In an interview with public tv channel ARD's news programme tagesschau, former German UN ambassador Gunter Pleuger offers an enthusiastic evaluation of Kofi Annan:
"...a man of hugh integrity...great charisma...he took great interest in Germany...no other country he visited more often...great respect for him in (German) politics and in academia...
(Pleuger is a long-time fan of Kofi, as we have reported before.)
In other news:
Mystery Surfaces Over Apartment of Kofi Annan
As Secretary-General Annan prepares to leave his post at the United Nations, a mystery is surfacing surrounding his apartment on Roosevelt Island, subsidized by New York taxpayers, which is still in use by the family of his brother, Kobina Annan.
The apartment was where Mr. Annan and his wife lived before 1997, when he became secretary-general. The Roosevelt Island home is part of an estate of low-rent state-regulated housing. For years, the Annans saved considerable sums by occupying an apartment meant to help financially strapped low- to moderate-income New York families.
One question Mr. Annan has never addressed is why he and his wife felt comfortable availing themselves of this generous arrangement. Another is how it is that, since Mr. Annan and his wife left that Roosevelt Island apartment 10 years ago to move into the rent-free residence on Sutton Place supplied to the secretary-general, their former low-rent apartment was handed over to be occupied by the family of Mr. Annan's brother.
...the current effective taxpayer subsidy for the Annan apartment could, by a conservative estimate, amount to upward of $10,000 a year, or even as much as twice that, which, over a decade, adds up to a significant sum.
(BTW, Mr. Annan's brother Kobina is Ghana's ambassador to Marocco. Also, he seems to have a knack for making money, as this report on his involvement in the oil-for-food scheme shows.)
For some strange reason, I cannot find any mention of this smart rent saving scheme of Kofi in the German media...
They are probably still busy translating the piece.
Yes, I believe that's the case.
Says a lot about the nature of German character...
Posted by: joe | December 19, 2006 at 09:25 PM
Forget Pleuger. Fortunately, he isn't our UN ambassador anymore. What's more important is that still many Germans don't understand the true nature of what has become of the UN: A once good and noble idea that has transformed into a corrupt and morally bancrupt organisation.
Posted by: Mir | December 19, 2006 at 10:12 PM
One question Mr. Annan has never addressed is why he and his wife felt comfortable availing themselves of this generous arrangement.
And a very good question it is. His wife is a member of one of Sweden's most prominent families, the Wallenbergs. IIRC, she's a neice of Raoul Wallenberg.
Posted by: Pamela | December 20, 2006 at 04:16 PM
Corruption appears to be endemic in the Annan family. We all know his son is also corrupt.
Posted by: LouMinatti | December 20, 2006 at 07:22 PM
@joe
Says a lot about the nature of German character...
Oh, bullpuckey.
Kofi Annan served as Secretary General during ten of the most difficult, complicated, and dangerous years of the U.N.’s history. He did it with grace, humor, determination, and always doing what he felt was in the best interest of mankind.
Ladies and gentleman, one of the world’s preeminent statesmen, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.
Chuck Hagel
Posted by: Pamela | December 20, 2006 at 07:39 PM
"Kofi Annan served as Secretary General during ten of the most difficult, complicated, and dangerous years of the U.N.’s history, not counting those periods during the Cold War, the Korean War, the Iran-Iraq War, the Soviet invasion of Eastern Europe, the Berlin Blockade, the Suez Crisis, the French-Algerian War, Vietnam, Biafra and Cambodia. He did it with grace, humor, determination, and always kept a steady eye on the secret Swiss bank accounts under his, Kojo's and Kobina's names."
Just wanted the paragraph to be accurate.
Posted by: LouMinatti | December 20, 2006 at 07:59 PM
Lou!
ROTFLMAO!!
Posted by: Pamela | December 20, 2006 at 08:34 PM
"Kofi Annan served as Secretary General"
Lou, is that the reason they were the ten most difficult, complicated, and dangerous years of the UN's history?
Posted by: Mike H. | December 21, 2006 at 12:48 AM
Pamela,
Says more about Hagel but then most of us know about him, the darling of M$M.
Posted by: joe | December 21, 2006 at 05:09 PM
Pamela, whose comments I highly admire, is on spot when responding to Joe:
bullpuckey.
These news have been reported in the NY Sun and the NY Daily News. No other news channel I found reports on this, nowhere. Is everybody busy translating this?
Posted by: german observer | December 22, 2006 at 07:50 PM