EuroNews Part 4

Kosovo news

UN News and others

Investigators of the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq said yesterday there wasn't enough evidence to show that Secretary General Kofi Annan knew of a contract bid by his son's Swiss employer. However, they criticized the UN chief for not properly investigating possible conflicts of interest in the matter.

Annan cleared... and you can believe as much of that as you want.

Crude futures gained only slightly on Wednesday, staying above $54 a barrel after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it has suspended talks on a second output increase.

If I didn't know better, I would think they are trying to squeeze us for money. Of course, I do know better, they are squeezing us because of fear of reform and free market forces that would break Opec's monopoly if Iraq started selling oil cheaper.

The UN has run Kosovo since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave human rights abuses in the fighting between Serbs and Albanians. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo outnumber other ethnic groups, mainly Serbs, by about 9 to 1.

The Iraqi people and American foreign policy dodged a terminal blow when the UN pulled out of Baghdad. I guess we can thank the terroists for doing that, if nothing else. When push comes to shove, the UN turns tail, but it is also when the US shines the most.

He either fears his fate too much
Or his deserts are small
Who dares not put it to the touch
To win or lose it all.

We should all remember that, lest we give the UN any legitimacy in Iraq. I always suspected Bush's appeasement of the UN and world international affairs on the advice of Tony Blair and Colin Powell were a dangerous and misguided policy.

EuroNews Part 1
EuroNews Part 2
EuroNews Part 3