05-31-2008, 06:33 AM
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Commentator
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Republik of Kalifornia
Age: 50
Posts: 1,637
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Quote:
Scandal Rocks U.N. Sea Treaty Organization
Special Report | By Cliff Kincaid | October 16, 2007
We were tipped off by a confidential U.N. source to the sensational case of Nithi Sam-Thambiah.
The dramatic case, Sam-Thambiah against the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, involves allegations of sexual harassment and pornography. One side charges “distortions and fabrications.” The other side alleges “mismanagement and irregularities.” What makes this case unique is that it involves the shadowy world of a U.N.-affiliated agency that the U.S. Senate is poised to provide with millions of dollars through ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In addition to the explosive corruption case, taken before a United Nations Administrative Tribunal for adjudication, a confidential source in the United Nations has come forward to allege that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is known for having management problems and that it suffers from a lack of administrative and ethical oversight.
What’s more, a review of the public record demonstrates that many countries belonging to UNCLOS don’t pay their dues or even show up at meetings of the ISA. The notes of one meeting suggest that U.S. ratification of the treaty and membership in the treaty organization could produce more funds to pay more countries to attend.
In effect, Senate ratification of UNCLOS could serve as a financial bailout of a failing and dysfunctional U.N. bureaucracy.
Revelations about scandalous and incompetent behavior at the ISA could not come at a worse time for supporters of UNCLOS. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has held two recent hearings on UNCLOS (with witnesses stacked 9-2 in favor of ratification). The State Department, which has been holding strategy sessions to facilitate ratification, had been hoping that a committee and full Senate vote were only days or weeks away. But the committee has not examined in even a cursory manner the actual operations of the ISA.
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It appears the WorldNet article came out before the story broke on the scandal. I checked the Senate Vote Database and to date, it never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.
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Barack Obama's Executive Flop
If Obama couldn't lead such a small organization as the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to success, how can any one bellieve he can lead this country to it?
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