For sale: One U.N. Spokesman named Kofi Annan. Well, I just learned about something that happened two weeks ago. I am still doing some research (for a story), but here's the main info. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan received an "environmental" award from Dubai earlier this month. This is not the news. What is news is the fact that this award came with a $500,000 "prize". Kofi Annan gladly accepted it and conveniently forgot to mention the "prize" when he announced the "award" to the press. Recently, he enacted policy that requires staff to report gifts of $250 or more. However, the Secretary-General is expect from U.N. staff rules, because it is assumed that the Secretary-General is an exemplary civil servant. I think someone might want to change this.
I wonder what other "awards" and "prizes" he will be winning. There's 191 states in the UN and many much larger economically than Dubai. I can't wait to see Annan win a humanitarian "award" from China that has a 10 million dollar "prize" associated with it.