Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy - Couverture rigide

Soussan, Michael

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1568583974 ISBN 13 : 9781568583976

Editeur : Nation Books, 2008

Synopsis

From the corridors of the UN to the palaces of Baghdad, an unprecedented, first person coming of age account of the oil for food scandal that rocked the UN. Michael Soussan was a young, idealistic diplomat when he landed his dream job as a Program Coordinator at the UN's Oil for Food Program, the largest humanitarian operation in the organization's history. His mission would be to provide relief to Iraq's civilian population, struggling to survive in a country under economic sanctions. But Soussan soon realised that all was not as it seemed as he struggled to work within the UN's Byzantine organizational structure and the programme's schizophrenic mandate. His boss was both paranoid and incomprehensible, his colleague was widely assumed to be a spy, and the international community treated the humanitarian program like a petty cash box.From this unique vantage point, Soussan became the first insider to call for an independent investigation of the United Nations' dealings with Saddam Hussein via a "Wall Street Journal" editorial. This led to the appointment of the Volker Commission by Kofi Annan, and a resulting investigation rocked the United Nations to its very foundations and led to multiple prosecutions in numerous countries, some of which are still ongoing. As Soussan writes, 'the story is bigger than the scandal. For ultimately, what made this episode in recent history possible, was not so much the lies we told each other, but the lies we told ourselves. If all of us cared about the people of Iraq as much as we professed, then this story can only be described as a conspiracy of saints'. "Backstabbing for Beginners" is an insider's view of a corruptible international system and a stinging indictment of the countries and individuals who exploited the misfortune of the people of Iraq.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The year is 1997, Michael Soussan, a fresh-faced young graduate takes up a new job at the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food Program, the largest humanitarian operation in the organization's history. His mission is to help Iraqi civilians survive the devastating impact of economic sanctions that were imposed following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

As a gaffe-prone novice in a world of sensitive taboos, Soussan struggles to negotiate the increasing paranoia of his incomprehensible boss and the inner workings of one of the world's notoriously complex bureaucracies. But as he learns more about the vast sums of money flowing through the program, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems. Soussan becomes aware that Saddam Hussein is extracting illegal kickbacks, a discovery that sets him on a collision course with the organization s leadership. On March 8, 2004, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed editorial, Soussan becomes the first insider to call for an independent investigation” of the U.N.'s dealings with Saddam Hussein. One week later, a humiliated Kofi Annan appointed Paul Volcker to lead a team of sixty international investigators, whose findings resulted in hundreds of prosecutions in multiple countries, many of which are still ongoing.

Backstabbing for Beginners is at once a witty tale of one man's political coming of age, and a stinging indictment of the hypocrisy that prevailed at the heart of one of the world's most idealistic institutions.

Biographie de l'auteur

Michael Soussan has written for numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, and the International Herald Tribune. He currently teaches at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and lives in New York City.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Nation Books
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1568583974
• ISBN 13: 9781568583976
• Reliure: Relié
• Langue: anglais
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 352