The United Nations Organisation has attempted to tackle many of the world's problems over the years but are now finally getting around to something that has plagued the UN since its founding- the allocation of parking spaces near the building.
The UN has 192 member states and it is not unheard of for major conferences to attract several representatives from each and every one. That's a lot of parking and we're talking downtown riverside New York remember. And not only that, but LIMOUSINES. Car pooling would seem to be an obvious conclusion but has been unpopular after a back seat pinching match between Nicolas Sarkozy and Karolos Papoulias over mutal allegations of onion breath, after which the chauffeur made good on his threat to turn the car around and drive them straight back to the airport. It is also seen as a shameful display of penny pinching for a government to put all its representatives in the same car, which was largely responsible for hesitance to legislate carpooling at Copenhagen '09.
Swarms of incidents surrounding the chaotic parking situation spill over into diplomatic relationships and affect world events such as Benjamin Netanyahu's tendency to park with his two left wheels slightly over the line into Jordan's park, causing a domino effect where many Arab leaders have to bunch up tightly. Once, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sick of being blocked in and unable to leave due to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah's oversized gold-plated humvee being parked directly behind him, gave the Saudi leader's vehicle a keying the gulf states won't soon forget.
Parking lot related issues can have serious affects. In early 2002, Koffi Annan waited at the entrance to the UN building to meet new American president George W Bush who had just pulled up and was on his first visit to this hallowed institution. When Annan extended his hand in greeting, Bush placed his keys in the then-UN chief's palm and told Annan there was $5 in it for him if there were no scratches when he got back. This is thought to be directly behind the UN's resistance to Bush's plans to invade Iraq. Additionally, Bush's critics have often targeted the fact that he spent a lot of his time absent from Washington DC. It now appears that at least some of this time was spent was spent helplessly wandering the sea of identical limos in the UN lot, attempting to remember where he had parked.
Surveillance cameras were installed to keep track of misdoings, but tapes mysteriously disappeared after it was alleged that footage existed of Chinese president Hu Jintao putting toothpaste under Naoto Kan's door handles.
