New Canadian sanctions fall short in Lebanon
If Minister Joly is serious about opposing corruption in Lebanon, there's more Ottawa can do
Liechtenstein
New U.S., UK, Canadian Sanctions Target Former Lebanese Central Bank Governor
The United States, in coordination with the United Kingdom and Canada, imposed sanctions today on former Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and three of his associates. Washington once considered...
Policy Briefs
Top U.S. Lawmakers Want Action Against Lebanon’s Corrupt Central Bank Chief
The chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a letter on Tuesday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on the administration to “support independent, international...
Policy Briefs
German bank holds account for soon-to-be-sanctioned Iran Air
Iran Air has been accused of aiding Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in his war against Syrian opposition groups.
Op-eds
How U.S. Allies Undermine NATO
The U.S. spends heavily to defend Europe, yet most North Atlantic Treaty Organization members don’t spend 2% of their GDP on defense, as the alliance’s guidelines call for. Worse, man...
Op-eds
Snap-Back: A Journey Through Iranian Sanctions Evasion in Georgia
Two Iranian truck drivers sat idly in the parking area of the Poti Free Industrial Zone(FIZ), waiting for customs authoriti...
Op-eds
In Latest Sanctions, U.S. Again Targets Iranians Holding Caribbean Passports
For the fourth time this year, U.S. officials blacklisted an Iranian national using a Caribbean passport while purportedly helping Iran circumvent sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Depa...
Op-eds
UN Oil-for-Food Program
Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Committtee, I thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. Speaking as a journalist, I would like to tell you that when I fir...
Congressional Testimonies
Call it UN-BRIBE
So, while the U.S. Treasury is trying to tighten sanctions on Burma’s thug government, the United Nations has been busy funneling millions of dollars to the Burmese regime — thanks to...
Op-eds
Plunder Down Under
At United Nations headquarters, Secretary General Kofi Annan likes to imply that the Oil-for-Food era is over (“If there was a scandal” was his locution earlier this year). But Down U...
Op-eds
UN Headquarters Renovation: No Accountability Without Transparency
Download full testimony here...
Congressional Testimonies
Creating Palestine
Speaking at the White House during his recent visit to Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert renewed his call for negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the w...
Op-eds
Don’t Shred on Me
Paul Volcker's findings on Oil for Food have been widely received as the final word on the United Nations relief program for Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Far from it--as Mr. Volcker himself h...
Op-eds
Business as Usual
Few outside U.N. circles have heard of IHC Services, a private company that for years was one of hundreds of firms selling goods and services to the U.N. As a rule, the U.N. keeps secret most det...
Op-eds
U.N. Procurement Scandal: Ties to Saddam and Al Qaeda
Co-authored by: George Russell. The scandal engulfing the United Nations Procurement Department (search) now appears to be bottomless. It also shows signs of growing more sinist...
Op-eds
Frenchmen Fried?
France discovers the Oil-for-Food scandal.
Op-eds
Benon Sevan’s Finest Hour
Late in the day, former Oil-for-Food chief demands the U.N. open its books.
Op-eds
U.N. Family Ties: Is There a Replay of the Kofi and Kojo Annan Scandal?
Co-authored by: George Russell. Oil-for-Food is the biggest scandal ever to hit the United Nations, but it is just one of many scandals erupting at the world body – all sy...
Op-eds
An Oil-for-Food Connection?
If, as the 9/11 Commission concludes, our "failure of imagination" left America open to the attacks of September 11, then surely some imagination is called for in tackling one of the riddles that...
Op-eds
Drip, Drip, Drip; More Oil for Food Details Leak Out. When will the U.N. Come Clean?
Kofigate continues. Another stack of secret United Nations Oil for Food do***ents has now reached the press, this batch procured by congressional sources and providing--at long last--a better vie...