UN: It's Kofi Time

Fire of Liberty

While the news cycle has been flooded with coverage of Terri Schiavo(RIP) and The Pope(RIP), there have been several revelations about the UN and that horrific theft known as Oil-for-Food. Let's look at several pieces on the whole Volcker Report on the whole Oil-for-Food debacle. First you have Anne Applebaum's wonderful piece in The Sunday Telegraph (London) on how the revelation of corruption at the UN is nothing new due to the fact that it's a large organization with no checks and balances as well as oversight unlike a democracy like the US. Applebaum notes that such knowledge is probably the number one the reason why President Bush nominated Secretary Bolton as US Ambassador to the UN. If you have someone who is not a bright eyed UN idealist, they won't have blinders on that keeps them from proposing meaningful ideas and reforms from outside the box. He will be a surgeon who will try his best to cut the cancerous tumor that has grown in the UN for way too long in the vaunted World body. Even more interesting is what she wrote at the end of her Sunday Telegraph piece:

Yet - as John Bolton has written - there will always be limits on what the UN can achieve, no matter how well the institution is run. Because it is accountable to no one, such an international organization is never going to be good at managing large, long-term projects involving a lot of money, such as the oil-for-food programme. Because it is not beholden to a democratic government, it will never be the right choice for a major military operation. However comforting, consensual and "international" it may sound, a decision to "send in the United Nations" is never going to be the complete solution to any problem.

Bravo Anne, I couldn't have written any better. I glad we have voices of sanity like Mrs. Applebaum in the media to watch over individuals like Kofi Annan. Along with Applebaum, you have Claudia Rosette, who has used her extensive investigative reporting skills and her mighty pen to open up the doors of Turtle Bay and reveal the abysmal state that the UN has gotten itself in. In fact, here's two articles by the great Claudia Rosette. The first article is from The Weekly Standard, which places a considerable focus on the Volcker Report. While Kofi Annan and his surrogates have repeatedly claimed that the Volcker Report has exonerated the Secretary General, Rosett shows that this is far from the truth. As usual the UN will deflect anything a put it on the shoulders of others like Kojo or anyone else but not King Kofi. I guess when Claudia is on the case, Kofi and his friends should be on the lookout. Along with the Oil-for-Food scandal, Rosett has also written extensively on the reforms that Kofi Annan has introduced in the UN. According to this piece @ Opinion Journal, the reforms of the UN will do one thing and that is run up the bill on its members. Just check out these pieces to get a better understanding of this crazy organization.


Finally, here's two pieces on the future of Kofi Annan. First, here's a piece in The Toronto Sun by Peter Worthington which calls for Kofi Annan to resign from his post. Second, here's a piece by Jack Kelly in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that says Kofi Annan should have the luxury to resign but should twist in the wind until his new term and try to initiate some reform to earn his keep. While Kelly argues that Kofi should stay, he does have a rather interesting parting paragraph on the future UN Secretary General, see if you like it:

Annan's term expires at the end of next year. Bill Clinton would love to replace him. But no citizen of a permanent member of the Security Council should get the job. It should go to a genuine democrat of unquestioned integrity and demonstrable guts, such as former Czech President Vaclav Havel, current Czech President Vaclav Klaus, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar or Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

I would say that Jose Maria Aznar of Spain would be a good pick. He would vastly improve the building in New York by just entering the building. Aznar would definitely make Annan look like an tin pot African dictator with his leadership. I doubt such a good steward like Aznar would get the job, it's the UN after all.

Also see this piece in The New York Sun on the Volcker Report.