UNsatisfied

re the UN - no American should be at this point. We need to cut their funding. I was aware of the Soros apartment but not the campaign work. If we don't play hardball with the decadent UN, we'll never see change. And if the UN can't change, it's all but worthless to America. So why should be pay 20% of the bills?

Mr Malloch Brown has been criticised by dissident UN staff for aligning the world body too closely with Democrats in US domestic politics. They accuse him of allowing a UN staffer, Justin Leites, to play a leading role in the 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, violating staff rules.

Comments

[Mongo]

REASON: Governor, what about the United Nations? Are you in favor of the United States withdrawing from the UN?

REAGAN: Well, I am in favor of certainly a different policy than we’ve had. I think the United States should have taken a very drastic action; perhaps it should have staged a walk-out at the time of the recognition of Red China. I think that the United Nations today is virtually impotent when you stop to think that countries representing two-thirds of the votes of the United Nations represent less than 10 percent of the world population. It’s a funny thing that everybody who wants one man-one vote doesn’t hold it true for the United Nations!

more here http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/wm470.cfm

Law of Sea Treaty

[tester]

"countries representing two-thirds of the votes of the United Nations represent less than 10 percent of the world population. It’s a funny thing that everybody who wants one man-one vote doesn’t hold it true for the United Nations!"

Interesting factoid. I have no numbers, but it seems as if one could almost say the same regarding our senate.

[Dan]

have no numbers, but it seems as if one could almost say the same regarding our senate.

And that's why we also have a House of Representatives.

[mrbeach]

A Letter to Middle America from some current and former UN Staffers:

Dear Middle America,

Recently Mark Malloch Brown, the eloquent speaking number two at the
United Nations, said that "Middle America" did not know or understand
how the US is constructively engaged with the UN because of UN
detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, and that the UN's role
is "a secret" in Middle America.

And he complains that the US is not supporting even non-controversial
issues such as renovating the dilapidated UN Headquarters in New York
due to too much unchecked UN-bashing and stereotyping over too many
years.

Friends in Middle America, the UN deserves to be bashed and bashed
hard. Please allow us, a cross-section of Americans and others who
work/ed for the United Nations, to give you a glimpse into how the
United Nations is run:

Hirings and promotions routinely violate UN rules and revolve almost
entirely around patronage and whom one knows rather than professional
qualifications. Poorly performing managers are often moved into
different management slots while others are placed in senior positions
only because of his nationality.

The generous salaries for UN employees are free of federal, state and
local taxes and come with six weeks vacation, 11 holidays, 10 sick
days that are used as vacation, plus 4 weeks of "home leave", rental
and housing grants to supplement an already generous salary, and
educational subsidies for the children of UN employees. Many also
participate in an "alternative work schedule" in which they get every
other Friday off.

Several of us have advanced degrees in administration, budgeting,
finance, personnel, and other relevant areas of management, and we
have been trained to manage large public organizations, and yet we are
blocked from advancing by men in the 50s with no management training,
education, or experience - only sitting in their chairs because they
are friends with someone a higher position. We threaten nearly every
person we meet because they know they are there based only on their
connections.

And there is a profound lack of accountability within the UN regarding
resource allocation. Simple procurement that would normally take five
minutes using modern technology systems takes 2-3 months in the UN.
And many United Nations Development Program country offices pay "local
experts" outrageously high sums of money for products of dubious
quality. Such contracts would never be made by other international aid
agencies such as USAID that have much stronger internal controls and
oversight.

We have witnessed several outrageous examples of graft and corruption
within the UN system and yet time and again the scandal is covered up
because internal UN financial audits are simply comedy. Forms are from
the 1950s, and auditors are most interested in inventorying furniture.
In fact, a recent article on internal management in the Financial
Times cited a UN-commissioned report released in 1994 that was
remarkably damning. Yet nothing changed, leading to this crisis in
credibility of the UN.

Despite its dysfunctionality, if the UN were actually making a
difference in the lives of others, many would grumble or mutter to
themselves but the UN deserves its strongest bashing because of its
profound inability to respond to genocide, war, famine, natural
disaster emergencies, and other tragedies.

Kofi Annan, current head of the United Nations who ironically lives in
a mansion in New York on the shore of the East River that is worth
about $10 million, was head of peacekeeping operations in 1994 in
Rwanda when 800,000 people died. He said in 2004 that "I believed at
that time that I was doing my best" despite that he held back UN
troops from intervening to settle the conflict and from providing more
logistic and material support to stop the slaughter.

Kofi Annan was unable to stop mismanagement of the Oil-for-Food
Program that allowed Saddam Hussein's regime to embezzle millions of
dollars through under-priced oil contracts and overcharging in
contracts for goods Iraq purchased under the program. According to a
Government Accountability Office report, Saddam Hussein embezzled $4.4
billion through pricing irregularities. It is also estimated that
Saddam acquired an additional $5.7 billion through illegal oil
smuggling. Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company
Cotecna Inspection SA, which won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil
for Food program.

Kofi Annan protected Ruud Lubbers, UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
against a report that found him guilty of sexual harassment and
misconduct by declaring him innocent by Kofi Annan. This created a
global protest against Annan which resulted in Lubbers being forced to
resign.

Kofi Annan remains in power while genocide continues in Darfur, while
Zimbabwe tailspin into despotism, while up to a third of the
population of some African countries will die from AIDS, and while
corruption keeps the poorest countries in the starkest poverty.

And Kofi Annan arrogantly ignores the fact that the quality of life of
several of us has come close to being destroyed by the many bitter
experiences we have experienced over the past decades. Most who work
for the UN are so used to its dysfunctionality that they have NO idea
how sick the organization is or they are unable to come forward
because most who work for the UN come from countries where the labor
laws and protections are abysmal and where speaking out will land
yourself in jail or worse.

And to add insult to injury, the newly created IOIS (the new
"independent" internal oversight panel established to "reform" the UN)
has been strong-armed by Malloch Brown and is not independent because
its budget comes directly from the UN, thus dissuading anyone from
within the UN from coming forward.

Unfortunately, as the walls literally crumble down around them, those
who work for the UN and citizens who believe in the founding
principles of the UN have no understanding how bad it really is.

Unfortunately, we encourage young people who are seeking a career in
international affairs or development to avoid the United Nations at
all costs. We wish there would come a day when we would no longer
make this recommendation.

Of course the senior leadership of the UN try to hide the profound
problems of the UN but shame on them for saying that Americans don't
know or understand how the US is engaged with the UN.

If Middle America truly understood what ails the UN, the US, who funds
nearly 25% of the entire UN budget, would shut off the money spigot.

In sum, the UN should be shuttered, allowing a brand new organization
to emerge because the current UN is broken beyond repair.

For more information, please contact Edward Patrick Flaherty who
represents UN employees including our views here. flaherty@sfhc.ch

Sincerely,
A concerned group of current and former UN employees

[EdJones]

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