that led to the dichotomy between the MEA in New Delhi and its Permanent Mission in New York. Observers note that even after having jumped into the contest, New Delhi could have withdrawn, especially after the Lok Sabha polls and the change in government.

For his part, Shah said he was "surprised and disappointed" at the outcome of the vote, in view of the fact that India did have support from a sizeable number of countries, but was quick to extend his congratulations to Tokyo. "Japan and India are Asia라이브 바카라 most important countries. Both deserved to win. We accept the decision and will work with Japan as we have done before in the interest of Asian affairs," he said.

For now, behind the UN India mission라이브 바카라 elegant brass doors on 43rd Street, it라이브 바카라 business as usual. And, of course, India continues to pursue its larger ambition of gaining a permanent berth within the SC, if and when the body is restructured. "I don’t see a connection between the outcome of the vote on the non-permanent seats and the overall question of restructuring the Council," said Shah. "The expansion of the SC will be decided on the basis of considerations which are far more long term."

YET he conceded that it was "becoming increasingly difficult to gain consensus over the SC라이브 바카라 expansion". The "never-ending working group", as it was dubbed by the Italian ambassador, was given a reprieve for yet another year but continues to remain bogged down. The Big Five want to include economic titans Germany and Japan as permanent members, but Third World states will not accept any expansion that does not represent them. Though Shah feels things might look up once the US polls and the election of a UN Secretary-General are over, as far as the Working Group is concerned, the future prospects for India itself—never mind the cheery optimism India diplomats continue to carefully project—look bleak.

Meanwhile, New Delhi persists in chanting worn mantras: the ‘importance’ of NAM, the G-77 and other organisations which in the post-Cold War era are practically redundant. And though the SC recently placed Kashmir on the list of ‘deadwood’ issues it plans to phase out from its agenda, India continues to have problems in Kashmir.

New Delhi simply does not call the shots any more, at least in any international arena where it lines up with players of the big league and bigger bucks. Political-strategic alignments are no longer as relevant as they were in the Cold War era; it is economy that largely shapes world affairs in the new era, for good, bad or worse. South Block has to work this basic international equation into a more constructive foreign policy if it wants to achieve the global importance that currently remains so elusively out its reach.바카라 웹사이트

with Sunil Narula