UN Audit: Millions Squandered in Sudan

Business as Usual at the U.N.

"There are reports in Juba of U.N. workers served luxurious brunches by five-star chefs while southern Sudanese outside scramble to piece together paltry school tuition fees. It is nothing short of a travesty."

-- Church Alliance for a New Sudan Director, Faith J.H. McDonnell

Corruption in a United Nations operation?

This is becoming a "dog bites man" story.

Still, how corrupt does an operation have to be for the United Nations to declare it stinks?

Tens of millions of dollars have been wasted in peacekeeping operations in Sudan over the past three years according to a new report issued by the U.N. Office for International Oversight Services. The audit slams the U.N. for having poor internal control mechanisms and for tolerating mismanagement in the war-torn country.

U.N. auditors have identified dozens of irregularities according to The Washington Post, including an "exorbitant" rate on a contract to supply gravel for peacekeeping barracks and $1.2 million in "unnecessary expenditures" for block bookings of hotel rooms that the United Nations was unable to fill.

Several instances of corruption were also cited in the report, including U.N. purchasing agents diverting contracts to companies that provided visa sponsorships and inappropriate financial compensation.

Faith J.H. McDonnell, Director of IRD's Church Alliance for a New Sudan, commented:

"The greatest tragedy here is that a little money can go a long way in helping those Sudanese who are in need. While nonprofit aid organizations and churches can do wonders with just a few hundred or thousand dollars, the U.N. wastes millions. The lost opportunities are staggering.

Another reason for Americans to voice their disapproval at U.S. tax dollars that fund the luxury career diplomat corruption machine that the United Nations has become.

The truly amazing thing about this story is that United Nations auditors blew the whistle on the operation in Sudan.

Usually, the United Nations is fighting attempts to look into the inner workings of its operations--every step of the way.

The other story will be how many MSM outlets pick up this story.

The United Nations has become the perfect symbol of European type "action" to solve the world's problems.

It's little wonder there is so much enthusiasm for it in the Democrat party.

by Mondoreb
image: freerepublic
source: Auditors find UN Squandered Millions in Sudan



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

UN Says Los Angeles is Violating International Drug Treaties

The U.N. is declaring Los Angeles in violation of UN treaties.

If there is any further proof needed that the extranational, unelected bureaucrats at the United Nations would like to extend their power over the United States, look no further than this story.

Last week, we detailed the opening of vending machines in LA dispensing marijuana. (Marijuana Vending Machines Debut in California)

The vending machines in Los Angeles violate international treaties and should be shut down, the U.N.-affiliated drug control board said Friday.

"The International Narcotics Control Board is deeply concerned about reports that computerized vending machines to dispense cannabis (marijuana) have been put into operation in Los Angeles," Philip O. Emafo, president of the board, said in a statement.

Will pot smokers be burning UN flags in LA?

They might, provided they can muster the energy to do so.

At least three Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries have installed vending machines to distribute the drug to people who carry cards authorizing marijuana use. The drug is said to alleviate chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments.

Supporters say the machines, which dispense 1/8th or 2/8th of an ounce of marijuana at a time, offers users lower drug prices and increases security.

In a modern-day clash of our federal system, marijuana use is illegal under U.S. federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.

And now the UN wants to get involved?

The international busybody--which seats terror-sponsoring nations on its anti-terror board, sponsors conferences (i.e., vacations) for such media-shilled "problems" like climate change and has diverted more American tax dollars into the private bank accounts of corrupt officials than any old-style big-city political machine every could accomplish--ought to stick to what it does best: endlessly issuing statements warning countries about the United States and Israel.

And bungling everything its massive bureaucracy touches.

"Kiss My Ass and Pass the Oreos".

Translate that.

[hat tip: Brock Lorber, Freedom Phoenix]
by Mondoreb
image: mrmat
Source: UN board says Marijuana Machines Illegal



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Al Gore Stakes Out Position in Bali

Al Gore left no doubt about his position after speaking Thursday in Bali at the United Nations conference on Climate Change.

by RidesAPaleHorse
[graphic: RAPH]



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

The United Nations: A Creature of Fiction

"Personal Notice: Danger is my stock-in-trade. If the job is too tough for you to handle, you've got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details."

The above advertisement was how the hero in 1940s radio thriller "Let George Do it" obtained his clients.

It made for great radio; it makes for lousy foreign policy. Besides, George was a fiction.

Increasingly, political leaders, from the Democrat Party to Greens in Germany, demand that a worldwide "George"--the United Nations--do the work whenever there's a problem.

Environmental problems? Nuclear Iran? The Internet?

"Let George (the U.N.) do it!"

An industry has sprung up castigating George Bush, the United States, Israel, Great Britain: in short any country who doesn't govern by committee, for the grave sin of "unilateralism".

The United Nations has a great track record for padding the pockets of its officials, naming Israel and the United States as a "problem" or "racist" and other amusing sideshow antics.

Its list of accomplishments of actually doing anything about serious problems is much shorter.

Now, there are some calls to let the United Nations police the Internet.

As commercials for risky investments proclaim, "Past performance is no guarantee of future success".

Calls for UN action are shorthand. Substitute the words, "Let George do it" and the results would be the same: nothing.

That anyone should "police" or "take charge" of the Internet is troubling--except to the nanny types who are troubled by nothing except smoking in bars, fatty foods and non-Politically Correct speech. That the United Nations do it is--well, we'll let the reader supply their own reaction.

