LA ONU, el infierno en casa. Claudia Rosett, letal:

"Let freedom reign," wrote President Bush as Iraq regained sovereignty Monday.

"Today, the secretary-general welcomes the state of Iraq back into the family of independent and sovereign nations," said a United Nations statement.

In the gap between those two statements, you can see the world of difference that lies between the U.S. and the U.N. in approaching the worst troubles of our time. For America, and Mr. Bush, the struggles now upon us are basically about freedom, and rule of, by and for the people. For the U.N., and Mr. Annan, it is all about paternalism, consensus, family. And I'm sorry to say that the family that springs first to mind has a lot less to do with Gramps, Grandma and the kids than with the Mafia clan of TV fiction fame, the Sopranos. And not just because both families claim tax-free status for their rackets.

Mr. Annan was speaking metaphorically, of course, referring to the U.N.'s grand gathering of 191 member states. But he did bring to my mind a vision of what you'd find, were you to drop by the U.N. family manor, roam the halls, peer into the parlors and start opening doors, not to mention closets.

Y a continuación Rosett asoma la cabeza y nos explica lo que hay tras esas puertas y dentro de esos armarios. No tiene desperdicio.