Ineffectual UN.

I have no doubt that Kamal Fadel has good reason to feel betrayed (View from Western Sahara, C[O.sub.2]nned, NI 391), but I'm not sure he is right to blame the Secretary-General of the UN. The idea that the UN should stand firm against aggressors was shaken by the Kosovo conflict, badly wounded in Afghanistan and buried without ceremony in Iraq. Perhaps Kofi Annan could have done more to prevent this, but the real power and responsibility is elsewhere.

Martin Juckes Oxford, England