The U.N is full of wafflers !
If proof were needed that the U.N is full of wafflers and needs to be done away with....
Indian minister reads 'wrong speech' at UN
The words sounded fitting, if rather standard fare for the United Nations. They were greeted with solemn nods of approval from the international worthies gathered at the Security Council meeting.
But as S M Krishna, India's External Affairs Minister, read his speech from the notes before him, it gradually dawned on his audience, if not the 78-year-old politician, that something was amiss.
He was reading the wrong speech. The words Mr Krishna had been uttering were those prepared for Luis Amado, the Portuguese minister of foreign affairs. Luckily, Hardeep Singh Puri, India's envoy to the UN, realised the mistake. "You can start again," Mr Puri, said, handing him the correct speech.
telegraph
That was an honest mistake. The good thing he was able to hand-in immediately the correct speech. He must have a good freelance writer salary.
Reminds me of the 3-Idiots.
Yup, I may be wrong. They cant do it alone , they need the outputs from the experts and then drafted as a speach. But if they dont even knw what it is, every nation could send a CD to be played in the meetings. why do we need an idiot to just read it???
I have to agree with Painther here. And also Translator. One gaffe and everyone is up in arms and quick to tarnish all with the same brush. Something I am seeing everyday on this site and on almost every thread.
If anyone is to be blamed it should be his staff for not having the foresight to check what is being given to the Minister for reading. The content is prepared by speech writers and not by the Ministers themselves.
It takes a lot of guts to stand before the UN and give a speech. They maybe an Old Boys Club as suggested by Britexpat but they have still done a lot of good. Lets not stand and criticize. This happens everywhere. To Err Is Human.
Polka, u mean SMK is uneducated?
Can you stand a forum at UN and put your point across on issues like-
1. NPT
2. WTO & repercussions of Doha round failure
3. Global environmental positioning & managing interest groups
I can give U 20 more items wherein your so called “uneducated” politicians are representing your country with best of abilities. Plz also refer my above posts of IAS/IFS…., I am sad everyone joins “easiest” bandwagon of “all politicians are bad”….
India's love affair with uneducated oldies should really come to an end ! This is the limits!Just as they have a maximum age for Govt. employees the politicians should also have to follow the same age bar for holding office.Some politicians come to the assembly on wheel chairs and with hearing aids,disgusting,And it's not like there is a lack of educated youth in India. Another thing to be taken a serious note of is the fact that an Indian Minister's speech was mixed up with that of a Portuguese minister?Now aren't the ministers supposed to be representing their countries' stance at the UN, or are the world leaders all puppets in some one else's hand, following a pre-set plan of agreement and opposition?
To think he didn't even bother to read his prepared speech before presenting it shows how much he means what he says! Politicians...what a bunch!
Yes America & Israel are to be blamed!
THe UN.....an outdated institution. No relevance in present day or age.
I Blame America on this...
Hmm, so those people do not even look at the speeches previous to actually reading them? I see.......they just read what they are given to. Bit like a copy paste...;)
I am bitter because I applied for a job with the U.N and got turned down :O(
The 'old boys' have the money and power, brit.
agreed (slightly) brit :),
on a lighter note, old boys will make the 'club' anyway, anywhere :)
Agreed that UNESCO and other bodies do a good job, but they are still a "club" for old boys.
Do away with the UN and put the money saved into NGOs or similar charitable bodies.
In India, it’s the IFS guys who do this.
Many criticizers, I must say petty criticizers, are the guyz who could not pass IAS/IFS (it's bloody tough exam)and ended up doing petty jobs in ME. Thanks to QL, they got all expertise to ‘guide’ ‘em…
IMHO,It's a normal gaffe, can happen to any humanbeing, and responsible person will be some undersecretary or so...and …again thanks to QL, SMK is being advised to sit at home and sip coffee with news paper, even w/o knowing his credential……a big LOL……..
UN - United Nonsense ! :D
There have been occasions when Top Level accords are cancelled /failed just due to disagreement on a sentence/word/ commas…., The speech writers are highly knowledgeable people with vast expertise on national/international issues & policies.
I would say......
His Age is too Sit at his home and read news papers, not be the front line man in Indian Foreign Diplomacy
Mistakes are made....
UN needs to be reorganized, world is changed from 1945. Closing UN is not the solution. We mustn’t forget the righteous works being done by them..UNESCO, FAO.etc etc…even if Sec Council is failed many a times.
In QL we have full freedom to generalize any issue, serious or not.
Criticizing, condemning and complaining is our routine and easiest to do so….. I love QL for that :)
Kiddish to say they (the leaders) should write themselves are speak spontaneously, each word has its strategic meaning and repercussions and normally senior strategist put words to their respective national policies.
Speech writers are vital component of every political organizational structure. Rarely a US president write his own speech, particularly in the election campaign stage. Do you think that one person can handle all the issues and write a speech everyday from the agricultural subsidies to selective gene regulations?
Classic!
Times of India Headline 2024.
India puts first Pakistani on the Moon.
PM hopes this will be the first of many.
Obviously, HIS speech is not WRITTEN by HIM. Otherwise, he would've known his OWN WRITING.
why do they read what his back office prepare? if they cant speak themselves are they all eligible to be there to represent their nation?
It seems that SM Krishna, accidentally started reading out the speech of his Portuguese counterpart. He read several pages - at one point expressing his pleasure at seeing Portugal and Brazil both represented.
This shows that most of the politicians at the UN are just there for show and have speeches written for them, without sometimes even verifying the content.
Do away with UN now :O)
This Krishna is lucky that Aamir Khan didn't replace his speeech with an edited version!
Sandtest, Pratibha Patil cleaning dishes at Gandhi residence is not menioned in wikipedia. Can you give the source of this piece of information?
From where did he get that speech? ?as it a technical fault or was he carrying the documents of the other country.
UN "Useless Nations"
Britey, agree, UN is an old school club, but in this case it's not UN fault.
The minister SM Krishna is highly undeserving to be India's foreign minister.
He is just another product of dynasty politics of ruling Congress party in India.
Basically Congress selects ministers based on their loyalty to holy family a.ka. Sonia Gandhi.
From President of India till Commonwealth Games Organising Group president and now this foreign minister, I can give plenty examples.
Last weak one of the Congress leader in Rajasthan revealed a fact that Indian President Mrs. Pratibha Patil use to clean dishes at Rajiv Ganghi's residence and he got fired. Go figure!
UN "Useless Nations"
Do you guys think that such mistakes are not happening? There are plenty but the International Media is not exposing them.
Im quite fond of waffles. Especially drizzled with maple syrup, full of fried bananas and some rashers of crispy bacon. HHmmnnn.
Not a thread hijack Mr Brit, just thinking what goes through the minds of most ministers attending these speeches.
Not only was this guy reading the portugese ministers speech but not many delegates at the UN security council meeting were aware that he was actually doing so. Most of them must have been in sleep mode.
It must be a case of the minister having a temporary memory loss which happens all to often with this bunch of old jokers at the helm of Indian politics
The UN is like FIFA. Let's do away with both!
There was no intention to malign any nation. I am sorry if it came out that way.
My point was that the U.N is an old boys club. Politicians go there - waffle on, nod to each other, applaud and then go home.
Nothing really gets achieved. It's time to do away with it....
Thanks brit, GM
I was wondering why no one, the obsessed India lovers in QL, pointed out on this gaffe of an Indian minister,
Anyways, never late!!!! Thanks and yes, by doing this, sky was fallen!!! (pun intended)