Ban Ki-moon's pitch for a second five-year term as the United Nations' chief, which is virtually assured, means more business as usual at the corrupt, hypocritical world forum.
But make no mistake: What's revealed isn't merely Mr. Ban's re-election as secretary-general. It's Turtle Bay's strident resistance to reform.
The U.N. status quo wouldn't tolerate a firebrand hellbent on better accountability. As Norway's former deputy U.N. ambassador notes, Ban's appeal is that he's been a "powerless observer."
He talks softly -- but carries no stick.
On human rights, he's a "bridge-builder" only when he's backed by at least one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
And whereas "international justice" is among his top priorities, Ban hasn't uttered a bad word about China, even when it jailed 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. Libya and the Ivory Coast are much easier targets.
But while Ban tiptoes around controversy, he's in lockstep with a U.N. agenda to subject the world's prosperous nations to science-challenged climate-change diktats.
What "qualifies" a secretary-general -- Ban or any other -- in the eyes of the U.N. General Assembly is not the ability to bring much-needed reforms to the world forum. As one astute U.N. observes notes, Ban should be more concerned with his lethargic legacy than his re-election.
