What do Libya, Iran, Cuba, Russia and Pakistan all have in common? 

By Claudia Rosett 
April 23, 2008
The Pajamas Media
Original Source: http://mt.pajamasmedia.com/xpress/claudiarosett/2008/04/22/what_do_libya_iran_cuba_russia.php

Why of course! At the United Nations, they’ve all been picked to lead the preparations for the UN’s “Durban Review” mega-conference against “racism,” scheduled for sometime in 2009. They all have seats on the 20-member preparatory committee which has just begun a two-week meeting in Geneva to plan for this Durban II pow-wow —which now looms as a reprise of the anti-democratic, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-American 2001 conference that was Durban I. This round, Libya is chairing the preparations. Cuba gets to send not one, but two officials to the planning party; one to plan and the other to act as rapporteur.
From a number of democracies, including Canada, the U.S. and Israel, there has been enough protest over this farce so that even UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour has interrupted her grieving over the 2007 execution of Saddam Hussein to note that there are concerns surrounding Durban II “which if not squarely confronted and resolved, may ultimately jeopardize a successful outcome of the process.”
Give us a break, Louise. The “process” here has patently nothing - zip, zero, nada — to do with fighting racism. It has everything to do with assorted thug states draping themselves in the mantle of the UN and abusing the vocabulary of genuine human rights, the better to attack democratic societies — starting with Israel and proceeding to the rest of the hit list maintained by the thugocracies of Libya, Iran, Cuba & Co. Thanks to UN sponsorship, their perverted “process” is thriving. Durban II is a gross insult to anyone genuinely fighting racism. In the propaganda wars of the UN, this conference is a coup for the club of thugs.
Would it be too much to ask that as plans roll ahead for the “Durban Review Conference” — as it is called —the U.S. State Department land a counter-punch on the side of truth, human dignity and genuine human rights? How about America introducing a resolution at the UN to give this conference and its preparatory committee an honest name — say, “Thugs R Us” —?
No doubt the UN would vote that down. But even that might just bring some much-needed clarity to this latest UN “process.”