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The United Nations has decided to remove unarmed observers from their posts along the Israeli-Lebanese border, moving them in with the peacekeeping force in the area, a spokesman said today. The decision came after one of the posts of the observer force, known as UNTSO, was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike earlier this week, killing four. “These are unarmed people and this is for theirprotection,” said Milos Struger, a spokesman for Unifil, the peacekeeping force whose 2,000 members have light weapons for self-defence. Earlier, Israel’s UN ambassador has ruled out major UN involvement in any potential international force in Lebanon,...

The whole question of the extent of Israel's response and the mantra of the appeasement monkeys is stupid. During a debate between David Horowitz and Josh Rabner on Hannity today, Rabner exemplified what you hear from the left every day: Israel is ing civilians or Israel is targeting civilians or some variant of this theme. In order to add perspective, let's compare what is happening in Lebanon graphically to a well-known event of WWII: the allied ing of Dresden. Now, bear with me, because I will conclude that they were both totally justified, even if there was a toll of...

book review ON INCOMPETENCE Gregory R. Copley, President, International Strategic Studies Association An International Relations Debacle: The UN Secretary-General's Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus 1999-2004, by Claire Palley. Oxford. UK. and Portland. Oregon, USA, 2005: Hart Publishing. ISBN: 1-84113-578-X. 395pp, illust., hardcover. $45. Rarely, in lives filled with books, is a vol- ume found which has the power to pro- foundly influence minds with the com- pelling weight and wisdom of its facts and arguments, and with the movingly restrained passion of its compilation. Claire Pal ley's work, An International Relations Debacle: The UN Secretary- General's Mission of Good...

Qualifications: ï‚· Political sensitivity is a must, especially with regard to the USA, China, the UK, France and Russia. No-one who has offended any of these countries need apply. ï‚· Financial integrity is also key. Due to a recent embarrassment involving at least $1.8 billion (and probably a great deal more), we are especially vulnerable to claims of financial incompetence or, worse, corruption. People with family members who want to do business with the organisation should not apply. ï‚· A commitment to the rule of law is essential. Another recent embarrassment involved the investigation of a high-profile murder. The incumbent...

Secretary-General Kofi Annan late Thursday said the military actions in Iraq are not the solution to improve the situation in the war-torn country and called for negotiations instead. Annan was apparently referring indirectly to the US opening a channel with the insurgents in Iraq through its ambassador there. The security environment continues to constrain both the Organization's presence and its ability to operate effectively in Iraq, he argued. "I urge the Government of Iraq to confirm the approval of the agreement in order to place the status of UNAMI in Iraq on a firmer footing and help UNAMI and its...

The chief budget officer of the United Nations said Tuesday that an effort by the Bush administration to delay approval of the institution's budget next month in order to push through reforms would cause a crisis in the organization and cut into essential operations. ''It's a very serious situation,'' said Warren Sach, assistant secretary general and controller. ''It's fragile and creates real problems in terms of the operational capacity of the organization.'' The United States announced last week that it would oppose adoption by the General Assembly of the usual two-year budget at the end of the year unless the...

Sent: 5/6/2005 4:32 PM Cypriot doubts over swift deal While the Cypriot president yesterday cast doubt on whether a deal to reunify Cyprus would be struck in the near future, a US envoy who met Tassos Papadopoulos urged the Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot sides to generate momentum for new talks rather than wait for a helping hand. When asked whether an agreement on the island's future might be possible before October, when Turkey is due to begin negotiations to join the EU, Papadopoulos appeared cautious. «Since we have not yet started the talks, it is very hard to predict. We have...

An independent committee investigating the now-defunct Iraqi oil-for-food program has found that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan didn't influence the awarding of a $10 million annual contract to a Swiss company that employed his son.

I found the Volcker Investigation's Interim Oil-For-Food investigation report, and cut/paste anything that had a date to it to a notepad file. Then I took the notepad file, copied it to Excel and did a sort by date. The result is a timeline of the OFF program using verbatim statements from the Volcker Report. I doubt even the investigating commission has this! Check it out. -Sam Pender author of America's War With Saddam (oh, and saavy timeline afficionado's might notice that Benan Sevan-the head of the Oil For Food program-was in Baghdad in mid 98, meeting with Saddam on the...

