Ban Ki-Moon: He’s Already Screwing Up the U.N.!
If it’s still possible, that is. Add corruption to the list of U.N.’s fatal flaws and despotic tendencies, of which Ban Ki Moon is already an accomplished practitioner.
The Times said Friday the Korean government “has pledged millions of dollars in aid and offered other incentives to members of the United Nations Security Council to secure its candidate as the next UN secretary-general. Under the sardonic headline, “Millions of dollars and a piano may put Korean in UN’s top job” and the subtitle “Aid campaign is crucial in race to succeed Kofi Annan,” the day’s top story in the paper’s online edition broadly hints that the Korean government may be using means other than Ban’s impeccable credentials to ensure he gets the job.
Well! I am shocked, shocked to see such behavior at the United Nations, especially from a protege of Korea’s most distinguished Nobel Laureate.
As examples of “aid diplomacy,” the newspaper cites Korea’s tripling of its aid budget for African countries to US$100 million in February, the tens of thousands of pounds it contributed to sponsoring this year’s African Union summit in the Gambia in July, and its donation of $180 million for an education program in Tanzania, a temporary member of the UN Security Council.
The Foreign Ministry denied the two issues are linked.
Whatever you say.