Closet Case
The U.N.'s Worldwide Inventory Problem
Vladimir Kuznetsov
Dollars for Durban II
Back to the U.N.
Op-eds
The Deepening Mysteries of U.N. Financial Disclosure
When the new U.S. Congress convenes in January, there may be revived interest in oversight of a runaway United Nations. The U.N. system is fueled by billions every year in U.S. tax dollars, but h...
Op-eds
Can the U.N’s Global Compact Initiative Teach Good Corporate Behavior?
Can the United Nations teach good corporate behavior? That’s the mission of a fast-growing UN initiative called the Global Compact – run out of the Secretary-General’s executive...
Op-eds
Global Air Carrier Suspended in U.N. Procurement Investigation
Co-Authored with George Russell The grinding investigation of scandal in the United Nations’ multi-billion-dollar procurement department — an inquiry that has gone o...
Op-eds
Will the U.N. Development Program Probe Be Ban Ki-Moon’s First Cover-Up?
For just one day last week, it looked like Ban, in the first real test of his self-proclaimed mission to “restore trust” at the U.N., had risen above the bureaucratic evasions of his...
Op-eds
How Corrupt is the United Nations?
Recent years have brought a cascade of scandals at the United Nations, of which the wholesale corruption of the Oil-for-Food relief program in Iraq has been only the most visible. We still do not...
Op-eds
New U.N. Scheme: Alliance of Civilizations
Co-authored by: George Russell NEW YORK — After the epic disaster of Oil for Food, one might imagine the United Nations would tread carefully before launching any ne...
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
U.N. Procurement Scandal: Secret Information Was Leaked to a Bidder
Co-authored by: George Russell. On the morning of Nov. 6, 2003, an e-mail sped between two business executives at two private firms, bearing an important tip-off about an impend...
Op-eds
Procurement Scandal: New Conflict of Interest in Annan’s Inner Circle?
Co-authored by: George Russell. United Nations investigators scrambling to discover the extent of a bribery scandal spreading out from the organization’s procurement depar...
Op-eds
The U.N.’s Spreading Bribery Scandal: Russian Ties and Global Reach
Co-authored by: George Russell. NEW YORK — How widespread is the corruption at the United Nations? The multibillion-dollar Iraq Oil-for-Food (search) scandal was jus...