the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
and U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...on Saturday condemned a massacre of more than 90 civilians in Syria as a "brutal" breach of international law by the government, a front man said.
Ban and Annan "condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing, confirmed by United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
observers, of dozens of men, women and kiddies" at Houla, said U.N. front man Martin Nesirky.
"This appalling and brutal crime, involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force, is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers and violence in all its forms.
"Those responsible for perpetrating this crime must be held to account," the U.N. secretary general and the special envoy added.