Why does this surprise anyone?

News comes from UN watch that Syria is about to get a place on the UN Human Rights Council. I can imagine my readers yawning. As news it comes somewhere between dog bites man and supermodel or sports "personality" takes drugs. (Here are some of the postings on this blog on the subject of the UN and human rights.)

The surprising aspect of it all is the number of people who are shocked or surprised or seem to find this unexpected. That is a truly strange attitude as it implies that there is a possibility for the UN and its many, many branches to be a force for the good but just this once or twice they have gone astray and need to be pulled back or else they will become a sick joke. That is no different from people who think that the EU is really what we would like it to be but it has not turned out to be that but can do if we try hard enough.

The truth is that the EU is exactly what it is meant to be and the fact that its internal contradictions (ha, I can spout Marxist jargon with the best of them) will probably tear it apart is part of what it is set out to be. The same applies to the UN though there, I suspect, some force is needed for its abolition. It is far too well entrenched with far too many vested interests of the unaccountable variety. But first, we must understand that  stories of this kind is the norm for the UN not the aberration.