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New York -- As a result of a second scathing report on his administration of the scandal plagued U.N.-Iraq Oil-for-Food Prgram by U.N. investigator Paul Volcker, Benon V. Sevan is now threatening to name names. In a news conference, Volcker issued another "interim report" on the activates of Sevan, who ran the $67 billion aid program from 1997-2003. Volcker came to the conclusion that Sevan did indeed accept what amounted to several hundred thousand dollars in bribes funneled to him through various overseas channels. The most disturbing came through an aunt living in Cyprus who died in a mysterious apartment...

Russian Foreign Ministry objects to the export of democracy 05/19/2005 11:16 According to the Foreign Minister, there is no such thing as a single model of democracy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has commented on the first results of the Council of Europe Summit in Warsaw. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry touched on issues relating to accusations against Russia, "democracy proliferation", and relations between Russia and CIS countries. "We should not allow the legal dividing lines to appear in Europe," said Mr. Lavrov. He believes the Council of Europe could be a unifying force in the continent otherwise...

VILNIUS, Lithuania, April 21 - NATO moved Thursday toward opening discussions with Ukraine about its becoming a member, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met here with opposition leaders who want to oust the Russian-backed government in Belarus next door. At the same time, NATO reached an accord with Russia that foresees expanded military cooperation. Taken together, the three steps reflected the contradictory state of American-Russian relations right now. The Russians have been very unhappy about the expansion of American influence in countries on their borders, and about American criticism of the state of democracy in Russia itself. Still, the...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...