Posted on 04/03/2005 7:12:46 AM PDT by knighthawk
Never in its 60 years of existence has the United Nations been so awash in scandal. The institution set up to engender world peace has been besieged by reports that its officials were on the take, that its soldiers raped women and girls in Congo, that the son of its secretary-general was engaged in a serious conflict of interest. In terms of managing its business, the United Nations has become sorely dysfunctional.
Much of this, unfortunately, has happened under the watch of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. There is no question that if any of these incidents had occurred at a major U.S. corporation, Annan would have been quickly ousted from his job as CEO. But this is the United Nations, where back-room politicking and power struggles seem to trump sound business practices.
The major scandal that has beset Annan's administration, the $64 billion oil-for-food program that allowed Saddam Hussein to gild his pockets rather than care for his people, has been the subject of an investigation led by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. In a first interim report in February on the matter, Volcker's commission noted that several high-ranking U.N. officials violated procurement rules and couldn't account for large sums of money in their possession.
In a second report, released last week, Volcker's group focused on the conduct of Annan's son, Kojo, who worked for a company that won a multimillion dollar U.N. contract. The report suggested that Kojo and his employer, Cotecna Inspection S.A., purposely hid the true nature of their relationship. There had been suspicion that Annan may have used his influence to award Kojo's employer a contract. But this, apparently, was not the case. Still, Volcker's report said that although Annan himself did not behave improperly, he did not do enough to investigate his son's conflict of interest when it came to light in 1999. Annan has declared that Volcker's inquiry "has cleared me of any wrong-doing" but, in truth, it only underlined the lameness of his management and his lack of oversight.
While Volcker's report was being distributed, a new scandal was rocking the United Nations. The New York Times reported flagrant misbehavior, including misuse of funds and sexual harassment, on the part of officials in the U.N.'s election monitoring office -- which oversees free elections in countries around the world. This -- coming on top of the oil-for-food sham, the recent reports of the rapes by U.N. forces in Congo and the U.N. official who shredded important documents -- should make Annan cringe with embarrassment. He says he wants to restructure the United Nations, and we welcome any solid initiatives he can detail. But his first effort should be to get his own office in order. Until he becomes an effective manager and leader, reform of the United Nations will be impossible to achieve.
No more UN for US-list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
He is incapable of accepting his own corruption and incompetence. One who is in denial isn't capable of making the necessary reforms.
Please do put me on your list.
He must not be reading daily newspapers.
Annan would first have to reform his own soul.
I honestly think the UN needs to be changed so radically now, that the most effective measure would be to dissolve it and start over from scratch.
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I honestly think the UN needs to be changed so radically now, that the most effective measure would be to dissolve it and start over from scratch.
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It may be way too late for this type of approach. One of the major weaknesses of the U.N. is its membership rolls. Dictators, communists, thug totalitarian governments -- people that really have no interest in the original intended mission of the U.N. other than to be there in a transparent, miserable attempt to lend some form of credibility to their so-called countries.
Until this fundamental "country club of theives and rabble" gets modified, will you have a collection of truly interested parties in the mission of the U.N. -- otherwise just dissolve it, or at least throw it out of the U.S.A. for good.
Annan and the current UN are the very reason that their predecessor, the League of Nations was disbanded prior to WWII.
In those days, intelligent men made decisive decisions, as opposed to today's crop who merely talk everything long past its death.
That's why this loathsome organization is still around.
Or perhaps we can just withhold "dues". Can't we use the old Steve Martin line when questioned about it, "We forgot"? And who will enforce our payment, the UN? Take away a large portion of their funding and they'll dry up. But you need to have the political will to withstand the certain backlash and I'm not sure our congress is willing or able. Now, if you get a feisty Ambassador who has nothing to lose and everything to gain, then that's a different story....
I put you on the list.
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