For Turtle Bay-watchers, key appointments already made by Secretary-General Ban seem less than inspiring. As the TV infomercial says, but wait, the hard-working South Korean diplomat may yet lead a U.N. revolution.
Mr. Ban plans to reshape the political orientation of the institution by appointing an American — the name I hear is Washington's ambassador to Indonesia, Burton Lynn Pascoe — as his undersecretary-general for political affairs.
He also wants to break in two the burgeoning peacekeeping department: France will continue to head the operational unit, while Japan will lead a brand-new logistical support department.
If successful, these changes may offset some disappointing appointments made so far. On Friday, Mr. Ban named as his deputy a Tanzanian foreign minister, Asha-Rose Migiro, who recently defended Iran's nuclear pursuit and — while the West mulled sanctions against the mullahs — called for better commercial ties between her uranium-mining country and Tehran.
