JCole wrote:I'm curious to know why this is such a big problem in this particular election. As far as I can tell, George Bush first invited this group in to monitor elections in 2004. I don't really have any strong feelings about this myself, and I can't remember having even heard of this monitoring by the OSCE (it's not the UN) being an issue in the past. I'm not trying to start an argument, just seeking clarification.
They sure appear to be part of the UN:
"The OSCE is a regional arrangement under Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter and the legal framework for the OSCE's action against terrorism is found in the universal anti-terrorism conventions and protocols as well as the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, in particular UNSCR1373 (2001) - which calls upon all states "to cooperate, particularly through bilateral and multilateral arrangements and agreements, to prevent and suppress terrorist attacks and take action against perpetrators of such acts."
If that's not UN, I don't know what is, and it sure sounds threatening to me. If their charter is anti-terrorism and they are coming soon to a polling place near you in the US, that appears to me to mean that they expect terrorist actions at our polling places. Makes me glad I voted early.
I could not find anything in their self-praise pages indicating that anyone invited them to the US at any time in the past.
Discussing this with other people, the consensus is that, if these invaders of our sovereign nation are able to be identified, they should be singled out and peacefully isolated and protested against - ala Selma sit ins.