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2004-11-26 International-UN-NGOs
US Diplomats Provide Skinny on UN Scams: "Corruption as a Way of Life"
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Posted by lex 2004-11-26 11:43:33 PM|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 I LOVE the Internet. It's going to be one hell of an interesting 2005.
Posted by phil_b 2004-11-26 12:10:52 AM||   2004-11-26 12:10:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Hi phil-- a great 2005 awaits us, indeed. These diplomats are precisely the kinds of sources that bloggers need to tap in order to start scooping and publishing their own stories.
Posted by lex 2004-11-26 12:24:37 AM||   2004-11-26 12:24:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 lex, I'll write you later.
Posted by phil_b 2004-11-26 12:30:21 AM||   2004-11-26 12:30:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Excellent resource - thx lex!

A refreshing honest voice with insight and knowledge of the FSO game at State - the timing couldn't be better, heh, as we wait and watch to see if Dr Rice can and will attempt to reform it - even if it's through the recommended surrogate:
"The new Secretary will want to think the deep thoughts, and will probably be inclined to let the Department muddle along. We hope that this inclination will be resisted (we can dream, eh?) and that at a minimum a fierce, Neanderthal-like brute will be appointed Undersecretary for Management. It is to this person that we direct ourselves with hope in our hearts and pleading in our eyes."

Amen... he / she speaks for all of us.

I particularly enjoyed the Canada post, heh.
Posted by .com 2004-11-26 2:07:33 AM||   2004-11-26 2:07:33 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 This scoop is the best thing I've ever seen on the UN. Far better than anything we can ever expect to see from the NY Times or any other MSM outlet. It is f*cking outrageous that the public is deprived of this kind of expert, ruthlessly candid and apparently accurate dissection of how the UN works. The MSM are doing us, and really, the world, an enormous disservice by failing to disclose the rot within the UN.

Why can't bloggers cultivate sources like these diplomats, TGA, Old Spook, John Ellis and hundreds of other insiders to write our own news reports?
Posted by lex 2004-11-26 2:13:17 AM||   2004-11-26 2:13:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Can you imagine the scandals that will be scooped when the blogosphere digs its teeth into sources inside the UN? Will make Rathergate look like child's play, I'm sure.
Posted by lex 2004-11-26 2:15:21 AM||   2004-11-26 2:15:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Can you imagine the scandals that will be scooped when the blogosphere digs its teeth into sources inside the UN? Will make Rathergate look like child's play, I'm sure.
Posted by lex 2004-11-26 2:15:21 AM||   2004-11-26 2:15:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Kofi could be caught with both his hands and feet in the cookie jar, and some people will STILL insist that the UN is worth something.
Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-11-26 2:28:06 AM||   2004-11-26 2:28:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 lex - Oops - I semi-addressed your #5-#6 comments over on this thread.
Posted by .com 2004-11-26 2:33:38 AM||   2004-11-26 2:33:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Mike S, any special requests for links? ready to spring to the defense of UN corruption?
Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-26 3:04:17 AM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/]  2004-11-26 3:04:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Prolly too busy cashing his 'paycheck' and running
Posted by MacNails 2004-11-26 4:53:57 AM||   2004-11-26 4:53:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 Excellent,.com.Here ya go MS,straight from the horses mouth.
Posted by raptor 2004-11-26 7:25:46 AM||   2004-11-26 7:25:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 
A month ago The New York Post ran a similar editorial. It's most memorable phrase was, "Frankly, if there were any justice in the world, Annan’s son would be under indictment right now."

Strangely, Kojo Annan still has not been indicted, a month later. It will be interesting to see whether Kofi Annan will have resigned a month from now.
.
Posted by Mike Sylwester 2004-11-26 9:12:47 AM||   2004-11-26 9:12:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 Hmmm... maybe it's the refusal lack of cooperation from Kofi to provide documents that contributes to the absence of charges against his son?
Posted by Raj 2004-11-26 9:32:50 AM||   2004-11-26 9:32:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 Kofi's next move to prevent releasing the docs - invoking the right against self-incrimination
Posted by Frank G  2004-11-26 10:05:02 AM||   2004-11-26 10:05:02 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 Comments, Mike?
Posted by Raj 2004-11-26 10:47:07 AM||   2004-11-26 10:47:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#17 Mike S, do you (and your pals at the UN) really believe that because a thief hasn't yet been arrested and indicted, it's proof he is innocent? hehe.

