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Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan on Tuesday urged the world's richest nations to take the lead in tackling the impact of global warming on developing countries. Annan said attempts to forge a global agreement on climate change by the end of the year should focus on the "overwhelming destruction that climate change is causing and will continue to cause" on the world's 50 poorest nations. Yet the least developed countries account for just one percent of greenhouse gases, according to a recent report by Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum. "It is this injustice -- as well as the urgency and...

Global warming alarmists are fond of invoking the authority of experts against the skepticism of supposedly amateur detractors -- a.k.a. "deniers." So when one of those experts says that a recent report on the effects of climate change is "worse than fiction, it is a lie," the alarmists should, well, be alarmed. The latest contretemps pits former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, now president of the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, against Roger Pielke, Jr., an expert in disaster trends at the University of Colorado. Mr. Annan's outfit issued a lengthy report late last month warning that climate change-induced disasters, such...

President Obama’s pick for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is being urged to lay the foundation for “global governance” by considering “international taxation” measures to loot more money from U.S. taxpayers. The recommendation is included in the report, “The Global Agenda 2009,” which is being considered by the World Economic Forum (WEF), meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 28th - February 1st. The WEF is not an official government group but does include dozens of government, corporate and labor leaders at its annual meetings. Media companies such as News Corporation (parent of Fox News, the Fox Business Network, and the Wall Street...

Now that Hillary Clinton has been confirmed as Secretary of State, the Obama administration will announce Thursday two high-profile appointments -- former senate majority leader George Mitchell (D-Me.) as Middle East envoy and former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke as envoy for Afghanistan, Pakistan "and related matters," sources close to the administration said. Mitchell will be charged with rebuilding the Middle East peace process in the wake of the three weeks of violence between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Holbrooke will take on the difficult job of soothing relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, whose border is a haven for...

<p>Fox news ran stories last night based on some of the things we were tracking right here in this post. Here is their on line story.</p> <p>As unfinished as my research is, I feel compelled to release what I've found so far as the story cannot wait any longer.  I am not looking for a scoop on anyone or anything, but at the same time I don't want anyone thinking I made this stuff up after the fact either.</p>

x-Fed Chief to Lead New Economic Panel of Outside Experts Who Will Brief Obama President-elect Barack Obama appointed former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker on Wednesday to be the chairman of a new White House advisory board tasked with helping to lift the nation from recession and stabilize financial markets. University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee, one of Mr. Obama's longest-serving policy advisers, will serve as the board's staff director, along with his duties as a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Members of the panel will be drawn from a cross-section of citizens outside the government,...

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today said Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis was far worse than he could have imagined and expressed dismay that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his government refused to acknowledge the problem even existed. "The entire basic structure in education, healthcare, feeding people, social services and sanitation has broken down," Carter told a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. "These are all indications that the crisis in Zimbabwe is much greater, much worse than we had ever imagined." Carter was part of a delegation that was denied entry into Zimbabwe last week to assess the crisis. The delegation...

Zimbabwe has refused to let Kofi Annan and two eminent colleagues visit the impoverished African country for a humanitarian mission, the three said Saturday. The former U.N. secretary-general, ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and rights advocate Graca Machel had planned to assess the country's needs. They are members of The Elders group, formed by former South African President Nelson Mandela to foster peace and tackle world conflicts.

I'm actually beginning to think had Hillary won there would be fewer Clinton retreads coming on-board. Where the change? The bold innovative thinking? Are former Clinton hacks the best you can do, Barry? Geez, at this rate I almost expect Lani Guinier to be nominated for something. It's almost as if they had some incriminating photos of the guy. No, instead of this mythical change, we get a guy who sent Elian Gonzalez back to hell. Craig, 63, is a partner at Williams & Connolly and a protégé of the late Edward Bennett Williams, the legendary Washington power lawyer. His...

Gregory B. Craig, a well-known Washington lawyer who quarterbacked President Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense, has been chosen White House counsel by President-elect Barack Obama, according to Democratic officials. Craig is intimately familiar with the president-elect’s record because he played the role of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in debate preparations. The officials said Obama has settled on Craig but were not sure when the appointment would be announced. The choice gives the president-elect both experience and loyalty. During the primaries, Craig was an early Clinton alumni defector to Obama. Columnist Robert D. Novak reported back in the winter of 2007 that...

