People around the world may be tightening their belts, but at the United Nations in Geneva it was party time on Tuesday, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on hand to celebrate the new ceiling decor for the chamber now named “the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room” — meeting place for the UN’s so-called Human Rights Council.
The chamber’s new ceiling, product of Spanish artist and moneypit maestro Miguel Barcelo, rang up a price tag of — take a guess:
a) $230,000
b) $2,300,000
c) $23,000,000
Yep, if you guessed $23 million, you got it right. For photos of this latest piece of UN self-indulgence, check out Fox News, where you can click through pictures of millions of dollars worth of UN ceiling, including 100 tons of paint. Ban Ki-Moon describes it as “a wonderful addition to the United Nations that will capture the imagination of all who work here.” (That would include the imaginations, then, of the toilers on the Libya-chaired preparatory committee for the anti-Israel, anti-U.S. Durban II conference scheduled for next year; the Mercedes and BMW-chauffered diplomats from assorted tyrannies who cover for each other to deflect criticism mainly toward democratic states; the Organization of the Islamic Conference gang now seeking to block free speech worldwide under the label of banning blasphemy…).
The $23 million for the ceiling came from various pockets, some private, and some from the Spanish government — which has come under fire at home for ladling funds into UN decoration instead of using the money to help the poor. But at a time when Ban Ki-Moon has been moaning and groaning that the UN lacks enough money to feed hungry children, the larger question is why the UN would agree to this lavish gilding, let alone throw itself a party to celebrate. The UN bodies meeting under that ceiling have an abysmal record of serving not the people, but themselves. The price tag evokes echoes of the Russian czars, or the final days of the French court. All that’s missing is an inscription over the entrance to the chamber: “Let Them Eat Cake.”
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25 Comments
1. Jong S:Under the visonless leadership of Ban Ki-Moon, UN is going nowhere. As a Korean who worked in UN system for some time, I feel terribly ashamed about Ban and UN.
Nov 19, 2008 - 5:46 am 2. Nick Stuart:They paid $23 MILLION for this s***???
I’m an artist, a kitchen-table amateur to be sure, but I would have happily done it for $2.3 Million and they would have had a better, or at least and equal result.
Nov 19, 2008 - 10:11 am 3. Peace Like A River » Cables, dispatches and memoranda:[...] Claudia Rosett – People around the world may be tightening their belts, but at the United Nations in Geneva it was party time on Tuesday, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on hand to celebrate the new ceiling decor for the chamber now named “the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room” — meeting place for the UN’s so-called Human Rights Council. The chamber’s new ceiling, product of Spanish artist and moneypit maestro Miguel Barcelo, rang up a price tag of — take a guess: Yep, if you guessed $23 million, you got it right. [...]
Nov 19, 2008 - 11:32 pm 4. Pajamas Media » UN Secretary-General Marie Antoinette:[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]
Nov 21, 2008 - 2:02 am 5. canuck:Unfortunately, Senator Zero is not going to rein in the spending for this group of self-indulgent slugs. But then W didn’t do so either. Short of armed revolution is their any other way to move them on and out of our budget?
Nov 21, 2008 - 4:03 am 6. Douglas Bogle:Never fear Obama is here.
Of course the UN is giddy, the One has been elected and the final blow to the US is about to take place. The UN is getting ready to head the World Government. Ha Ha Ha.
Who is Obama’s mini me?
Oh, and I am sure the US paid for the extreme make over at the UN.
Never fear Obama is here.
Nov 21, 2008 - 4:41 am 7. fear Obama:NO Problem-
nothing to see here, move along.
If the UN needs money America will ‘bail’ them out!
Nov 21, 2008 - 4:59 am 8. fear Obama:23 million children could have had food for 1 week,
But remember,
that painting will always be there.
Nov 21, 2008 - 5:03 am 9. Wilma:Millions of children are hungry. spending $23 million on a make over for the UN is indeed sad. What is sinful is spending over $600 million to buy the White House. Wake up America!
Nov 21, 2008 - 6:34 am 10. Dan:http://usawakeup.org/America_Wake_Up.htm
I looked at the picture of the ceiling. Looks like a staglagtite cave on an acid trip. I will be beside my self with laughter when the paint-cicles fall off the ceiling.
Nov 21, 2008 - 7:49 am 11. Brian E.:Another good article from a fine journalist.
Keep up the good work, Claudia!
