Note
The July 2005 UN announcment read: "The Secretary-General is pleased to announce the launch of an initiative for an "Alliance of Civilizations"." Multi-million dollar initial funding, a major gathering and the creation of "a high-level group of eminent persons" to serve as advisors. The UN Secretariat is fond of claiming that responsibility for what goes on at the UN lies with member states. This kind of operation makes it abundantly clear that the Secretary General and his entourage have enormous capacity to do good - or not. The original announcement said this about their raison d'etre: "Events of recent years have heightened the sense of a widening gap and lack of mutual understanding between Islamic and Western societies....The Alliance of Civilizations is intended as a coalition against such forces, as a movement to advance mutual respect for religious beliefs and traditions..." And to bridge that gap, UN-style, the "eminent persons" will feature many individuals from Islamic states and noone from the Jewish state. ("The Middle East" contingent will be represented by persons from Iran and Qatar.)