The UN Gang: A Memoir of Incompetence, Corruption, Espionage, Anti-Semitism and Islamic Extremism at the UN Secretariat

by Pedro Sanjuan

On the day Pedro Sanjuan moved into his new office at the UN Secretariat in 1984, he had the foresight to unscrew his telephone receiver. Out fell a little packet of high-grade cocaine. When he confronted the undersecretary to the chief Soviet diplomat—really a KGB colonel and the top Russian spy—the agent laughed good-naturedly and congratulated him on passing the test.

That was the beginning of Sanjuan’s long, peculiar odyssey into the looking-glass world of the United Nations Secretariat.

Pedro Sanjuan had been appointed by then–Vice President George H. W. Bush to a high-ranking UN post. His real to keep an eye on Soviet espionage activities. Over the years, the Russians had managed to install nearly four hundred KGB and GRU agents in strategic positions throughout the Secretariat, and had turned it into a massive spy facility, operating openly and with absolute impunity on American soil.

But this, it turned out, was the least of the problem. Sanjuan soon discovered that incompetence, corruption, anti-Semitism, and outright criminality were rife throughout the UN Secretariat. Among the shady activities that he personally observed or documented were rigged bidding for major service contracts; drug transactions conducted in the UN’s parking garage; sale of shotguns and beryllium directly out of the UN building; ties to global organized crime figures; use of UN Information Centers and other agencies to disseminate anti-US and pro-PLO propaganda; systematic theft and abuse of UN facilities and budgets in East Africa; graft and corruption in Vienna; widespread sexual harrassment; use of the UN employee’s lounge to plan anti-Israel and anti-US activities by Muslim delegates; open celebration of 9/11 by said delegates in the halls of the UN; and inexplicable tolerance of all of the above on the part of the secretary general and the US government.

Sanjuan’s cast of characters includes every secretary general from Kurt Waldheim to Kofi Annan, and a large number of bureaucratic rogues and scoundrels. Much of what he documents in The UN Gang is absurdly comical. But its seriousness should not be overlooked.

Ultimately, Sanjuan argues, the weakness and corruption of the UN is our own responsibility. During the Cold War, the superpowers conspired to render it a useless forum for international pronouncements and posturing. Now, however, it has become the focal point of global resistance to American interests and policies. Will we continue to host an unholy convention of anti-Semitic, America-hating hypocrites? Or will we take steps to reform this once-proud institution and make it serve the ends of peace, justice, and international order? Only time will tell.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this, if you still think the UN serves any positive purpose, you probably should keep re-reading it until that notion fades. I'm knocking a star off the rating for the author's conclusion. After spending 180 pages demonstrating what a dysfunctional, corrupt, actively deterimental - to US interests - the UN is, he then says it could be a great organization with some fundamental reforms. Sorry, but the org culture sounds so messed up - and this is reinforced by numerous other books, reports, etc on the UN - that the only viable course of action is to dissolve it. Hmmm...maybe the author should re-read his book.

[Jon]

The subtitle of this book, "A Memoir of Incompetence, Corruption, Espionage, Anti-Semitism, and Islamic Extremism at the UN Secretariat," says it all. Mr. Sanjuan was a high-ranking US official at the UN Secretariat for about ten years, and has plenty of anecdotes about the ridiculous happenings there. The examples of incompetence and nepotism didn't shock me at all, having lived through the last few decades of UN screwups. The blatant use of the secretariat headquarters by the Soviet espionage apparatus, however, and the criminal activities there, however, did.

The central premise of this book seems to be that the UN was founded by the Soviets and the US in order to provide member states with the illusion of input and influence in world events, while the two superpowers went on about their business of the Cold War. It seems rather cynical, but may very well be true.

The book, on the whole, is interesting, but takes a rather scattershot approach to exposing the truth about the United Nations. I wish Mr. Sanjuan had told more stories about his experiences there, but I suppose I'll just have to peruse some of the references mentioned in the book in order to obtain a more thorough understanding of the UN's foibles and follies.

[Michael Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pedro Sanjuan was an American employed at the United Nations during the 1980s, before the fall of the Soviet Union. He has written an amusing book that makes the officials there appear to be a bunch of bumbling incompetents. Well, I guess it is hard to remember the last problem that the UN solved.
Sanjuan worked for the UN Secretariat, which employed six thousand people. They discriminated against hiring anyone associated with the United States government. The Reagan administration somehow managed to sneak Sanjuan in. Jeane Kirkpatrick supported Sanjuan, because he had studied Soviet affairs and spoke Russian.
At the time that the book was written, the Soviet Union staffed the library at the United Nations. They sent out requests for information to many organizations in the United States, requests that probably would not have been fulfilled if sent out from the Soviet embassy rather than the Unite Nations. The staff at the library then translated it into Russian and sent it back to the Soviet Union.
The author reports that anti-Semitism is common among the staff at the United Nations.Sanjuan, while of Basque descent, was repeatedly questioned by United Nation officials regarding his ancestry, and whether he was secretly a Jew. Sanjuan reported that nti-semitism was particularly bad at UNESCO. The problem has not gone away. In 2011 UNESCO got into trouble for funding Zayafuna, a Palestinian children's magazine, that ran an article glorifying Hitler.

[Kym Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this book is good and it covers some interesting experiences from the author and is perhaps biased in many ways. I do agree with much of the condemnations of the UN, I however found this book to steer away and delve more into anti semitism-zionism. A theme that the principle criticism of the UN should be that it is 'anti Israeli' and an anti-semitic institution. Now while this may have been the case in the authors observations it is perhaps not the sole fault of the International body.

The book also discusses the corruption and self serving importance of many of the officials within the bodies ranks. It also covers much of the Soviet Unions handling of the UN during the later stages of the Cold War.

It is however worth the read, not a big book, so you will complete it pretty quick. Certainly a book to be read with others on the subject matter.

60 %

[L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should be a necessary read for every informed citizen and politician. It's also a warning to our State Department, that they're not doing their job.