Speaking of Kicking Dogs Around: UN Oil For Food Scandal Update
What an interesting analogy my other half put up earlier about kicking dogs around. Here’s another one of or favorites: The United Nations. I know my fair share of people that want us out of the UN, and Kofi Annan rung up on charges. I doubt it will ever happen for the sheer fact that this current crop of bureaucratic buffoons seem to want to keep the status quo going. Now, yes, Pres. Bush recessed John Bolton, and thus far he has been key in a couple situations, but how much can one man do?
But, that aside, news comes from Reuters and the AP wire services that another arrest has been made in the OFF scandal, and ironically, it involves another Russian. (Hat-Tip: Capt. Ed)
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005366.php
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Russian diplomat was arrested in an overnight FBI raid and charged with helping a U.N. procurement officer launder bribes from contractors and taking a share of the money, an indictment said on Friday.
Vladimir Kuznetsov, a Russian Foreign Ministry official and the elected chairman of the U.N. General Assembly's budget advisory committee, was taken into custody by the FBI, Russian and U.S. officials said.
Kuznetsov later appeared in federal district court in khaki shorts and a green shirt and pleaded innocent.
The court offered to release him only if he could post a $1.5 million bond co-signed by three financially worthy parties and secured by $500,000 in properties and cash.
Even if released, he would remain under house arrest with an electronic monitoring device.
The arrest was only the latest scandal plaguing the world body following allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the defunct $64 billion U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, and a senior procurement officer's admission he had demanded illegal payments from would-be U.N. contractors.
Kuznetsov was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to an indictment signed by U.S. Attorney David Kelley.
Sergei Trepelkov, a senior counselor in Moscow's U.N. Mission, said the mission had been told the charges against Kuznetsov were connected to the U.N. humanitarian aid program for Iraq. But the indictment made no mention of this.
Kuznetsov was accused of working with a co-conspirator who was not identified but was described as a U.N. procurement officer who appears to match the description of Alexander Yakovlev, who pleaded guilty last month to money laundering and was said to be cooperating with federal investigators.
Yeah, I’d be cooperating, too.
Kuznetsov, in addition to Yakolev, make the second Russian indicted and arrested in this scandal. But this isn’t an exclusively a Russian operation. George Galloway has been implicated, from Great Britain, in addition to these two men. So is Kofi’s son, Kojo, and Kofi’s brother, Kobina. And let’s just throw Benon Sevan over the coals while we’re at it. It’s all one, big, happy family of thieves and crooks in the UN. And, there is this interesting piece of info given up by the WaPo. (WOW! Twice in one week that the WaPo gets something right...Are they feeling OK there?)
The latest arrest comes less than two weeks before a Sept. 14 summit that will draw more than 170 world leaders to U.N. headquarters to address, among other issues, management gaps that allowed corruption to occur. A senior U.S. official said it was too soon to determine whether the case "would help or hinder" U.S efforts to strike agreement on a proposal to impose greater independent oversight of U.N. spending.
The Bush administration is facing intense resistance from Russia, China and the "Group of 77" developing countries to proposals aimed at strengthening outside scrutiny of the United Nations' books. The Russian government, meanwhile, has vigorously opposed a U.N. reorganization plan that would undercut the power of Kuznetsov's committee.
Hmmm......Both just beg the question of Why? Why do they oppose tighter scrutiny over the UN’s books, and why does Russia oppose the reorganization efforts? Were I a prosecutor, I’d seriously ask both, and investigate both.
This is why we need out of this organization. They took our money, and the world’s money, to line their pockets and prop up a brutal dictator. This wasn’t anything like us supporting Hussein during the Iran/Iraq War. We had a clear side in that fight, and it was against Iran—a nation that had, just a few years before, held 60+ hostages for 444 days in the American Embassy in Iran. It would have been absolutely retarded for then-President Reagan to side with a nation so aggressive to the US.
So, we sided with Iraq. No serious weapons were given to Iraq, and certainly nothing that would have tipped the strategic chess board in favor of a potential enemy. The Left loves to bring up that Reagan supplied them with weapons of mass destruction, yet no one can prove that allegation. No, I can’t prove it otherwise, but then we must concede that at this point, it is irresponsible hearsay.
But this isn’t one nation supporting another. This is a world organization that is supposedly devoted to peace and harmony around the globe, and they were fostering one of the worst dictators of the 20th Century. They were sliding him money earmarked for the suffering people of his nation—supposedly suffering under the oil embargo—and they weren’t keeping tabs on him, which just allowed him to dump that money into the same coffers that they had been funneling through to begin with. More monuments. More palaces. More weapons. Who cares about the suffering of others.
Obviously we did, as we led the world in this effort. And we were horn-swaggled like the rest of the participatory nations. Now, in my opinion, it’s time to pay the piper. Am I happy that people are being taken down in this scandal? Yes. Am I going to be happy with the overall outcome of it? I doubt it. Kofi Annan will either still be in charge when it’s all said and done, or "retire" without any sort of prosecution. His son and brother will probably also escape unscathed, and all three will enjoy their embezzled funds in their respective retirements. Some heads will roll, but not the main ones. And, unfortunately, we’ll still be a part of an irrelevant, failing institution that has far outlived its usefulness to the world.
