Secretary-General Candidates Seem Intent on Making the U.N. Boring Again

Secretary-General Candidates Seem Intent on Making the U.N. Boring Again
Mogens Lykketoft, president of the General Assembly, briefs journalists on the selection process for the next U.N. secretary-general, New York, Feb. 26, 2016 (U.N. photo by Mark Garten).

This column should start with a health warning: It contains some truly tedious writing about the future of the United Nations. In my own defense, I should add that the passages in question were not authored by me.

This week, the current eight candidates to replace Ban Ki-moon as secretary-general when his term expires at the end of this year will have two-hour hearings at the U.N. General Assembly. As of this weekend, seven had published “vision statements” to pave the way for their appearances; the one exception was the last to declare, New Zealand’s Helen Clark.

I have read them so you don’t have to. And trust me: You don’t really want to.

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