Another Celebrity Endorsement for Barack Obama Fresh from a no-Jews-allowed “Global Dialog” conference with the mullahs in Tehran, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announces his endorsement of Barack Obama: AFP: Former UN chief mulls ‘phenomenal’ Obama presidency. ====================================== DUBLIN (AFP) — A US presidential poll victory for Barack Obama would be “phenomenal,” former UN chief Kofi Annan said Thursday, adding that whoever wins needs to learn the lessons of the last eight years. ... When asked if the United States and the world was ready for a black US president, he said: “I think it would be a phenomenal...

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have signed an agreement to end the country's post-election crisis. At a ceremony in Nairobi, the two men put their signatures to a power-sharing deal brokered by ex-UN head Kofi Annan. --snip-- Speaking after the signing, Mr Kibaki said: "This process has reminded us that as a nation there are more issues that unite than that divide us... "We've been reminded we must do all in our power to safeguard the peace that is the foundation of our national unity... Kenya has room for all of us." Political violence has ignited...

Kenya's political rivals agreed Thursday to write a new constitution within a year as part of a deal to end postelection violence ... In Washington, President Bush said he will dispatch Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Kenya... Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is mediating in the Kenya crisis, has hammered out a deal ... "The two parties agreed to write a new constitution," ... Opposition leader Raila Odinga ...

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan may walk away from Kenya's peace talks after his security detail discovered his hotel room in Nairobi was bugged, according to a report. Sources at the Serena Hotel, where the talks are taking place, said Annan's security detail became wary of his safety after discovering that his personal conversations were being intercepted, South Africa's Independent Newspapers reported. Who may have planted the listening device and how long it was there remain unclear, the Independent reported. Annan is said to be "livid," but it is not yet known whether he will walk away from the already...

Gangs armed with machetes and bows and arrows burned and hacked to death members of a rival tribe in western Kenya Sunday, as the number of dead from the latest explosion of violence over disputed presidential elections rose to 69. Houses were blazing in the tourist gateway town of Naivasha, torched by members of President Mwai Kibaki's tribe exacting revenge on their Luo rivals... The latest deaths raise the toll to nearly 800 killed in ethnic violence and clashes with police since Kibaki was declared winner of Dec. 27 balloting that international and local observers say had a rigged tally....

A former ABC News consultant fired last year because he couldn't authenticate academic credentials is at the center of a new dispute over apparently faked interviews with Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Gates and others. The consultant, Alexis Debat, quit the Nixon Center, a Washington think tank, on Wednesday after Obama's representatives claimed an interview with the senator appearing under Debat's byline in the French magazine Politique Internationale never took place. The interview quoted the Democratic presidential candidate as saying the Iraq war was "a defeat for America." Pelosi, Gates, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former United Nations Secretary-General...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, July 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - World famous opponent of South African apartheid, Nelson Mandela, celebrated his 89th birthday last Wednesday by announcing the formation of a Global council of elders, known simply as "The Elders."So far The Elders includes Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Mary Robinson, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Muhammad Yunus, Ela Bhatt, Graca Machel, and, of course, Nelson Mandela.  The group of high-profile international leaders is intended to be an independent body of "wise" men and women that will use their combined experience to solve any of the host of problems currently...

The United Nations' Cash for Kim Jong Il scandal is now six months old, so it's a good time to assess progress, if that's the right word. The evidence of misdeeds at the U.N. Development Program in North Korea continues to mount, but there's still no "urgent" and "external" inquiry, as ordered by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in January. Now the U.S. has uncovered evidence that in addition to transferring millions of dollars in cash that may have gone to help prop up Kim's grotesque regime, the UNDP also transferred dual-use technology. It did so without bothering to secure a U.S....

BOULDER — University of Colorado students paid $160,000 in April to hear former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan say the people of the world must work together to bring about peace. The amount came as a surprise Wednesday to several members of CU's board of regents, who saw the figure on a routine list of speakers and their fees for the school year that just ended. Annan was far ahead of the second-highest-paid speaker, liberal historian and activist Howard Zinn, who received $15,500. The amount for the one-hour speech brought calls from some regents for more frequent audits of student government,...

The Swiss foreign ministry has confirmed it is supporting a plan by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to set up a humanitarian foundation in Geneva. Reacting to newspaper reports on Sunday, a spokesman said the ministry was working in this direction with different partners, with Annan expected to play a leading role. Johann Aeschlimann told the AP news agency that the project was in its first phase of development and that it was still too early to say what form the foundation would take. At this stage official Swiss participation in the plan is open. The cabinet will consider...

