Kofi....... and I don't mean coffee.

The intrepid, or should I day corrupt, leader of the UN, Kofi Annan, ended his decade long "Generalship" of the UN this week. Finally releasing the reigns that he held onto, to use an expression from "Seinfeld", like grim death.

Here is the "official" priorities list of Kofi Annan taken from the UN web site. I will leave it to you to stop your own laughing when you think about his tenure and whether he accomplished any of these.

Remember too, that before serving as Secretary - General, Kofi was the controller. So rarely has anyone been more familiar with how to reform, or in his case, abuse, the finances of the UN.

[COLOR royalblue]"Mr. Annan's priorities as Secretary-General have been to revitalize the United Nations through a comprehensive programme of reform; to strengthen the Organization's traditional work in the areas of development and the maintenance of international peace and security; to encourage and advocate human rights, the rule of law and the universal values of equality, tolerance and human dignity found in the United Nations Charter; and to restore public confidence in the Organization by reaching out to new partners and, in his words, by "bringing the United Nations closer to the people".[/COLOR]


No less a luminary than Paul Volker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, hired specifically to exonerate Kofi, in the oil for food scandal, wrote in his report that Annan, and the UN he led, were riddled with corruption, bribery, no show jobs, misallocation of funds, etc.

For a government, these types of charges are de riguer. But the reason Americans are so offended by all that the UN is simple. Most of the diplomats who attend the UN, come to our country, and specifically NY. They use, or rather abuse, our generosity and good nature. btw, for those of you out there who don't know Manhattan, the UN consulates, and the diplomatic residences are, universally, located only in the areas of multi-million dollar opulence, museum mile, upper east side, etc. THey also have free reign in the city, avoiding the issues we all deal with daily, like traffic, parking, the subway, etc.

So these diplomats come to the US, rarely go home, unless summoned, frequently to be removed because of the most recent coup, or assassination, and then proceed to steal our money all the while condemning us.

That's right, the UN, like much of the worlds agencies, is principally funded by the United States. The former Soviet Union, for example, failed to pay their UN dues for decades.

Kofi Annan represented everything that is wrong with the UN today. Ultimately someone more worried about not offending, to keep the graft coming his way, than doing good. Creating undue influence on the world stage for the smaller, and frequently, abusive regimes and nations of the world.

I am an absolute believer in the "process". The Wilsonian vision of the worlds nations talking, not fighting. However, serious questions abound when a n organization can create a Human Rights Comission, and have it chaired by Libya.

Or allowing Yasser Arafat to speak to the body with a gun on his hip.

Inviting Ahmadinejad to speak, insulting this country while selling ICBM technology to every terrorist organization in the world and RACING to nuclear weapons capability.

Or, after the revelation that his top aide spent the decade of the oil for food program doing nothing more than lining his pocket, claim to take action, how? Not by firing him, but allowing him to take his already scheduled retirement. Move to the UN offices in Geneva, where he will continue to be enriched by his overstuffed UN pension, and work for the agency.

So, in his exit speech does he say anything about Darfur, where he has been absolutely DISGUSTING in his failure to even admit the tragedy, Chad, the death of Pinochet, of even voice concern over the Holocaust denial conference going on in Tehran.

No, instead, he chooses to criticize the US. The country that paid his salary for the last 10 years.

Well, shame on us. We cold have removed him when the Volcker report came out.

Worse, shame on the Democrats for blocking John Bolton's permanent appointment as our representative there. Someone with a genuine interest in fixing what is wrong.

SO, Kofi is gone. His reign - and I mean reign, since he lorded around as if he were the king - ends and all I can think is

GOOD RIDDANCE!!!