The International Money Laundry - the UN

In an interesting article in Commentary Claudia Rossett tries to make an estimate of the extent of corruption in the UN. This is a tough task if for no other reason because under Kofi Annan (should be actually Anon based on his willingness to come clean) accountability is hampered by interfund transfers and other sorts of cover-ups that should be unacceptable.

The oil for food boondoggle, audited by Paul Volker, seems to have diverted something in the range of $12+ billion. The Secretary General's office received more than $1.4 billion to run the program over its seven year existence.

Among the expenditures of the Secretary General are $85 million in PR for the UN - that is the audited total although it probably includes even more dough. They also seem to generate about $100 million + in lobbying expenditures to help advance the cause of the UN in US public policy. So we get criticized for our "stinginess" and at the same time get rolled in Congress for more dough.

The Financial Times estimated that for tsunami relief in Asia that the overhead of the UN for their pitiful efforts was three times that of private entities.

Her conclusion sounds about right. " All the more reason, then, to force ourselves at long last to take what the institution has in fact become, put aside the lengthy and futile quest for its reform and begin to think more concretely about how, with or without, we can best work to advance the interests and values of ourselves and other members of the civilized world."