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the BBC the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter. He said the decision to take action in Iraq should have been made by the Security Council, not unilaterally. The UK government responded by saying the attorney-general made the "legal basis... clear at the time". Mr Annan also warned security in Iraq must considerably improve if credible elections are to be held in January. The UN chief said in an interview with the BBC World Service that "painful lessons" had been learnt since the war in...

When the stink threatens to make even bureaucrats gag, somebody has to mop up some of the mess.     When a gaggle of special pleaders met the other night in New York to talk about the puddle in the parlor at the United Nations, it wasn't clear whether they were interested in shaping up the U.N. or merely saving the job of Kofi Annan, the bureaucrats' favorite bureaucrat. [snip]What frightened the coterie to action then, and no doubt Mr. Annan yesterday, is the growing sentiment in Congress to do something about corruption at the U.N., or else. [snip]     There was...

AN AUSTRALIAN former UN war crimes investigator has revealed documents exposing a UN cover-up of its inquiry into the events that triggered the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Adelaide lawyer Michael Hourigan says the UN shut down his investigation in 1997 into the shooting down of a plane carrying the extremist Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and the president of Burundi. The investigation implicated ethnic Tutsi rebel leader Paul Kagame, who is now the President of Rwanda. The 100-day genocide, in which Hutu extremists murdered Tutsis and moderate Hutus, began hours after the plane was shot down. Late last year, President Kagame was...

South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon became the United Nations' eighth secretary-general on New Year's Day as the organization faced a tough array of global issues - from escalating violence in Darfur to the AIDS pandemic. The 62-year-old career diplomat, who grew up during a war that left his country divided, has promised to make peace with North Korea a top priority. He will travel there when necessary, he has said, and has cautioned that the reclusive communist nation must be talked to - not just punished with sanctions for its nuclear weapons program. The United States is certain to press...

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a brief statement late Tuesday on the death of former President Gerald R. Ford. Annan released the brief, two-paragraph statement to media through his spokesman Stephane Dujarric: "The secretary-general mourns the passing of former President Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, who died yesterday at the age of 93. He extends his sincere condolences to Mrs. Betty Ford, to the family of the former president, and to the government and people of the United States. "President Ford will be remembered for the leadership, calm resolve, and broad experience he brought to...

On his way out the door, Kofi Annan has signed new rules meant to curb corruption in UN procurement activities, which since the Feds began investigating last year have been sprouting indictments and guilty pleas pertaining to the abuse of enormous amounts of taxpayer money on Kofi’s watch. It’s thoughtful of Kofi to bequeath brand new rules to his successor, Ban Ki-moon, who takes charge Jan. 1. But this leaves the question of why Kofi, who worked in the UN system for more than four decades, and spent much of that time deep in the nitty-gritty of UN personnel and...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Iraqi citizens filed a $200 million lawsuit Friday against a prominent European bank and an Australian wheat exporter, saying they were cheated out of humanitarian goods when the companies permitted the U.N. oil-for-food program to be corrupted. The lawsuit, which sought class-action status on behalf of northern Iraqis, said the bank, BNP Paribas, and AWB Limited, the largest humanitarian goods provider under the oil-for-food program, cheated the citizens of Iraq from June 10, 1999, to June 3, 2003. <-snip-> The lawsuit said the companies stole from the Iraqis ''by engaging in a brazen kickback scheme'' in...

As Secretary-General Annan prepares to leave his post at the United Nations, a mystery is surfacing surrounding his apartment on Roosevelt Island, subsidized by New York taxpayers, which is still in use by the family of his brother, Kobina Annan. The apartment was where Mr. Annan and his wife lived before 1997, when he became secretary-general. The Roosevelt Island home is part of an estate of low-rent state-regulated housing. For years, the Annans saved considerable sums by occupying an apartment meant to help financially strapped low- to moderate-income New York families. One question Mr. Annan has never addressed is why...

As Secretary-General Annan prepares to leave his post at the United Nations, a mystery is surfacing surrounding his apartment on Roosevelt Island, subsidized by New York taxpayers, which is still in use by the family of his brother, Kobina Annan. The apartment was where Mr. Annan and his wife lived before 1997, when he became secretary-general. The Roosevelt Island home is part of an estate of low-rent state-regulated housing. For years, the Annans saved considerable sums by occupying an apartment meant to help financially strapped low- to moderate-income New York families. One question Mr. Annan has never addressed is why...

