The joys of United Nations Management

The United Nations is the body that organized the Copenhagen conference. This is a very high-profile event and there is a lot of media coverage. Too much it turns out. From Anthony:

AP�s Seth Borenstein left out in the cold at Copenhagen for 7 hours thanks to U.N. incompetence
I try to remind people that the U.N. has not succeeded at much of anything during its history. Mostly it just makes pronouncements and consumes cash. When it comes to doing any real work, they fall down on the job, because most of the people that make up the U.N. have never had to do any real work themselves.

So I hope this lesson on the U.N. to Seth Borenstein sinks in. He�ll hardly forget his day in the cold I�m sure.

And the reason for this delightful experience:

With U.N. security letting in only those cleared last week, hundreds of accredited delegates, journalists and NGO representatives were left to stand for hours in near-freezing temperatures before being let through. �It was crazy,� AP�s Seth Borenstein said. �You couldn�t leave the line. You couldn�t go to the bathroom, you couldn�t eat. Then snowflakes started falling. One woman even said, �if lightning strikes me, would they take me out of line?��

And:

With 40,000 people registered and Bella Center�s capacity only 15,000, the U.N. introduced a new quota system and ordered NGOs to cut down their numbers. Police shut down the Bella Center�s subway stop in a bid to ease the congestion. The situation can only get worse as more than 100 heads of state and government, including President Obama, show up this week with their entourages.

And these are the people who plan to administer these treaties? They cannot even administer their own conference.