NEW YORK -- The world has no sure idea of what it may be getting with its newly designated United Nations secretary general. Ban Ki Moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, is more or less an enigma except to a small population engaged in international diplomacy.
What's more, there is another, different population that could not care less about the character and talent of the incoming U.N. secretary general. For they have long ago given up any hope in the utility and relevance of this world organization that was forged together in the shattered aftermath of World War II.
The latter is the group that would prefer to convert the iconic U.N. secretariat building on the East River of Manhattan into something like a large furniture warehouse. Fiery letters to the editor of the New York Post last week said it all, not only about the institution but about its outgoing leader, Kofi Annan: "corrupt and shameful," "Good riddance, Annan," "a complete failure during his tenure."