Publius II
What an interesting analogy my other half put up earlier about kicking dogs around. Here’s another one of or favorites: The United Nations. I know my fair share of people that want us out of the UN, and Kofi Annan rung up on charges. I doubt it will ever happen for the sheer fact that this current crop of bureaucratic buffoons seem to want to keep the status quo going. Now, yes, Pres. Bush recessed John Bolton, and thus far he has been key in a couple situations, but how much can one man do?
But, that aside, news comes from Reuters and the AP wire services that another arrest has been made in the OFF scandal, and ironically, it involves another Russian. (Hat-Tip: Capt. Ed)
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005366.php
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Russian diplomat was arrested in an overnight FBI raid and charged with helping a U.N. procurement officer launder bribes from contractors and taking a share of the money, an indictment said on Friday.
Vladimir Kuznetsov, a Russian Foreign Ministry official and the elected chairman of the U.N. General Assembly's budget advisory committee, was taken into custody by the FBI, Russian and U.S. officials said.
Kuznetsov later appeared in federal district court in khaki shorts and a green shirt and pleaded innocent.
The court offered to release him only if he could post a $1.5 million bond co-signed by three financially worthy parties and secured by $500,000 in properties and cash.
Even if released, he would remain under house arrest with an electronic monitoring device.
The arrest was only the latest scandal plaguing the world body following allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the defunct $64 billion U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, and a senior procurement officer's admission he had demanded illegal payments from would-be U.N. contractors.
Kuznetsov was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to an indictment signed by U.S. Attorney David Kelley.
Sergei Trepelkov, a senior counselor in Moscow's U.N. Mission, said the mission had been told the charges against Kuznetsov were connected to the U.N. humanitarian aid program for Iraq. But the indictment made no mention of this.
Kuznetsov was accused of working with a co-conspirator who was not identified but was described as a U.N. procurement officer who appears to match the description of Alexander Yakovlev, who pleaded guilty last month to money laundering and was said to be cooperating with federal investigators.
Yeah, I’d be cooperating, too.
Kuznetsov, in addition to Yakolev, make the second Russian indicted and arrested in this scandal. But this isn’t an exclusively a Russian operation. George Galloway has been implicated, from Great Britain, in addition to these two men. So is Kofi’s son, Kojo, and Kofi’s brother, Kobina. And let’s just throw Benon Sevan over the coals while we’re at it. It’s all one, big, happy family of thieves and crooks in the UN. And, there is this interesting piece of info given up by the WaPo. (WOW! Twice in one week that the WaPo gets something right...Are they feeling OK there?)
The latest arrest comes less than two weeks before a Sept. 14 summit that will draw more than 170 world leaders to U.N. headquarters to address, among other issues, management gaps that allowed corruption to occur. A senior U.S. official said it was too soon to determine whether the case "would help or hinder" U.S efforts to strike agreement on a proposal to impose greater independent oversight of U.N. spending.
The Bush administration is facing intense resistance from Russia, China and the "Group of 77" developing countries to proposals aimed at strengthening outside scrutiny of the United Nations' books. The Russian government, meanwhile, has vigorously opposed a U.N. reorganization plan that would undercut the power of Kuznetsov's committee.
Hmmm......Both just beg the question of Why? Why do they oppose tighter scrutiny over the UN’s books, and why does Russia oppose the reorganization efforts? Were I a prosecutor, I’d seriously ask both, and investigate both.
This is why we need out of this organization. They took our money, and the world’s money, to line their pockets and prop up a brutal dictator. This wasn’t anything like us supporting Hussein during the Iran/Iraq War. We had a clear side in that fight, and it was against Iran—a nation that had, just a few years before, held 60+ hostages for 444 days in the American Embassy in Iran. It would have been absolutely retarded for then-President Reagan to side with a nation so aggressive to the US.
So, we sided with Iraq. No serious weapons were given to Iraq, and certainly nothing that would have tipped the strategic chess board in favor of a potential enemy. The Left loves to bring up that Reagan supplied them with weapons of mass destruction, yet no one can prove that allegation. No, I can’t prove it otherwise, but then we must concede that at this point, it is irresponsible hearsay.
But this isn’t one nation supporting another. This is a world organization that is supposedly devoted to peace and harmony around the globe, and they were fostering one of the worst dictators of the 20th Century. They were sliding him money earmarked for the suffering people of his nation—supposedly suffering under the oil embargo—and they weren’t keeping tabs on him, which just allowed him to dump that money into the same coffers that they had been funneling through to begin with. More monuments. More palaces. More weapons. Who cares about the suffering of others.
Obviously we did, as we led the world in this effort. And we were horn-swaggled like the rest of the participatory nations. Now, in my opinion, it’s time to pay the piper. Am I happy that people are being taken down in this scandal? Yes. Am I going to be happy with the overall outcome of it? I doubt it. Kofi Annan will either still be in charge when it’s all said and done, or "retire" without any sort of prosecution. His son and brother will probably also escape unscathed, and all three will enjoy their embezzled funds in their respective retirements. Some heads will roll, but not the main ones. And, unfortunately, we’ll still be a part of an irrelevant, failing institution that has far outlived its usefulness to the world.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 7:55 PM
1 Comments:
Sign of the times: dissent on America’s highways
With anger over Bushs government and the war in Iraq, Americans have found a new way to protest.
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