Nov 21, 2008 - 8:44 am 12. John the Libertarian:Good article. Thanks!
Nov 21, 2008 - 9:37 am 13. Jeff Perren:Worse than useless yakkers who drape themselves in finery while the peasants starve? That practice is centuries old. What self-respecting person would even work for the U.N., much less agree to be its leader?
This is utterly unsurprising.
Nov 21, 2008 - 9:59 am 14. Dr. Lumplevin:What? Are all of you against art? How utterly droll and gauche. Typical low-brow right-wing troglodytes. This magnificent work by the Spanish genius harkens wonderfully back to our primal beginnings in caves and was well worth every US dollar spent on it.
Our world representatives need an apt environment where they can feel inspired to make more speeches and pass more resolutions against Israel, and Ban-Ki-Moon and Miguel Barcelo have brilliantly, tastefully, and sensitively done that.
http://lumpsfromtheleft.blogspot.com/
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:00 am 15. David W. Lincoln:The more things change, the more they remain the same. It is time to end the United Nations, the IMF and the World Bank.
Of course this course of action will not be taken by those who deem themselves to be open-minded, but they only have room for politics when it comes to governing and electioneering.
Those of us who have room for the authority which gave us the Ten Commandments, and the Tao, as well as the activity of people – we are the truly broad minded folk.
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:04 am 16. Michelle G:More on Spain’s new way of doing diplomacy
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3651
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:17 am 17. Bloodthirsty Liberal » Ceiling Waxed:[...] Hey, Congolese! How do you like the UN’s new ceiling? [...]
Nov 21, 2008 - 10:23 am 18. tanstaafl:But at a time when Ban Ki-Moon has been moaning and groaning that the UN lacks enough money to feed hungry children, the larger question is why the UN would agree to this lavish gilding, let alone throw itself a party to celebrate.
Sheesh, first Kofi then Ban Ki, who said something to the effect that the slaughter in Darfur was tied to global warming. “The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change,” Ban said in a Washington Post opinion column.
Drought and competition for land, for sure, but no mention of the methodical “savage genocide of attrition” under both you and your predecessor, Ban.
Is being brain dead part of the job requirements to head up “The UN” ?
Maybe the folks under their new $23 mil ceiling could discuss their organization’s own abject and permanent failure (despite reams of reports and meetings & so forth) to do jack sh!t about slaughter in Darfur spanning years.
Nov 21, 2008 - 11:21 am 19. Steynian 287 « Free Canuckistan!:[...] UN-KING Ban Ki-Moon’s Marie-Antoinette Moment; Foreign Aid Money Spent on $23 Million Art Ceiling at U.N. [...]
Nov 21, 2008 - 12:23 pm 20. lee:Ban Ki Moon is pretty much proof that a minority leader without much talent is… well, just that. I don’t believe most koreans care for this man, much less the UN.
O Pil Seung Korea! Pil Seung!
Nov 21, 2008 - 2:41 pm 21. Juan from Seville:I am a fan of Rosett’s, but this time she has made a mistake.
She fails to note that Spain is paying 100% of the bill. The UN is not paying any of the 23 million dollars. Many people in Spain are angry that our Prime Minister Zapatero is spending taxpayer money on this while Spain has the highest jobless rate in Europe. Our economy is going down fast and the Socialist government is buying art.
Nov 21, 2008 - 3:29 pm 22. The Historian:POLITICS ASIDE, IT’S OVER IN IRAQ
Time to recognize the realities on the ground and in the Middle East generally:
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/iraq-in-rear-view-mirror.html
Nov 21, 2008 - 3:33 pm 23. thegr8_1:UN=Useless Nitwits
And we supply what 30% of the budget?
Nov 21, 2008 - 6:52 pm 24. Mike:Juan, Unless I am not reading the article correctly it appears that the author is critical of the expense and why the money was spent. I agree that Spain could have used the money for its own people or even to feed hungry people in another part of the world. We all know there are plenty of destitute people in this world.
Claudia Rosett, good article and I agree with you on this.
Nov 21, 2008 - 7:11 pm 25. njcommuter:Hmm. To judge by those photos, the ceiling is an expensive travesty. For the UN Commission on Human Rights, that seems appropriate, does it not?
I only wish that some poor artists had been hired to do the job and the $23 million given to an organization that really does help safeguard human rights. The United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy come to mind.
Nov 21, 2008 - 7:14 pm