Michael Soussan (1)
Autor(a) de Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy
Para outros autores com o nome Michael Soussan, ver a página de desambiguação.
About the Author
Michael Soussan is a journalist and screenwriter whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Watt Street Journal, CNN, Time, NPR, BBC, and a range of international media. He has worked at CNN, the UN, and K Street in Washington, DC. A native of Denmark, he Lives in Los Angeles.
Obras por Michael Soussan
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Críticas
Very P G Wodehouseesque. The author can be termed opportunistic to have delivered this tragi-comedy out of something that would be prevelent only in a country like Nigeria. What this work brings out is the staggering levels of corruption, incompetence and dysfunction in this global body in what can be termed as the world's largest pork barrel project.
Very P G Wodehouseesque. The author can be termed opportunistic to have delivered this tragi-comedy out of something that would be prevelent only in a country like Nigeria. What this work brings out is the staggering levels of corruption, incompetence and dysfunction in this global body in what can be termed as the world's largest pork barrel project.
Starting out his tenure at the United Nations, Soussan was an optimistic young man who wanted to make the world a better place. He was on the team that got the Oil-for-Food program up and running, attempting to help Iraqi civilians who were detrimentally impacted by economic sanctions imposed in the country. This was the largest program under the UN Secretariat, with billions of dollars having to be accounted for. The program was rife with the potential for corruption.
The idea was for Iraq to sell oil under the administration of the UN. That money would then be used to provide food, medicine, and other items to relieve the suffering of Iraqi civilians. What happened instead was the money was being laundered and used for bribes by Saddam Hussein to buy political support among other things. And he wasn’t the only one profiting. Heads of state of many nations, including France, Russia, China, and Germany, benefitted through direct profits or indirectly by keeping Saddam in power.
How could such vast corruption and political maneuvering occur? First, Saddam was a master at dividing his enemies and pitting nations against each other. This allowed many of the corrupt practices to go unnoticed while people were busy bickering with each other. Second, the United Nations was dysfunctional to say the least. Political in-fighting and paranoia ran deep, and that is where the title of the book comes in. No one trusted anyone else.
Soussan finally decided to quit the UN after realizing that his dreams of making the world better were not going to happen within the debilitating walls of the United Nations. After years of the Oil-for-Food program draining money from the Iraqi people instead of benefitting the civilians and after another war in that country was being waged, an independent Iraqi newspaper published a list of Saddam’s bribe-takers. While Soussan had previously called for an investigation into the program, he had no idea that his former boss, Pasha, was on that list.
Paul Volker was charged with the investigation that would out numerous corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, and businessmen all over the world. Soussan would be called on to testify regarding what he knew. In retrospect, he should have questioned Pasha’s meetings in which notes were not to be taken, but he was full of naivety and idealism.
Soussan’s story is fascinating and dumbfounding. That this level of corruption exists is not surprising, but I suppose my idealism shows in my surprise that it runs so deeply. The UN regrouped after this episode, and hopefully they are a more upstanding organization than during this period.… (mais)
The idea was for Iraq to sell oil under the administration of the UN. That money would then be used to provide food, medicine, and other items to relieve the suffering of Iraqi civilians. What happened instead was the money was being laundered and used for bribes by Saddam Hussein to buy political support among other things. And he wasn’t the only one profiting. Heads of state of many nations, including France, Russia, China, and Germany, benefitted through direct profits or indirectly by keeping Saddam in power.
How could such vast corruption and political maneuvering occur? First, Saddam was a master at dividing his enemies and pitting nations against each other. This allowed many of the corrupt practices to go unnoticed while people were busy bickering with each other. Second, the United Nations was dysfunctional to say the least. Political in-fighting and paranoia ran deep, and that is where the title of the book comes in. No one trusted anyone else.
Soussan finally decided to quit the UN after realizing that his dreams of making the world better were not going to happen within the debilitating walls of the United Nations. After years of the Oil-for-Food program draining money from the Iraqi people instead of benefitting the civilians and after another war in that country was being waged, an independent Iraqi newspaper published a list of Saddam’s bribe-takers. While Soussan had previously called for an investigation into the program, he had no idea that his former boss, Pasha, was on that list.
Paul Volker was charged with the investigation that would out numerous corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, and businessmen all over the world. Soussan would be called on to testify regarding what he knew. In retrospect, he should have questioned Pasha’s meetings in which notes were not to be taken, but he was full of naivety and idealism.
Soussan’s story is fascinating and dumbfounding. That this level of corruption exists is not surprising, but I suppose my idealism shows in my surprise that it runs so deeply. The UN regrouped after this episode, and hopefully they are a more upstanding organization than during this period.… (mais)
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 1
- Membros
- 68
- Popularidade
- #253,411
- Avaliação
- 3.9
- Críticas
- 6
- ISBN
- 17
- Línguas
- 3
Michael Soussan er født i Danmark, men uddannet fra Brown University i USA og Sciences-Po i Paris. Han blev ansat som programkoordinator for "Olie for mad"-programmet og bogen her er en beretning om korruption og bedrageri for millarder af dollars. Irak efter den anden Irak-krig var ikke et godt sted. Paul Volker bliver sat til at lave en undersøgelse som blandt andet komme efter Soussans chef, Benon Sevan, her omtalt som Pasha. Denne havner dog ikke i spjældet og det har Soussan det egentligt fint med for han var ikke mere skyldig end så mange andre, der slet ikke kom i søgelyset.
Food for Oil solgte ialt for ca 74 milliarder dollars olie, hvilket i slutningen af 1990'erne var en hel del penge. Michael Soussan blev valgt til at være med i toppen af det, fordi han var helt grøn (24 år gammel) og helt naiv.
Bogen er ikke ret god til at give baggrundsinformation, fx om irakkrigene, selv om den foregår imellem de to krige, men der er masser af bemærkninger om ting, der kom frem efter den anden irakkrig. Index er sikkert maskingenereret, så man kan nemt finde sytten stder, hvor der står irakkrig, bare ikke nemt se, hvor det er helt ligegyldigt.… (mais)