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Archive for 'UN/Oil-For-Food'

Friday, February 2nd, 2007

I Realize There Are Still Some Dissenters On Global Warming…

…but it sure seems that a scientific consensus is being consolidated, and it ain’t pretty:
Global warming caused by human activity is real and will continue for hundreds of years, a panel of some of the world’s top climate scientists said Friday.
Officially releasing a 21-page report in Paris on the hows and the what of global […]

13 Comments » - Posted in Domestic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

Chirac: Had I Known It Was On The Record, I Would Have Lied

I don’t know what’s worse, Jacques Chirac’s casualness about Iran getting a nuke, or his blatant admission that his private thoughts don’t match his public utterances:
President Jacques Chirac said this week that if Iran had one or two nuclear weapons, it would not pose a big danger, and that if Iran were to launch a […]

No Comments » - Posted in Israel, Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Friday, January 26th, 2007

UN Holocaust Resolution Provides Handy List Of Anti-Semites

I love the idea of a UN resolution condemning Holocaust denial, not because the message is needed (thought it is), but because it provides a handy guide to nations that give quasi-official status to anti-Semitism. The rogues gallery includes much of the Middle East and a good deal of leftist Latin America:
The U.N. General Assembly […]

No Comments » - Posted in Israel, Iran, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Thursday, January 25th, 2007

Upping The Ante

Those who are opposed to the surge are not going to like this:
The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran’s influence across the Middle East and compel it to give up its nuclear program, according to government […]

10 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Israel, North Korea, POTUS, Iraq, Radical Islam / GWOT, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

A Welcome Breath Of Fresh Air

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is off to a good start. He is responding quickly to Il-For-Food allegations:
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has been on the job for less than a month, but with a 26-word announcement Friday he did more to reform that international body than anything ever attempted by predecessor Kofi Annan.
“The […]

No Comments » - Posted in North Korea, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Friday, January 19th, 2007

Il-For-Food

Not content to let Saddam Hussein carry the mantle of ‘most profligate waster of UN money”, Kim Jung-Il has weighed in with his own little scandal:
Has North Korean leader Kim Jong Il subverted the United Nations Development Program, the $4 billion agency that is the U.N.’s main development arm, and possibly stolen tens of millions […]

2 Comments » - Posted in North Korea, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

Oil-For-Food: Justice Delayed Is Better Than None

Finally, it appears a UN head will roll over the systemic plunder from the people of Iraq known as Oil-For-Food:
U.S. prosecutors have announced charges against the former head of the United Nations oil-for-food program, accusing him of receiving $160,000 in kickbacks from sales of Iraqi oil under the government of Saddam Hussein.
The seven-count indictment, unsealed […]

No Comments » - Posted in Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

UN Releases Iraqi Death Toll Numbers

The good news, if you can call such grim news ‘good’ by any stretch of the imagination, is that they are far lower than - yes, sorry, Andy - the Lancet’s:
The United Nations reported Tuesday that more than 34,000 Iraqis were killed in violence last year, a figure that represents the first comprehensive annual count […]

No Comments » - Posted in Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

The President’s Strategy: The PowerPoint

Those of you who sit in business meetings will appreciate this link from the White House that attempts to present the new strategy in Iraq in bullet-point form, including:
The President’s New Iraq Strategy Is Rooted In Six Fundamental Elements:

Let the Iraqis lead;
Help Iraqis protect the population;
Isolate extremists;
Create space for political progress; […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Iran, POTUS, Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Friday, January 5th, 2007

New Beginnings

Two appointments of note; first, Khalilzad to the UN:
ABC News has learned that President Bush will nominate Zalmay Khalilzad to be the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Khalilzad is currently the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. The announcement may come as soon as tomorrow. Khalilzad’s departure from Baghdad will happen as soon as he […]

No Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

Meet The New Boss…

…most definitely NOT the same as the old boss:
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Tuesday that Iraq and other countries have the right to impose the death penalty, adding that the world should never forget Saddam Hussein’s “heinous crimes.”
Ban’s first public reaction to Hussein’s execution signaled a sharp break from his predecessor, Kofi Annan, […]

5 Comments » - Posted in Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006

Well, It’s Something, Anyway

I’ve become so accustomed to the UN doing nothing that anything at all feels like a victory:
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to restrict Iran’s trade in sensitive nuclear materials and to slap an asset freeze on 22 Iranian officials and institutions linked to Iran’s most controversial nuclear programs.
The council’s action marked the […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Sunday, December 17th, 2006

Isn’t That How It’s Supposed To Work?

The Guardian has really blown the lid off of this one:
The US uses its aid budget to bribe those countries which have a vote in the United Nations security council, giving them 59 per cent more cash in years when they have a seat, according to research by economists.
Kofi Annan, the outgoing UN Secretary-General, expressed […]

No Comments » - Posted in Progressive Nonsense / Nutroots®, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

A Shameful Legacy

The Wall Street Journal gives Kofi Annan a proper sendoff:
When Mr. Annan was named Secretary General 10 years ago, he did so as the U.S.-backed candidate of reform. Jesse Helms, then-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Mr. Annan that “if you choose to be an agent of real and deep-seated change, you will […]

7 Comments » - Posted in UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006

The Speech That Should Have Been

If only Kofi Annan had delivered THESE remarks (from the incomparable Iowahawk):
Nearly 50 years ago, when I arrived in Minnesota as a student fresh from Africa, I had much to learn. For example, the concept of “connecting flights,” because I was actually supposed to be going to California. My cab had already plowed through several […]

No Comments » - Posted in UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Monday, December 11th, 2006

The Long Goodbye

More farewell thoughts from the won’t-be-missed UN chief:

In a farewell speech on U.S. soil today, retiring United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to deliver a tough critique of President Bush’s policies. He will accuse the administration of trying to secure the United States from terrorism in part by dominating other nations through force, committing what […]

1 Comment » - Posted in POTUS, Radical Islam / GWOT, Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Monday, December 11th, 2006

Kofi Annan Waxes Philisophical

As his tenure as UN head draws, thankfully, to a close, Kofi Annan shares the valuable lessons he’s learned with the readers of the Washington Post. Basically, he’s learned that only the UN can rein in the evil capitalist countries:
How can states hold each other to account? Only through multilateral institutions. So my final lesson […]

4 Comments » - Posted in UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Saturday, December 9th, 2006

Novak: Khalilzad Leading UN Candidate

He would be a good choice:
Zalmay Khalilzad, who was announced this week as leaving as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is the leading prospect to replace John Bolton as envoy to the United Nations.
President Bush was reported by aides as looking for someone who approximates Bolton’s combination of toughness and diplomatic skill and has tentatively decided on […]

No Comments » - Posted in POTUS, Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Friday, December 8th, 2006

RIP, Jeane Kirkpatrick

Goodbye to another great one:
Former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, a one-time Democrat who switched to the Republican Party and warmly embraced Reagan-era conservatism, has died. She was 80.
Kirkpatrick’s death was announced Friday at the senior staff meeting of the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said spokesman Richard Grenell, who said that Ambassador John […]

1 Comment » - Posted in In Praise Of, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006

Wretchard On The ISG Report

The best line in response to today’s release of the Iraq Study Group report belongs, without question, to Wretchard of Belmont Club fame, regarding the ISG’s attempt to couple a solution in Iraq to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
Waiting to spend a check that’s been in the mail for decades is testimony to optimism…
That’s part of […]