Cliff Stearns Quotes

I think that we should have a very serious discussion about defunding the United nations… Why should we be paying for the UN?

The main thing that endears the United Nations to member governments, and so enables it to survive, is its proven capacity to fail, and to be seen to fail.

The main thing that endears the United Nations to member governments, and so enables it to survive, is its proven capacity to fail, and to be seen to fail. If there is something you are expected to do, but don't want to do, or even have done for you, you can safely appeal to the UN in the comfortable certainty that it will let you down.

During the three decades of its existence, the effectiveness of the United Nations has, on the whole, tended to decrease, particularly in the field of peace and security and, more generally, all issues in which the developed countries feel they have important stakes.

I also believe that member states of the United Nations should live up their obligations to pay their dues.

Let us face it, the U.N. has failed. It has failed in its mission to promote world peace.

The United Nations has a lot of capacity on the ground.

The United Nations has a critical role to play in promoting stability, security, democracy, human rights, and economic development. The UN is as relevant today as at any time in its history, but it needs reform.

The U. N. is like a company that can't market its products and whose board members put their own interests first.

According to the U. N. Charter, the Secretary General is the chief administrative officer, not its chief moralizer.

The United Nations is an organization of sovereign states, but the rights that it upholds belong to individuals.

The President professes a faith in the United Nations but his actions and statements are not designed to give life or vitality to that organization.

The best thing that most Americans can say about the UN is that it is ineffectual. That’s the best thing.

It [the UN] has given uniquely valuable services in many places where violence threatened. It is the only real world forum where we have the opportunity for international presentation and rebuttal…. The United Nation deserves our continued firm support.

I am totally committed to the cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations.

There is, and there will be, an increasing demand for a principled global security provider, for a superpower that believes in multilateralism and cooperation.

The United Nations is our conscience. If it succeeds it is our success. If it fails it is our failure.

In fact UN is more of a galaxy of organisations and agencies than one machine.

The U.N. is capable of endless process and mindless psychobabble, but as far as getting the job done on the ground, I just don't see them doing it.

The U.N. is one of many competitors in a marketplace of global problem solving.

The U.N. is worse than disaster. The U.N. creates conflicts. Look at the disgraceful U.N. Human Rights Council: It transmits norms which are harmful, anti-liberty and anti-Semitic, among other things. The world would be better off in its absence.

As I prepare for my second term as Secretary-General, I am thinking hard about how we can meet the expectations of the millions of people who see the U.N.'s blue flag as a banner of hope. We have to continue our life-saving work in peacekeeping, human rights, development and humanitarian relief.

The United Nations will be at the heart of our international activities. France will assume its full responsibilities at the Security Council by putting its status at the service of peace, respect for human rights and development.

I have concluded that the U.N. can do a few things well.

The United Nations has come under the control of outlaw nations and self-serving special interest groups.