Annan calls for UN-led global security system.

Speaking on February 13 at a European security conference in Munich, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for Europe and the U.S. "to back a major overhaul of global security measures used to combat terrorism, to keep weapons of mass destruction from spreading and quell regional conflicts," reported the AP.

"We must strengthen our collective defenses," insisted Annan. "If New York or London or Paris or Berlin were hit by a nuclear terrorist attack, it might not only kill hundreds of thousands in an instant, it could also devastate the global economy, thereby plunging millions into poverty in developing nations."

Ironically, given the UN's long and notorious history of accommodating both terror-sponsoring states and terrorist chieftains like the late, unlamented Yasir Arafat, Annan declared: "The United Nations must show zero tolerance of terrorism of any kind, for any reason." This resonant proclamation was not accompanied by a repudiation of the UN's legacy of abetting terrorism in the 1970s, when a series of General Assembly resolutions applauded terrorist tactics used in Soviet-sponsored "wars of national liberation."

Annan set out an ambitious framework for inspecting nuclear installations and other counter-proliferation measures. He also called for UN members to "adopt a common definition of terrorism and then draft an anti-terrorism convention, which should include help for nations to meet counter-terrorism requirements," continued the report.

On hand to offer support for Annan's proposal was German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, himself a veteran of the Soviet-sponsored terrorist international of the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to endorsing the UN's proposed global security system, Fischer urged closer U.S.-European Union collaboration as "the backbone of a new world order in the 21st century."