UN chief wronged U.S., coddled dictators and ignored corruption Some people go out in style. On Monday, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan bade farewell by biting the American hand that has fed him for the last decade. Kofi's American swan song, delivered at the Truman Library in Missouri, was a condescending piece of finger-wagging from a discredited diplomat who can barely disguise his contempt for American foreign policy. One low-light: his declaration that Washington's position in the "vanguard of the global human-rights movement...can only be maintained if America remains true to its principles, including in the struggle against terrorism. When...

Sixty years ago, at the invitation of President Harry Truman, Winston Churchill delivered his historic Iron Curtain address in Fulton, Missouri, to warn Americans of the menace they faced in the Soviet Union. On Monday, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan gave his valedictory speech at the Truman Library in Independence to instruct Americans about the principles of global leadership and their need for the United Nations. The comparison says a lot about Mr. Annan's legacy and the current state of the U.N. America, Mr. Annan said, "has historically been at the vanguard of the global human rights movements. . ....

http://imoa.us

In Honor of Kofi Annan’s Departure (Tune : “ Bill Bailey “ ) Won’t you go home, Mr. Kofi Won’t you go home ? I shout the whole day long – Pick up your offshore money And get on home there sonny- You know you done us wrong ! Remember poor Rwanda – All them poor dead babies ? You shrugged them off With such aplomb ! Oughta hang your head in shame ‘Cause your UN was to blame – Mr. Kofi won’t you please go home ? Bring back John Bolton- Mr.Kofi Get your be-hind home !

We're well into the Christmas season, and if the spirit of the Christ child is under assault we have an abundance of air and wind, a lot of it vile and foul. One of the study commissions at the United Nations, perhaps stacked with vegetarians overdosing on tofu and bean sprouts, concludes that the flatulence of cows is more damaging to the environment than automobiles. Poor Bossy, contentedly chewing her cud and minding her own business, now exposed as just another scapegoat (scapecow?) to blame for global warming. But it's not just cows. Some of our most distinguished statespersons are...

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday recommitted the world body to "zero tolerance" of sexual exploitation and abuse by a minority of UN peacekeepers as he opened a high-level conference on the festering issue. "Acts of sexual exploitation and abuse by both civilian and uniformed UN personnel continue," the outgoing secretary-general told a gathering of more than 100 senior leaders from the world body, NGOs, UN member states, academics and victim advocates. "There have been crimes such as rape, pedophilia and human trafficking. My message of zero tolerance has still not got through to those who need to hear it...

UNITED NATIONS -- United Nations sources confirm with NewsMax that retiring Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to "petition" the organization's pension fund for the largest retirement benefit package in the 60-year history of the U.N. Annan is reportedly seeking yearly payments in excess of $250,000 for life and intends to file a claim for an additional $1 million for back payments related to earlier duties at the U.N. when he served as assistant secretary-general and, later, as under secretary-general. The Annan payout is the largest on record at the United Nations. For perspective, past U.S. presidents receive a pension totaling roughly...

The Last Youth Standing - What the West and Islam share are elites detached from their own demographic realities Mark Steyn - November 20, 2006 I was watching Mansbridge One on One the other day. Don't ask me why. May have been an "encore presentation." Or more likely an encore presentation of an encore presentation. For a 24/7 news network, there's an eerie timelessness about CBC Newsworld: one would be only mildly surprised to switch on and find Mansbridge One on One with Lester B. Pearson or Sir Charles Tupper. Anyway, this week, the one he was on was the...

Excerpt - GENEVA (AP)--U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that the U.S. was "trapped in Iraq," and urged Washington to carefully consider when would be the best time to pull out of the country so the withdrawal doesn't lead to a further deterioration of security. "The United States in a way is trapped in Iraq," Annan said. "It cannot stay and it cannot leave. There are those who maintain that its presence is a problem and there are those who say that if it leaves precipitously, the situation will get worse." (MORE TO FOLLOW)

NAIROBI (AFP) - UN chiefKofi Annan demanded that world leaders give climate change the same priority as they did to wars and to curbing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Annan made the appeal as he launched a three-day gathering of environment chiefs, tasked with stepping up action against global warming. In his valedictory speech to the annual meeting, the UN secretary-general painted a sombre tableau about the effects of climate change, especially on impoverished countries that were least to blame for it. And he lacerated the fast-shrinking minority of politicians or scientists who still denied there was any...

U.N. Corruption Probe 'At Full Throttle' "The dominoes are beginning to fall," undersecretary-general for management Christopher Burnham told the Associated Press. "Anyone with information about corruption anywhere in the U.N. needs to come forward now before the dominoes reach them," he added.

Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, welcomed the release of Russian officers in Georgia and called on all sides to come together and engage constructively to address existing problems. Meanwhile his latest report on the Caucasus country speaks of new tensions in the long-running dispute between Georgian authorities and Abkhaz separatists stemming from an operation by Georgian Special Forces, and he warns that only dialogue can resolve differences. "The Secretary-General is pleased that Georgia and the Russian Federation have been able to resolve the issue of the recent arrest of Russian officers in Georgia in a peaceful and constructive manner,"...

SOUTH Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon may be formally confirmed as the UN secretary-general-elect as early as next week, when the permanent five members of the Security Council vote in a fourth and possibly final straw poll of the candidates.

The president addressed the UN General Assembly, and spoke directly to the people of many nations. Text and video herePresident Bush, called Pope Benedict's contrition "sincere" regarding the Muslim world's reaction to his speech. He met with President Chirac of France, which is a good thing because Mr. Cheese and Whine has been wandering off the vineyard again ... big time. (As in the ramp-up the the coalition invading Iraq, Chirac $tay$ true to his nation'$ color$? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!) Laura Bush attended a roundtable discussion on the 'Democratic Voice of Burma' (called Myanmar...

Protesters demanding an end to conflict in Sudan's Darfur region are staging a day of demonstrations around the world. Activists will rally in several capital cities, calling on the government in Khartoum to allow United Nation peacekeepers into Darfur. Khartoum has dismissed the protests, saying those taking part have been misled by the international media. Tens of thousands of people have died and up to two million have been displaced in three years of conflict. The US and France have both said a genocide is taking place in Darfur, with the US directly accusing Khartoum of responsibility. On Saturday UK...

UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Kofi Annan has refused to fill out a newly minted U.N. financial disclosure form, rejecting advice of his inner circle that doing so would send a good signal as the U.N. seeks to counter allegations that it is closed to public scrutiny, U.N. officials said Thursday. The U.N. unveiled new rules last year that tightened staff financial disclosure requirements in effect since 1999. Annan is not required to fill out the form because he is technically not a staff member. Nonetheless, two U.N. officials told The Associated Press that several of Annan's top aides had recently urged...

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, said today that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, had promised to enforce an arms embargo on Hizbollah under a UN resolution that halted Israel's war with the Lebanese group. "The president informed me that Syria supports the Security Council Resolution 1701 and will help in its implementation," Annan told reporters after talks with Assad in Damascus. "While stating Syrian objections to the presence of foreign forces along the Syrian-Lebanese border, the president committed to me that Syria will take all necessary measures to implement in full paragraph 15 of the resolution," Annan added, referring to...

In interview to Iranian news agency, group representative in Tehran says his organization is preparing for 'second round against Israel,' contrary to UN resolution Hizbullah representative in Iran Muhammad Abdullah Sif al-Din, said Wednesday that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has a new strategic plan to rearm ahead of the "next round against Israel." In an interview with the Iranian news agency Fars, al-Din said: "No one can promise us that Israel won't attack again. Whoever lives as a neighbor to the Zionist regime is in danger and must not save any effort to obtain all of the means to defend...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel sidestepped demands Wednesday from visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it immediately lift its sea and air blockade of Lebanon and withdraw its forces once 5,000 international troops are deployed. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated Israel would only lift the blockade and withdraw its soldiers from Lebanon after the full implementation of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire.

Predictably, the United Nations has begun its appeasement of Hezbollah by asking Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanese sea and Air ports. This is an affront to the Israelis as the United Nations has not implemented all the elements of the cease fire agreement and no attempts have been made to disarm Hezbollah. If the United Nations had its way, Israel would open the door to a flood of weapons to rearm Hezbollah terrorists and seal their own fate in the process. This is a classic example of the diplomacy that has characterized the United Nations and demonstrates why...

UNITED NATIONS — In a departure from language used by the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Annan yesterday linked the issue of releasing Israeli soldiers to freeing Lebanese terrorists held by Israel. Hezbollah demanded a prisoner swap when it kidnapped the two soldiers on July 12, launching a month-long war. Mr. Annan, speaking to the press in Beirut, retreated from several demands the Security Council made on Hezbollah and went as far as to equate the conduct of Israeli army soldiers with that of terrorists serving the Taliban regime. "You have to talk with those with the guns to stop shooting,...