Written by: Beck

Cartoon by Cox & Forkum

I gave up on the Kofi Annan Resignation Watch series as it became more and more obvious that, despite calls from the likes of Senator Norm Coleman and the Move America Forward folks, Annan wasn't going anywhere unless the Volcker report turned up a picture of Kofi giving Saddam Hussein a hummer.

Try not to think about it.

Now, however, things are starting to look interesting again. Pressure on Annan has become severe enough that he felt the need to announce that, "Hell no!" he would not resign. Such over the top boldness rarely serves as a good sign for a political player's future longevity.

Criticism continues to mount (and Norm Coleman has renewed his calls for Annan's resignation). Ever on the defensive, Annan engaged in the rare stunt of calling a public meeting of his staff to deliver a pep rally and try to sell the notion that reform can take place at the UN without a radical change in leadership.

Aides say the embattled UN chief will deliver a "pep talk" in an attempt to buoy the spirits of UN personnel after a series of scandals, including last week's oil-for-food report criticizing Mr. Annan and his son, Kojo.

He is expected to tout his recently released reform agenda, In Larger Freedom, which calls for institutional changes to revive the organisation.

Mr Annan, the first UN chief to rise up through the ranks, will find many staff angry and demoralised at what they see as the humiliation of the institution.

One mid-level official said he wanted an apology from Mr. Annan, but did not dare ask.

"I worked with five different secretaries-general. Usually there are ebbs and flows, but this is a very low ebb. It's the lowest ebb," said Samir Sanbar, a retired assistant secretary-general who now writes a weblog for UN staff

Things could be even worse than that, though. While the Volcker report was quite careful to point out that no conclusive evidence could be found demonstrating that Annan was aware of the Oil-for-Food malfeasance going on right under his nose during virtually his entire time as Secretary General, Annan still evidently feels the need to hire a criminal defense attorney. The very same attorney who defended Bill Clinton during his Senate impeachment trial.

But that's not the final nail in Annan's coffin. Despite all this, I think he might still have managed to hang on but for one small misstep. What was Annan's fatal mistake, you ask? Simple: he actually made an intelligent proposal for reforming the UN Human Rights Commission.

You see, the Human Rights Commission is one of the biggest, most laughable ongoing embarrassment at the United Nations. Its membership reads like a who's-who of dictators and kleptocrats--in other words, the worst human rights offenders of them all. The United States, incidentally, was voted off of the HRC several years back.

Annan recognizes that this glaring conflict of interest causes huge credibility problems for the United Nations and seeks to reform the institution. And that's why he's doomed.

You see, so long as Annan retained the iron-clad support of a majority of the countries represented at the United Nations, he could hold on to his job and proudly defy those presumptuous American windbags calling for him to step down. He depends, in short, on the worst of the world's leaders. But those world leaders depend on the UN's continued blind-eye towards their corruption and abuse of their own people.

Annan, by upsetting the tacit protection racket such nations as China, Cuba, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Russia, and Saudi Arabia enjoy under the auspices of the United Nations, has violated the unwritten Dictator's Code of Conduct: no finger pointing, unless it's at the United States or Israel. All that has to happen for Annan's job security to go from "rock solid" to "will the defendant please rise" is for China and/or Russia to quietly cease working their asses off behind the scenes in support of the failed Secretary General.

Time's up Kofi.

(Hat tip: QandO, Instapundit)

(Cross posted to the Blogger News Network)