Fury at UN plan to pay legal fee from Iraq revenue By Mark Turner at the United Nations Published: March 24 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 24 2005 02:00 Leading members of the United Nations Security Council yesterday demanded to know why the UN secretariat had offered to use Iraqi oil revenues to pay the legal fees of Benon Sevan, the disgraced former head of Iraq's oil-for-food programme. The UN said on Tuesday that it had promised to pay Mr Sevan reasonable legal fees to ensure his co-operation with the Volcker Commission (IIC), which is investigating allegations of fraud...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's spokesman denied an Al-Arabiya television report that Annan had demanded a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon by April or sanctions if they do not comply. "The secretary general never set an April deadline for a withdrawal nor did he support sanctions if the pullout didn't happen by then," spokesman Fred Eckhard said, providing a partial transcript of the network's Annan interview. In the unofficial transcript of the interview, to be broadcast on Friday, Annan said he would next report to the Security Council by April on Syria's compliance with a council resolution...

LAST MONTH A CLASSIFIED UNITED Nations report prompted Secretary General Kofi Annan to admit that U.N. peacekeepers and staff have sexually abused or exploited war refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The worst of the 150 or so allegations of misconduct--some of them captured on videotape--include pedophilia, rape, and prostitution. While a U.N. investigation into the scandal continues, the organization has just suspended two more peacekeepers in neighboring Burundi over similar charges. The revelations come three years after another U.N. report found "widespread" evidence of sexual abuse of West African refugees. "The issue with the U.N. is that peacekeeping...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Sexual abuse of girls by U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was widespread and ongoing despite many revelations and probes, the U.N. watchdog agency reported on Friday.   The peacekeepers over the last year have been accused of gang rapes, sexual harassment and bribing children as young as 12 or 13 with eggs, milk and a few dollars to have sex in bushes, on the bare ground or under mango trees. The new report by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) concentrates on Bunia, in the eastern part of the Congo,...

UN peacekeepers in Congo sexually abused and exploited women and girls, some as young as 13, according to a report released by a UN watchdog today. Sexual contact between peacekeepers and Congolese women and girls occurred regularly, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money, an investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services found. The problems were “serious and ongoing” and it was ”disturbing” that there was no deterrence or protection programme, the report said by the UN oversight agency said. Sexual activities continued even while the investigation was going on, the OIOS found, noting that freshly...

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. peacekeepers in Congo sexually abused and exploited women and girls, some as young as 13, according to a report released by a U.N. watchdog agency Friday. Peacekeepers regularly had sex with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money, an investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services found. "We have had and continue to have a serious problem of sexual exploitation and abuse," said William Lacy Swing, the secretary-general's special representative to Congo, said Friday at a news conference. "We are shocked by it, we are outraged, we are...

LAST MONTH A CLASSIFIED UNITED Nations report prompted Secretary General Kofi Annan to admit that U.N. peacekeepers and staff have sexually abused or exploited war refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The worst of the 150 or so allegations of misconduct--some of them captured on videotape--include pedophilia, rape, and prostitution. While a U.N. investigation into the scandal continues, the organization has just suspended two more peacekeepers in neighboring Burundi over similar charges. The revelations come three years after another U.N. report found "widespread" evidence of sexual abuse of West African refugees."The issue with the U.N. is that peacekeeping operations...

To: U.S. President George W. Bush Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay House Majority Whip, Roy Blunt House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi House Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan H.E. Mr. Jean Ping, President, UN General Assembly During the past several years, the threat facing the United States of America and much of the world from violent terrorist organizations has grown exponentially. While the United Nations is chartered to promote peace, it's actions recently have made it an accessory to terrorist...

WASHINGTON — All our July chin-pulling about polls and veeps and C.I.A. missteps has little to do with November's election, which will be decided by unforeseeable events. Instead, let's counter-program, to examine a political corruption story beginning to gain traction that will reach warp speed in hearings and headlines next spring. At least eight official investigations have begun into the largest financial rip-off in history: preliminary estimates from the G.A.O. point to $10 billion skimmed or kicked back or otherwise stolen in the U.N. dealings with Saddam Hussein.

During the UN Committee hearings investigating the "Oil For Food Program" frauds, democrats rushed to defend Kofi Anan. From CA Democrat Representative Tom Lantos (D) "At a time when we are moving towards placing enormous responsibilities following the handover on June 30th upon the United Nations and the Secretary General, to imply dishonesty on his part is so contrary to our national interest that it simply boggles the mind." Kofi Anan denied any wrong-doing saying "The US and the British had planes in the air. We were not there. Why is all this being dumped on the UN?"