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'Quid Pro Kofi' In U.N. Furor (OK’d top enviro post to panelist one month after he gave Kofi $500K)
NY Post ^ | May 2, 2006 | Niles Lathem

Posted on 05/02/2006 10:53:29 AM PDT by dead

Kofi Annan came under fire yesterday for his role in giving a prestigious post to a man who had sat on a panel that awarded the U.N. secretary-general a prize worth $500,000.

Members of Congress and other critics pushing to clean up the United Nations have raised sharp questions over the still-murky circumstances that led to the appointment of Achim Steiner of Germany to head the U.N. Environmental Program.

Steiner, a well-known international activist who headed the World Conservation Union, was a judge on a panel that awarded Annan the $500,000 Zayed Prize for Global Environmental Leadership, sponsored by the United Arab Emirates.

The prize was awarded last December.

Less than a month later, Steiner's name was included on a short list of candidates for the U.N. environmental job, and his appointment was made official on March 15... < snip >

Dujarric said Steiner's name was not put forward by a government. He refused to say who nominated him to the U.N. environmental panel, saying only that a committee that included other U.N. officials debated the nomination and Annan made the final decision... < snip >

The Steiner appointment came despite the fact that his predecessor, Klaus Toepfer, was also German. Normally, the U.N. rotates top appointments to different countries.

Toepfer also sat on the same panel that awarded the $500,000 prize to Annan.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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1 posted on 05/02/2006 10:53:31 AM PDT by dead
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To: dead

Step down, Kofi...


2 posted on 05/02/2006 10:55:10 AM PDT by mallardx
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To: dead

What the heck did Kofi do for $500,000 and where did that money come from?


3 posted on 05/02/2006 10:56:04 AM PDT by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: dead
"This is serious and smacks of cronyism," U.N. critic Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation said of the Steiner appointment.

Yet many Senators, including RINOs, worry about Bolton hurting someone's feelings.

4 posted on 05/02/2006 10:57:56 AM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: edcoil
What the heck did Kofi do for $500,000

He awarded a prestigious post to Achim Steiner of Germany.

and where did that money come from?

Most likely a combination of tax-payer funded grants and corporate shakedown operations.

5 posted on 05/02/2006 10:59:39 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: mallardx
Forget Kofi. It's time for the U.N. to fold up its tent and move to a third-world counrty, where it belongs.

Without us, of course.
6 posted on 05/02/2006 11:03:05 AM PDT by LIConFem (A fronte praecipitium, a tergo lupi.)
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To: ncountylee
Yeah, maybe old George "Weepy" Voinovich can cry like a little girl some more about how he fears for the safety of his grandchildren with meanies like Bolton up there.


7 posted on 05/02/2006 11:03:37 AM PDT by FreedomNeocon (Better to take what they can throw at us now,rather than take what they promise to throw at us later)
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To: dead
Dujarric said yesterday that Annan plans to give his prize money to a foundation that promotes women's education in Africa.

I wonder if Kofi decided this when the prize was awarded last December or yesterday when this story broke.
j

8 posted on 05/02/2006 11:04:55 AM PDT by jazusamo (-- Married a WAC in '65 and I'm still reenlisting. :-)
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To: dead

The U.N. gets funnier every day...


9 posted on 05/02/2006 11:06:21 AM PDT by detsaoT (Proudly not "dumb as a journalist.")
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To: dead

10 posted on 05/02/2006 11:10:11 AM PDT by Doogle (USAF...8th TFW...Ubon Thailand...428thMMS..."69"...Night Line Delivery...AMMO!!)
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To: jazusamo

Oh, come on...do you really need to ask that question? It's been 5 months since the award and it is still in his grubby paws as of yesterday.


11 posted on 05/02/2006 11:11:33 AM PDT by ravingnutter
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To: ravingnutter

Neglected the sarc, didn't think it was necessary.


12 posted on 05/02/2006 11:23:55 AM PDT by jazusamo (-- Married a WAC in '65 and I'm still reenlisting. :-)
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: jk4hc4

Sadly, what you say is true , it will die down and most will forget.


14 posted on 05/02/2006 11:33:24 AM PDT by jazusamo (-- Married a WAC in '65 and I'm still reenlisting. :-)
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