Free Republic

Russia is trying to work with France to save Syria from the U.S.-Israeli threat in hopes of reviving its ties with Paris and Damascus and regaining some of its international influence. Moscow is unlikely to get Paris' support, since France is backing anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon. This will further distance Paris from Moscow and will not help Damascus avoid future problems.

One of the next big chapters in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal will involve the family of the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, whose son turns out to have been receiving payments as recently as early this year from a key contractor in the oil-for-food program. The secretary-general's son, Kojo Annan, was previously reported to have worked for a Swiss-based company called Cotecna Inspection Services SA, which from 1998-2003 held a lucrative contract with the U.N. to monitor goods arriving in Saddam Hussein's Iraq under the oil-for-food program. But investigators are now looking into new information suggesting that the younger Annan received...