Claudia Rosett's latest article: ... The younger Annan stopped working for Cotecna in late 1998, but it now turns out that he continued to receive money from Cotecna not only through 1999, as recently reported, but right up until February of this year. The timing coincides with the entire duration of Cotecna's work for the U.N. oil-for-food program. ...
This latest bombshell involving the secretary-general's son was confirmed Wednesday by Kofi Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard. ... The lawyer said that these payments were part of a standard non-competition agreement...

Looks like as long as Annan senior made sure Cotecna could continue to run UNscam (non-competition), Annan junior got a "standard" monthly reward.
Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-26 12:01:59 PM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/]  2004-11-26 12:01:59 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 "invoking the right against self-incrimination"
That may only work in U.S. courts -- the U.N. will be in Paris by then, I hope.
Posted by Tom 2004-11-26 12:05:08 PM||   2004-11-26 12:05:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 In Paris, he'd get Chirac and the French National Assembly to vote an amnesty for all UN-employed criminals. They keep doing it for French politicians -- and then put a gag order on the media to criminalize any public discussion of what they've done.
Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-26 12:16:12 PM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/]  2004-11-26 12:16:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 Non-compete clause? WTF?? Exactly WHO/WHAT is a competitor for this?

UN.......p.u.k.e.s.
Posted by Brett_the_Quarkian 2004-11-26 12:19:34 PM||   2004-11-26 12:19:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 Calm yourself. I thought you'd be more tolerant since quarks come in six flavors.
Posted by Tom 2004-11-26 12:28:53 PM||   2004-11-26 12:28:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 Lex,
Cultivating sources that have any real knowledge/power inside the world of politics will be very difficult for those in the incredibly under-funded, under resourced, under-connected world of bloggers.
I know that most bloggers simply do not have the income or job that would allow them to fly out to New York or D.C. to have a lunch with someone.
The other problem would be getting these people to talk to you. There really isn't the pay-off for them that the MSM can provide through good press on a different issue.
A website that potential contacts can go to, and drop a little info would be great for those selfless individuals.
Getting info from others will require large sums of time, and money. And, considering the limited exposure they would get from good press in the blogoshere, might not pay off for the blogger.
Now, if one could get funding from an MSM in some sort of agreement that they do not get the story, but a head start on the story, (a day or two before the blogger releases it) allowing them
to one up the competition, it might work well for both. You could be sort of a low-key Drudge. Without the silly outfits.
I would think Rupert would be the best chance for that.
Posted by Mike 2004-11-26 1:36:50 PM||   2004-11-26 1:36:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 Mike your premise that the way to operate is to fly around is wrong. There are bloggers everywhere. They need to build a network of trust and cooperative inquiry. Someone who lives in NYC can lunch there. Someone who lives in Boston can dine there. Etc. It's a lot more effective, and objective, than having the MSMs paying people to fly around (and make up stories).
Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-26 1:50:12 PM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/]  2004-11-26 1:50:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 What Kalle said. Bloggers as stringers. Thousands of 'em, all over the world.
Interesting idea re the money angle, Mike. I imagine Rupert's already sniffing around this.
Posted by lex 2004-11-26 4:58:49 PM||   2004-11-26 4:58:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 ..Guys, as much as I want to see Kofi head out the door, we need to be careful what we wish for. I am convinced that the next UNSG will be a devout Moslem, quite possibly a Pakistani or an Iranian.

Mike
Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-11-26 10:15:05 PM||   2004-11-26 10:15:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#26 Mike, I can't imagine a quicker way to discredit the body in the general (US) public's eyes.
Posted by someone 2004-11-26 10:27:45 PM||   2004-11-26 10:27:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#27 Sh be a champion of democracy who overcame tyranny in his or her country. Preferably from Asia or E Europe. Maybe Havel; preferably someone with not just moral authority but also very strong administrative/managerial/ass-kicking ability.
Posted by lex 2004-11-26 11:15:52 PM||   2004-11-26 11:15:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#28 What makes you think Kofi Annan is not a "devout Moslem"?
Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-26 11:38:26 PM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/]  2004-11-26 11:38:26 PM|| Front Page Top

23:59 Thomas J. Jackson
23:56 Thomas J. Jackson
23:42 RWV
23:41 .com
23:38 Kalle (kafir forever)
23:19 .com
23:16 .com
23:15 lex
23:08 .com
22:58 2b
22:57 Glereper Cligum7229
22:51 Mitch H.
22:44 Mitch H.
22:37 2b
22:27 someone
22:26 2b
22:21 lex
22:15 Mike Kozlowski
22:06 Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo)
22:06 CrazyFool
22:05 Frank G
22:03 Frank G
22:03 Frank G
22:01 Frank G









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