Kofi Annan — Symbol of U.N.’s Impotence and Corruption

Kofi Annan, media whore and retiring U.N. Secretary General continues to desperately seek the world’s media attention by making (stupid) non-statements like this one today as reported by CNN: “Annan: Iraqis ‘almost’ in civil war“.

“Asked by reporters at the U.N. if Iraq is in a civil war now, Annan replied, “I think given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact we are almost there.”

Kofin Annan was elected as Secretary General in January of 1997 and here’s what his objectives were:
“Mr. Annan’s priorities as Secretary-General have been to revitalize the United Nations through a comprehensive programme of reform; to strengthen the Organization’s traditional work in the areas of development and the maintenance of international peace and security; to encourage and advocate human rights, the rule of law and the universal values of equality, tolerance and human dignity found in the United Nations Charter; and to restore public confidence in the Organization by reaching out to new partners and, in his words, by “bringing the United Nations closer to the people”.

Bringing the United Nations closer to the people — tell that to those facing genocide in Darfur.

A comprehensive programme of reform — here is what the New York Sun Editorial of October 5, 2006 said:

“His term at the United Nations will be remembered only for the oil-for-food scandal, the sex-for-food scandal in the Congo, the massacres at Rwanda, Cambodia, and Srebrenica, and inaction in the face of the genocide in Darfur — and establishing that deception, secrecy, and patronage cannot be pierced by the reforms by which he sought to rescue his reputation.”

As reported by Stewart Stogel on September 14, 2006 of NewsMax.Com the U.N. chief will not only collect a life-time pension in excess of $12,000 a month, tax-free, but was allowed to cash in a second pension valued at more than $1 million — also tax-free — when he became secretary-general in 1996. Since becoming secretary-general, Annan has steadfastly refused to release any financial records other than his U.N. salary.

The Oil for Food scandal proved the old adage that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — The U.N.-appointed Independent Inquiry Committee, headed by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker, presented a sharply critical account of efforts by Annan’s son, Kojo Annan, to deceive investigators and his father about his financial relationship with his former employer, Geneva-based Cotecna Inspection Services SA.

The report also discloses that Iqbal Riza of Pakistan, Annan’s former chief of staff, had approved destruction of his backup computer files covering the first three years of the oil-for-food program. His April 22 decision came one day after the Security Council officially endorsed Annan’s decision to appoint Volcker.

Riza said that it was not an attempt to conceal information and that documents were “simply extra copies” of records that U.N. officials typically destroy each year. He said that his own policy was to hold onto the files for five years. “In hindsight, I can say, ‘Oh, goodness, I shouldn’t have.’ ”

The New York Sun editorial also said; “In March Mr. Annan appointed a German, Achim Steiner, to head a United Nations environmental program. Mr. Steiner was one of the judges on a panel that awarded Mr. Annan $500,000 in December for his environmental “work.” Also on the prize-awarding panel were two other high-ranking United Nations officials who owed their jobs to Mr. Annan.

Last month Mr. Annan’s office praised the actions of George Soros and his Open Society Institute, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, for projects they’ve undertaken to fight poverty, disease, and hunger in Africa. By not disclosing his forms (financial records) the public is unable to tell whether this praise followed a gift to Mr. Annan. ”

Incoming U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, South Korea’s former foreign minister, said Friday he plans to come up with a framework for the much-anticipated reform of the world body within the first month of his five-year term.
Ban is scheduled to assume his post on Jan. 1.

“By the end of January, I’ll try to draft a blueprint for the U.N. reforms and select officials for top U.N. positions,” he told reporters, a day after arriving in New York from Seoul.

Ban did not say whether he will ask some of incumbent top officials, whose term is expected to end in February, to stay on with him. Ban said he plans to meet with the outgoing secretary general, Kofi Annan, and other key U.N. envoys next week to ask for their cooperation for a smooth transition of the top U.N. leadership.

The U.N. is a powerless, impotent sea of corruption — nothing will really change except one thing — it’s good by and good riddance to Kofi Annan.

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