Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy - Softcover

Soussan, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1568584415 ISBN 13: 9781568584416

Publisher: Bold Type Books, 2010

Synopsis

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Ben Kingsley and Theo James, the gripping true story of a young program coordinator at the United Nations who stumbles upon a conspiracy involving Iraq's oil reserves.
"What made this episode in our collective history possible was not so much the lies we told one another, but the lies we told ourselves."
A recent Brown University graduate, Michael Soussan was elated when he landed a position as a program coordinator for the United Nations' Iraq Program. Little did he know that he would end up a whistleblower in what PBS NewsHour described as the "largest financial scandal in UN history."

Breaking a conspiracy of silence that had prevailed for years, Soussan sparked an unprecedented corruption probe into the Oil-for-Food program that exposed a worldwide system of bribes, kickbacks, and blackmail involving ruthless power-players from around the globe.
At the crossroads of pressing humanitarian concerns, crisis diplomacy, and multibillion-dollar business interests, Soussan's story highlights core flaws of our international system and exposes the frightening, corrupting power of the black elixir that fuels our world's economy.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Soussan is a journalist and screenwriter whose writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Time, NPR, BBC, and a range of international media. His has worked at CNN, the UN, and K Street in Washington, DC, and has taught writing and public communication at NYU and advised a range of global organizations and corporations. A native of Denmark, he lives in Los Angeles.

From Publishers Weekly

Soussan, a former program associate for the United Nations, provides an insider's perspective on the U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal in this absorbing memoir. The author was a 24-year-old idealist when he went to work for the U.N.'s recently launched program to provide aid to Iraqi civilians suffering under the economic sanctions imposed after the Gulf War. He found a culture of incompetence where there is no truth but consensus and initiative is highly risky. Amid the turf wars and bureaucratic timidity at the U.N., Saddam Hussein was able to subvert the oil-for-food program with a regimen of bribes and kickbacks. Unable to persuade his superiors to expose the fraud, Soussan resigned in frustration after three years. When the massive fraud surfaced after Saddam's fall, the author published an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, which launched an independent investigation that uncovered billions of dollars in bribes and implicated global corporations, sovereign governments and U.N. officials—including Secretary-General Kofi Annan's son. Soussan brings provocative wit, a keen eye for detail and a knack for revealing anecdotes to this important account of the rampant greed, hypocrisy and cynicism festering behind the United Nations' humanitarian credo. (Nov.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Bold Type Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1568584415
• ISBN 13: 9781568584416
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352