Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe Are Worse Than You Think

Jed Babbin was Deputy Undersecretary of Defense in during the George H. W. Bush administration, and as such had great exposure to the inside workings of government including US relations with the UN. The book is short, easy to read, and generally well documented. It has an extensive "notes" section with many original sources cited, and photocopies of numerous pertinent UN documents toward the end of the book. The UN has devolved into a sewer of international despotism, and is now nothing more than a third world debating society whose time has long past. Babbin explains the inner workings of the UN from how the UN feels free to assist Saddam Hussein in the totally corrupt "oil for food" program which netted Saddam (and the UN) billions, to how anti-American moral relativist Kofi Annan devotes his time to propping up third world dictatorships and tyrants. If you ever wanted to know how Libya could replace the US on the UN Human Rights commission, it's in here. If you ever wanted to know how France got a permanent seat on the security council (it was a goodwill gesture), it's in here. If you ever wanted to know how the UN works against the forces of western democracy embodied by the US and the UK, it's in here. The last part of the book exposes the political machinations of "Old Europe," by which Babbin largely means France and Germany. Babbin cites the ever astute Mark Twain in a perfectly descriptive quotation on France: "France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks, it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." The more things change, the more they stay the same. There is no questioning what side of the road Jed Babbin is on. I find this to be a cogently presented book that is on the money. With one possible exception, I believe that the one star reviews of this book are by leftists who have not actually read the book. The one that may have read it claims to be a UN insider, but offers no evidence that anything Babbin has said is factually incorrect. The point here is not to dissuade people critical of the book from reviewing it, but rather to point out that, in general, the people who dislike this book have not read the book, and therefore aren't really qualified to judge it. The people who have actually read the book with an open mind seem to find it important and relevant, by and large, I note. I think that Babbin has done the nation and the world a huge favor by writing "Inside the Asylum." I recommend that everyone read it before the November elections.

If you don't read another book this year ... you simply MUST read Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse Than You Think. As he lays out his arguments with clarity, detail, and corroboration, Mr. Babbin will open your consciousness to the corruption, mismanagement, political chicanery, and abuse that is the UN today. The case is simply overwhelming that the UN has outlived its usefulness. He not only makes the case that the UN is utterly corrupt, he also provides suggestions about what to do about the problem. There can be no justification or excuse for the US to continue to pour money, time, effort, and lives down the UN rathole. Don't take my word for it, read the book and see for yourself just how critical it is for the US to leave the UN in the dustbin of history.

At first, I thought Inside the Asylum was going to be a 2, at most 3 star book. I suspected it would provide little information other than the standard clichés against the UN that one hears on talk radio. Well, Inside the Asylum proved to be a 5 star book instead. Solidly researched and presented, it provides sobering facts and insights as to the real UN, not the idealistic, utopian version you might have in your head. The real UN is an irrelevant, corrupt mess. I used to gasp at horror when someone suggested that the US leaving the UN. I now see that the UN is so incompetent and ineffective and downright corrupt that leaving it would be a blessing. The UN does little to actually fight terrorism, or to promote freedom and dignity of peoples around the world. Its main purpose is to fatten the wallets and increase the power of UN insiders, and to provide a means for petty dictatorships to weaken the United States. The author's suggestion that the US should leave the UN and focus on forming alliances with countries that really are for freedom and democracy came across as a breath of fresh air. If you care about foreign affairs, politics, and American autonomy, Inside the Asylum should be one of your "must reads" of the summer. You will definitely look at those politicians who say "we must go to the UN before we act" in a more jaundiced way than you did before.

Israel was created by the UN in 1947 and became a member of the world body two years later. Still, there are those who seek to destroy it. Is there any other UN member state still fighting for its right to exist? Palestinian, Saudi, and Syrian textbooks show maps that omit any mention of Israel. Instead, Israeli and Palestinian areas are combined into one country called Palestine. Inside the Asylum by Jed Babbin has pictures that document the Palestinian, Saudi, mantra of a one-state, solution-just like the maps. One only has to turn to page 155,160,161.The UN's treatment of Israel has not lived up to the founding spirit that affirmed the equal treatment of member states. There are many others ways in which Israel has been singled out for special treatment at the UN, making it a pariah state. Over the years, nearly every UN body, regardless of its main subject of concern, has been pressed by Arab countries to adopt a special resolution, procedure, or agenda item condemning Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, holding Israel to a different standard than all other countries.Inside the Asylum by Jed Babbin is a must have. He has documented the how the UN help international terrorist organizations. Inside the Asylum is the reference text that documents the UN is corrupt, scandalous and a threat to our American Policy.

"Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think" by Jed Babbin 5 stars The UN is broken and can't be fixed. In "Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think," Jed Babbin answers a critical question that bears directly on the 2004 election. George Bush has relied too much on the UN, and is defeated there again and again. Why? Why is NATO -- successful in the Cold War -- now more a political fraternity than a military alliance? This book could just as easily have been called "The Decline and Fall of the West" because it shows how the Western -- i.e., NATO -- nations have split apart. No longer sharing basic values, the nations that banded together to win the Cold War now can't even agree on what terrorism is. And some of them, notably France (which Babbin labels "our enemy"), choose the UN as their favorite mechanism for thwarting American policy. But this isn't a polemic. Babbin does't say we should stomp out of the UN or NATO. He lays out carefully how we can -- and are --laying the foundation of a new global forum that can replace NATO, and which won't suffer the same paralysis, because it won't include the terrorists, dictators, and weasels that now prevent the UN from doing what its founders meant it to do. In this presidential election, there is a lot of gasbag debate about failed diplomacy. This book should be read by every voter before the election. It proves why we can't rely on the UN for anything, and shows how American leadership succeeds without the UN better than it ever can within it.