Leading article: An inadequate response to the threat that we face

Published: 16 September 2005

The agenda for the 60th anniversary United Nations summit in New York was established long in advance. It was agreed that the focus would be on reforming the bureaucracy of the UN. It was also accepted that the summit would analyse progress towards meeting the targets for reducing poverty agreed by the world's governments five years ago. But the summit has been hijacked. The theme of Tony Blair's speech to the summit on Wednesday was not poverty, or even UN reform, but international terrorism.

Our Prime Minister called for an unequivocal condemnation of those who commit acts of terror, wherever it occurs. He won support from the Security Council. But unsurprisingly the idea was rejected in the General Assembly. What purpose did this intervention from Mr Blair serve? It was always going to be impossible to find agreement on the definition of terrorism. Even Western allies such as Egypt and Pakistan were unable to support such a declaration because of their support for Palestinian militants.

Article Length: 536 words (approx.)