When I read Kofi Annan’s oped on the human tragedy in the Sudan (Darfur) in tomorrow’s Washington Post, all I could think of was this report on that same Sudan from yesterday ‘s Fox News site.
In another section of the report, however, OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] auditors recommend that the U.N. investigate possible collusion among U.N. officials to award Skylink an $85.9 million fuel contract for peacekeeping in Sudan. According to the report, one of the officials who was directly responsible for overseeing implementation of the Skylink contract abruptly resigned in December, 2005-about the time the OIOS investigation entered its final stages. No reason was given for the departure.
It goes on with numerous other UN scandals. It’s hard to keep up. The United Nations, as we all realize now, is one of the greatest economic rackets of all time, if not the greatest. And yet institutions like the WaPo continue to give Annan a forum to bemoan the state of places like Darfur as if the UN were its salvation, not one of the causes of that country’s misery. If the UN is serious about doing something for the people of the Sudan, it can start by cleaning itself up in a serious way. That begins with total fiscal transparency for all United Nations transactions. Otherwise the idea that we would trust this klepto-bureaucracy with another dime is ludicrous.
“If the UN is serious about doing something….” Roger, of course they are serious, but only about personal enrichment by theft and fraud, with a little rape thrown in by the “peacekeepers”. Forget about the UN. It stinks and cannot be fixed.
Roger:
It doesn’t matter how many U.N. scandals are exposed. The notion that the U.N. is the answer for all the worlds problems and that it will supplant the non progressive ideal of the nation state is so deeply ingrained in the dogma of the left that they will stick their heads deeper into the sand and chant “one world, lets get together” until they wait out the press coverage. It is the cornerstone of their faith and they will never abandon it. They are like those preachers who have predicted the end of the world on a specific date only to wake up the day after the predicted day in their beds. They just claim a calculation error and pick a new date. They will just ignore it and redirect the conversation to the evils of Bush, Haliburton, and the Jeeewwwwsss.
Via Rantburg:
U.N. chief’s son to pay back import duties
The son of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will pay import duties he initially avoided by using his father’s name while importing a Mercedes car into Ghana, according a letter his lawyer released Tuesday….
Yeah, CNN has the news that Kojo is going to pay back the $20K he shorted the Ghanaian government by using Kofi’s name.
http://noonshadow.blogspot.com/2006/01/i-hope-kojos-late-fees-and-interest.html
ìIf the UN is serious about doing something for the people of the Sudan, it can start by cleaning itself up in a serious way.î
Itís too late for that. The UN may best be compared to a house thoroughly infested with termites. One should consider tearing down the structure and starting anew. And thatís not going to happen. The inevitable resulting political chaos is not worth the bother.
The UN is increasingly becoming similar to the Episcopalian Church. Few people take it seriously. The real action will be accomplished behind the scenes. We should cynically perceive the UN like the proverbial alcoholic uncle who is supplied a daily ration of booze so that he might stay out of everyoneís way.
I think its a symptom of a wider issue. The UN’s corruption, may perhaps be the public indicator of overall corruption throught politics of all stripes these days. Taking advantage of war, to line one’s own pocket appears as a familiar refrain, heard in almost every conflict.
This surely doesn’t lessen the UN’s culpability, but I think that to focus solely on the UN may be a bit myopic. Consider the accounting report just mentioned by the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4646442.stm
which indicates that there may have been hundreds of thousands of dollars intended for Iraqi’s that was apparently misused. (It appears as an issue of individuals, not an issue of US policy or anything like that).
The UN, like all large bureaucracies, seems filled with people who are more interested in their own welfare than that of anyone in their charge. There’s a mutitude of reasons why Jefferson was for small government, this is only one of many. Reducing Big Government (and Big International Government) should be a top priority. I only wish the neo-con’s agreed.
Well dclydew, I actually agree with a few of your points. Though I disagree with your comparison of the UN and the personal transgressions of a few.
Your point re bureaucracies is well taken. And I would agree. But then you muddy the waters with “Jefferson” and the “neo-cons.”
The UN is a corrupt and essentially worthless organization. It did not have to be that way. If a leader of purpose and integrity were to arise as SG, a leader who followed those “Jeffersonian” ideals you mention, the UN could be a useful institution. But it is too late for that. We need to explore and act upon new ways of nation state interaction, lets start with the concept that the more freedom in your nation, the more your vote counts.
“The UN is a corrupt and essentially worthless organization. It did not have to be that way. ”
I agree with sentence one but disagree with sentence two.
Most of the members of UN are not accountable to anyone on the planet, save the unaccountable dictators back in their home countries. This is a recipe for corruption.
Just in case you happen by Bostonian.
I suppose from the onset the institution was corrupt. China and USSR as members of the security council for example. Our State Department and not a few of our Presidents have been dreamers, i.e., we will engage them diplomatically and surely will be able to have influence. A fallacy from the beginning I agree. But if a “Bolton” were there in 47 and given free rein, ahhhh, the trajectory may have been different. Or, the institution may not have come into being at all. In my mind the best option.