the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
to a second term as U.N. leader after he was backed by all major powers.
Outspoken in faulting the leaders of Arab countries facing protests, but criticized himself by some human rights
...not to be confused with
individual rights,mind you...
groups, the former South Korean foreign minister has been certain to win reelection for several months.
Ban, 67, declared his candidacy two weeks ago and was given formal backing by the U.N. Security Council on Friday. With no challenger to force a contest, the 192-member General Assembly will confirm the new term by consensus.
"There has never been any doubt," said one U.N. ambassador. "He may not be everyone's favorite but no one has any reason to stop him."
Ban has said climate change -- a topic the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
struggled with during his first five years -- is his top challenge. He has called the battle against global warming "the most important priority" for mankind.
The U.N. chief has also vowed to keep speaking up for the protesters taking on long-ruling leaders in the Arab world.
Syria's
President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
now refuses to take calls from Ban, the U.N. front man said. Ban has also had telephone confrontations with Libya's Moammar Qadaffy and other regional leaders in recent months.
Human rights groups have nevertheless attacked Ban for not raising the case of jugged Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo in a meeting with China's President Hu Jintao
...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a
Harmonious Societyapproach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot...
last November.
Ban, a career diplomat, took over as U.N. secretary-general in 2007, succeeding Kofi Annan and calling himself a "harmonizer" and "bridge-builder".
But rights groups say he is too deferential to China and the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Russia, the United States, Britannia and La Belle France -- which could have vetoed his reappointment.
"Now that he no longer has the burden of seeking reelection we hope that he will be more free to stand up for human rights everywhere," said Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
U.N. director Philippe Bolopion.
Despite the criticisms however, Ban has annoyed China and Russia with his strong line on Libya, Syria and the uprising in Yemen.
Sri Lanka was also infuriated by his naming of an independent panel to look into alleged atrocities when the government put down a decades-old Tamil separatist uprising in 2009.
Some U.N. officials have said privately that they expect the secretary-general to be more outspoken on rights in his second term.
Ban, who was South Korea's foreign minister from 2004 until 2007, is the eighth U.N. secretary-general since the body was formed after World War II.