With that in mind, the following five quotes may be enlightening. Remember them the next time someone gets in front of the cameras with a call for the U.N. to take action on anything, from Iraq to Iran's nuclear ambitions to policing the Internet.

"If I'm president, I will not only personally go to the UN, I will go to other capitals. . . . I will immediately reach out to other nations in a very different way from this administration. Within weeks of being inaugurated, I will return to the UN and I will literally, formally rejoin the community of nations and turn over a proud new chapter in America's relationship with the world."
--John Kerry, NBC's Meet the Press

"Should governance of the Internet be turned over to the United Nations? It seems far-fetched, but that’s exactly what some foreign governments – including China and the European Union – are advocating."

Three women peace activists interrupted today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on John Bolton’s nomination as US Ambassador to the UN. They held up banners reading “NO Bolton, YES UN,” “Bolton = Nuclear Proliferation,” and “Diplomat, Not Bully, Please!” and urged Senators to reject Bolton as the worst possible choice for the job and for world peace.

"When everybody is responsible, nobody is"
--Arthur Rubenstein, among many

"Virtuous motives, trammelled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness. A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war. The cheers of weak, well-meaning assemblies soon cease to echo, and their votes soon cease to count. Doom marches on."
--Winston Churchill, writing in The Gathering Storm, of events in 1935. European powers, instead of acting against treaty violations and--in spite of bald declarations by Hitler and Mussolini on what they intended to do--kept insisting no one country but the League of Nations take action.

"Let George do it."

"Let the U.N. take action."

Both entities are fictitious.

In other words: let nobody do it.

by Mondoreb
[image:un]
Source: The Gathering Storm, Winston S. Churhill, p. 190
Let the U.N. Govern the Internet?
Kerry's UN Fetish



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Romney's Call to Withdraw: UN Human Right Council A Drag

[graphic:RidesAPaleHorse]
Paul Calls For Complete Withdrawal

Mondoreb & Little Baby Ginn


Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last week called for withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council, ending any financial support for the organization and setting up a new organization of democracies. Has the UN become a drag to all ideas except those favored by progressives?

From Yahoo News:

Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney called the United Nations a failure on Thursday and said he would support a new coalition of the free nations of the world.

"The United Nations has been an extraordinary failure of late," Romney said in response to a question at a pancake house along the coast of early voting South Carolina. "We should withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council."

Actually, the United States doesn't have a seat on the human rights council, which it has been boycotting.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom later clarified the remarks.

"The governor believes we ought to withdraw completely from the U.N. Human Rights Council, and that means ending our financial support in addition to not seeking a seat on the council," Fehrnstrom said. "We should not legitimize the council, either with financial or diplomatic support."

Could this be the first step to withdrawal altogether from the United Nations? Another Republican candidate has called for complete withdrawal from the UN, an idea which would have been unthinkable just 25 years ago, but which seems to have gained some popularity among Americans.

Is the UN just another bloated unworkable bureaucracy or is it a fundamental cornerstone of international cooperation? Another candidate has moved toward the first view it seems.

Back to Front Page.

Russian Diplomat at UN Sentenced to Four Years For Normal UN Behavior

[graphic: Screw the U.N.]

by Mondoreb

Someone got caught with a hand in the cookie jar that was the United Nations' Oil-For-Food program. Seems that all the news about that misbegotten scam is about bribes and U.N. diplomats pocketing cash that should have went for Iraqi food and medicine.

From Screw the U.N.:
Oil for Food and a bribing mood.
A Russian diplomat who once chaired a U.N. budget committee was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison for helping launder more than $300,000 in bribes and taking a share of the money.

Original story from Reuters.

The Russian diplomat can thank his lucky stars that he only ran afoul of a U.S. court and judge. One wonders what would have happened to him had he ripped Vladamir Putin.



Back to Front Page.

Move the United Nations HQ From NYC?

[graphic: RidesAPaleHorse]
The United Nations Caravan to Nowhere

by Mondoreb

Recent actions by the United State have led to criticism in the halls of the United Nations. What actions? Pick an action, any action and you'll have your answer.

It's not reached Israeli proportions yet, where the mere existence of your country is cause for condemnation. But it's been loud. Since this is a phenomenon that has been increasingly going on for the almost 30 years, it might not be noticed. We decided to take a look at it and possible reasons.

The Arab World condemnation.
The U.S. supports Israel's right to exist. Enough said.

The Democrat/DailyKOS/Iranian/Marxist condemnation.
Since American foreign policy differs from the aforementioned quartet, they're going to squawk: sometimes in unison. Sometimes you can't tell who's doing the squawking. Syria? TheDailyKOS?Better have a scorecard handy.

The EuroWeenies. Don't share the Europeans' opinion? Again, Americans are going to hear about it. Instead of howling, a condescending sneer is the preferred reply. Americans don't have socialized health care, execute criminals and own guns: what barbarians! A favorite slur is to label Americans "cowboys". When EuroMidgets utter this, they turn and smile, thinking they've scored a great point. This makes some Americans head to TVLand to watch Gunsmoke re-runs.

So, next time you hear the screams of indignation and indigestion coming from the U.N. just remember the point RAPH makes in his graphic at the top of this story. If you suggested moving UN Headquarters out of NYC, then you'd really hear some bitching.



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