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Article: Thomas Pickering excavates the United Nations. (United States ambassador to the United Nations) (American Survey) (column)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 2, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE shiny, bald pate atop the shambling, gregarious figure of Thomas Pickering, America's man at the United Nations, has become a familiar sight in American living rooms during the Gulf confrontation. But television viewers still rub their ears in disbelief at hearing every Tom, Dick and George cite UN resolutions with such enthusiasm. Can this be the same UN that one of Mr Pickering's celebrated predecessors as ambassador, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, called "a dangerous place"?
It is not only the UN that has become less dangerous. According to Mr Moynihan, American ambassadors there have been repeatedly humiliated, betrayed, traduced and savaged by their own ...