Just One Whale

Just a small item, with a seemingly insignificant title, Iceland Breaks 20-Year Whaling Ban With First Fin Whale Kill, yet its implication is enormous. A synopsis of the article is contained in just one sentence from the report. " Iceland announced last week that it would resume commercial whaling, ignoring a worldwide moratorium that came into effect in 1986." As an individual act it is almost insignificant, as a symptom of the breakdown of a coalescing world, it is frightening.

We are set to reap rewards of the failed attempt at a world united for the betterment of humanity, an experiment doomed to failure by inaction. Iceland has seen the writing, soon others will. The United Nations, by its refusal to accept the responsibilty for which it was created, has in reality authorized the breakdown of all international pacts, which are only as effective as the willingness of the signatory nations to enforce the provisions of such agreements. By allowing North Korea to develop nuclear weapons in the face of world condemnation, by refusing to hold Iran accountable for their escalating nuclear program, the United Nations has sealed its own fate.

The death of one fin whale by Icelanders is to be lamented, not because a whale has been killed, but because the death is a symptom of a world ready to ignore all international pacts. Perhaps we should pay just a little more attention to John Dunne, as we weep for whom the bell tolls.