Venezuelan Diplomat Whines: Not Treated "Special" at JFK by Whymrhymer News reports cite a White House source who says that Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's foreign minister arrived at JFK airport Saturday night just 30 minutes before his flight was to take off, he paid cash for his tickets, he refused to go through a security check, and he did not immediately inform airport security that he was a foreign diplomat. In other words, his own actions triggered a security alert. Then, when his diplomatic status was discovered, only after his travel documents and passport were confiscated, and he was given permission to board, he refused to get on the plane. In a press conference, Maduro (as reported by the Venezuelan press and linked below) denies none of that but instead claims that the only reason he was detained was because of retaliation for his boss' (President Hugo Chavez's) well publicized "devil" speech at the UN. What happened and why, in this particular instance, isn't as important as the question: why doesn't it happen more often? As I see it, the problem is the treatment regularly given to foreign diplomats; they are allowed to bypass everything except the cocktails when they fly between countries. If anyone were to ask me, I'd say that we (our Homeland Security Department and their Transportation Security Administration) must be insane! Time to Review Vienna Convention Accords Granted, we have been giving foreign diplomats this "royal treatment" since 1961 when we signed on to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations but times have changed and the world is a more dangerous place than it was perceived to be in 1961; we are living in the 'Decade of Terrorism.' Isn't it time for diplomatic niceties that compromise security to stop? Take a Cue from Australia In Australia last year, Britain's Prince Andrew found out that that no one is exempt from Australia's airport security procedures. Bravo Australia! You're actions may be a breach of an international treaty but airline passengers flying through your cities will be safer since you tore up your "white list." What's more important? Perhaps the United States should also start reviewing its airport procedures where diplomatic immunity can allow certain "special" people to carry whatever they like onto airplanes. I can certainly understand why we have to allow documents in a diplomatic pouch, carried by a diplomatic courier, to pass unchecked but there is no defensible reason that personal effects and the diplomats themselves should not undergo scrutiny by airport security officials -- especially diplomats from countries that are hostile to ours (e.g., Venezuela, Iran, Syria, etc.). That may be viewed as "profiling," not to mention extreme political incorrectness, and that is exactly what it is. As Europe's top human rights official, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis, admitted last month: "Immunity should not mean impunity” or, an appropriate paraphrase might be: 'Immunity should not mean stupidity.' News Links: Aide Detained at Airport en Route to Venezuela Venezuelan Foreign Minister in Temporary Police Custody in New York You can find this article and a whole host of other informative, thought-provoking articles at The Blogger News Network