...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called Thursday for a rapid appointment by the U.N. and the 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...
of a successor to 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...after he quit as Syria peace envoy.
Expressing her "deep regret" in a statement, the English baroness said the EU "calls for the early appointment of a successor to carry on Mr. Annan's work towards a peaceful political transition in Syria."
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan said on Thursday he was stepping down, complaining that his April peace plan did not receive support and bemoaning the lack of consensus on the U.N. Security Council.
China and Russia last month vetoed a resolution that would have threatened sanctions against Syria targeting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Horror of Homs...
if Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
failed to act on Annan's battered blueprint.