Yesterday John Key delivered a speech to the UN (full text). It was strongly worded:
United Nations failed Syria
Prime minister John Key has used a speech to the United Nations to accuse it of failing Syria and other countries in crisis.
In prepared notes, Key sheeted home responsibility for failing to end the “misery” in Syria squarely at the feet of the UN Security Council. “The consequences of inaction are not theoretical. The human toll is real. …
“It’s time for its members to set aside their vested interests and historical alliances in order to stop the violence and end the suffering. “It’s time for the Council to do its duty for those who have lost their lives and loved ones, and for the millions who have been displaced.
“We cannot afford to let the Council go from an institution with failings to a failed institution.” There must be a political solution to the conflict in Syria soon, Key said.
The call for a “political solution” in Syria sits oddly with Key’s bombastic “get some guts” troops (sorry trainers) to Iraq. But Key really showed his true colours with this gem:
“The consequences of inaction are not theoretical. The human toll is real. A three-year-old boy dead, washed up on a Turkish beach; hundreds of thousands killed and millions forced to flee their homes.
“We cannot ignore the huddled travellers in the railway stations of Europe, or the reality of refugees scratching out a meagre existence in camps or makeshift homes in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon,” Key said.
Brazen much? Just weeks ago Key was doing his very best to ignore the “huddled travellers” – the refugees – and keep them out of NZ:
Key: No increase for refugee quota
New Zealand’s refugee quota will stay at 750 a year, despite Opposition calls for more to be accepted.
…
Mr Key said on Monday there were no plans to increase the quota and he repeated that today. “The general view is that 750 works well, on the balance of a number of factors, and that’s been the wisdom of successive governments going back 28 years.”
When forced to back down by the public outcry (i.e. internal polling) Key’s grudging increase to the quota was the bare minimum he thought he could get away with.
Key’s little lecture to the UN would have been delivered with a lot more moral authority if it wasn’t built on the heights of hypocrisy.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress