Comments on issues raised by BBC WHYS

The sale of the car in which Diana died should be prevented by all means. The French owner of that car, Jean Francois Musa can, as a compromise, have a new limousine if his intent is for compensation. He shouldn’t be allowed to turn into a vulture feeding on the bodies of those who have tragically died.

The question doesn’t end here. If there are his kinds in the world, he will probably go ahead with the sale after getting a go ahead from the court to recover the car.

Diana’s death shouldn’t be used for commercial purposes. Out of respect for her and her many admirers within and outside UK, she should be an icon. She was an inspiring lady. The car by all accounts shouldn’t be in public view as a reminder of a short life. Diana should be remembered for what she lived for and not how she died. Her possessions should be kept sacred to be above any kind of sale.

Such an incident is a reminder of her lover James Hewitt wanting to make profit of her letters to him.

As a conclusion, greed makes one blind even to deep human values. Any judge who has any consideration for the rights of a person in life and death should oppose any demand to parade a car that was in essence a killer. That car should be out of view for Diana to be remembered as one of the most beautiful ladies and not a distorted body covered in its own blood.

The only thing Kofi Annan will be remembered by is his being the first black African to be the Secretary General of the United Nations and to have two terms without causing a rift among Security Council members for his second term. The period in which he served was rife with events that were more spectacular than any other time for decades. His ten years as Secretary General of the United Nations witnessed a new world order emerging after the events of 9/11 and the subsequent situation in Iraq and Afghanistan which are still dominating international diplomacy.

In his speeches he has sounded as the champion of human causes, especially those concerning poverty. But the UN as an organisation has had many shortcomings with other precedent General Secretaries. Many resolutions were passed without finding their way to implementation. The UN is practically dominated by the Security Council whose permanent members bear responsibility for many current situations in the world through their vetoes or conspiracy of silence. So his speeches were just an echo in a void land.

In most cases, Kofi Annan, as it was the case with any other UN Secretary General, should be seen as having served like a ceremonial president in a republic or a constitutional monarch. The only difference he has with them is that he can be outspoken, contrary to a constitutional monarch who refrains from making comments or stating national policies.

Kofi’s successor will inherit an organisation only whose members can decide the status of any Secretary General of the United Nations through the consensus they can reach in relations to one another regionally, continentally and worldwide. A divided world will make him just good at speeches and ceremonial activities without having an effective machinery to impose resolutions resolutely and swiftly.