As Fortune would have it, this mention of transparency https://www.bridgemi.com/guest-commentary/opinion-restoring-trust-transparency directed at the local populace served as a reminder to me to get on with this project to broaden the understanding not of the word ‘transparency’ but it’s application.
In a world of Nations the meaning of transparency depends on the Party’s in power.
Continuing down the UN vein, they explain transparency as a pre-conditional effect on the probability of corrupt behavior impacting governmental processes. https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/anti-corruption/module-6/key-issues/transparency-as-a-precondition.html Any explanation about transparency from the UN should immediately raise the shields of wise and wary American minds with an immediate “Pot calling kettle black Pot calling kettle black” alert before https://fablesofaesop.com/the-cat-and-the-cock.html the cat and the cock fable is fulfilled once again at the expense of US citizens.
For the UN, a https://grace.unodc.org/grace/uploads/documents/academics/Anti-Corruption_Module_6_Detecting_and_Investigating_Corruption.pdf a closer look reveals the UN acknowledgement the public has a right to know about governmental processes is an important step in their CYA procedure and gaining world control process. The UN doesn’t necessarily have to provide any information about anything to the citizen/public.
The UNODC Module Series on Anti-Corruption offers 14 Modules focusing on a range of core anti-corruption issues. This includes corruption’s varied definitions and devastating effects, responses to corruption, and linkages between corruption and different topics such as good governance, comparative politics, whistle-blowing, justice systems, human rights, gender, education, citizen participation, peace and security.
The Modules are designed for use by both academic institutions and professional academies across the world. They are built to help lecturers and trainers deliver anti-corruption education, including those who are not dedicated anti-corruption lecturers and trainers but would like to incorporate these components into their courses. Lecturers are encouraged to customize the Modules before integrating them into their classes and courses. The Modules include discussions of relevant issues, suggestions for class activities and exercises, recommended class structures, student assessments, reading lists (with an emphasis on open access materials), PowerPoint slides, video materials and other teaching tools. Each Module provides an outline for a three-hour class, as well as includes guidelines on how to develop it into a full course.
Their responses to inquiries range from the inane…
https://uncaccoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/UNCAC-Coalition-Transparency-Policy.pdf defines who can question the UN and the UN’s rights to deny; it appears they try their best to cover themselves and confuse everybody else:
Requests:
Any natural or legal person from any country may submit a request for documents or information to the UNCAC Coalition.
That’s at the top of page three (3)
…to the insane
https://uncaccoalition.org/uncac-review/access-to-information-campaign/ it’s the world’s only binding anti-corruption mechanism. It’s lead topic?
What is this campaign about?
The UNCAC Coalition invites civil society organizations from around the world to join a campaign that asks national governments to release key documents and information about what they have done to implement the provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
Where, if you hit the Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) link, you will learn the UN’s three (3) main goals:
- to promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively;
- to promote, facilitate and support international cooperation and technical assistance in the prevention of and fight against corruption, including in asset recovery;
- to promote integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and public property.
If you’re not old enough to remember the Nineties and the https://www.cato.org/commentary/end-bill-clintons-war Clinton war< on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War Kosovo< .
Here’s a review to help clarify the UN dream from https://www.deepcapture.com/wp-content/uploads/Kosovo-Liberation-Army-History-Commons.pdf
Morton Abramowitz writes a column in the Wall Street Journal calling for a drastic change in US policy toward Kosovo. Abramowitz is highly influential with the US foreign policy elite (see 1991-1997). He argues that the US should support full independence for Kosovo and outlines options the US should consider including bombing Serbia, removing Milosevic, arming and training the KLA, and turning Kosovo into a NATO protectorate through the use of ground forces. [AMERICAN SPECTATOR, 6/1999] Entity Tags: Morton I. Abramowitz, Slobodan Milosevic, Kosovo Liberation Army Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline January 1999: Indicted War Criminal Takes Over Command of the KLA with US Approval…
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/4/bovard-when-the-spoils-of-war-are-human-organs/
What is the the relationship between the UN and NATO?
From https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_50321.htm
NATO’s North Atlantic Treaty operates within the framework of the United Nations Charter – including Article 51, which establishes the inherent right of individual or collective defence of all UN member countries…
How easy was that? It doesn’t look like any reliable public oversight was included beforehand.
September 2008 the Secretaries General of both NATO and the United Nations (UN) agreed to establish a framework for expanded consultation and cooperation…
Expanded cooperation? When and how does that end?
NATO’s Secretary General reports regularly to the UN Secretary-General on progress in UN-mandated NATO-led operations and on other key decisions of the North Atlantic Council, including in the area of crisis management and in the fight against terrorism.
United Nations Resolution 1244 – UNMIK
https://unmik.unmissions.org/united-nations-resolution-1244
S/RES/1244 (1999)10 June 1999 RESOLUTION 1244 (1999) Adopted by the Security Council at its 4011th meeting, on 10 June 1999 The Security Council, Bearing in mind the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security, Recalling its resolutions 1160 (1998) of 31 March 1998 …
According to the last upgrade of https://www.nato.int/cps/on/natohq/topics_48818.htm (10 Feb 2025 12:47) that included this list as KFOR’s initial tasks assigned more than 20 (twenty) years ago
- assistance with the return or relocation of displaced persons and refugees;
- reconstruction and de-mining;
- medical assistance;
- security and public order;
- protection of patrimonial sites;
- border security;
- interdiction of cross-border weapons smuggling;
- implementation of a Kosovo-wide weapons, ammunition and explosives amnesty programme;
- weapons destruction; and
- support for the establishment of civilian institutions, law and order, the judicial and penal system, the electoral process and other aspects of the political, economic and social life of Kosovo.
After reading this Kosovo online article any rational person would conclude NATO has failed its mission in a catastrophic https://www.kosovo-online.com/en/news/kontext/role-kosovo-and-albanian-gangs-drug-trafficking-europe-23-6-2024 fashion.
… over 20 years ago, the US Department of Justice stated on its official website that 40 percent of the heroin trade is controlled by the Albanian mafia.
“The same report states that their success lies in the traditional loyalty among Albanians, combined with connections to other criminal organizations such as the Italian mafia. They also establish ties with other organizations, including those formed by migrant populations like Algerians and Moroccans. Belgian police statements note that the strength of these criminal organizations lies in their discipline and reliability. However, the Albanian mafia is no longer predominantly focused on heroin, which arrives in Europe from Afghanistan via Iran and Syria. According to public reports, they are establishing long-term connections with cocaine cartels from South America. One alarming report indicates that the Albanian mafia is expanding its presence in North Africa. This is particularly concerning because it means they are establishing control at the source of the threat to Europe,” Obradovic points out.
…”The Albanian mafia is said to control a significant part of the migrant route from North Africa through the Balkans to Western Europe, where it acts as a branch of Kurdish, Syrian, and Moroccan gangs. Italian and Albanian authorities undertake major operations every year to dismantle drug trafficking networks operating in coordination from these two countries, the primary bases of the Albanian mafia. Most of these operations involve international police cooperation resulting in arrests in Germany and the United Kingdom. Kosovo, as an area without the rule of law and basic state authority, represents one of the main points for the expansion of pan-European criminal syndicates, relying on the notorious association of ’15 families’ from northern Albania,” adds Darko Obradovic.
The big question about UN/NATO transparency is when does it start?
In 2008, NATO and the UN, because they had a working relationship for years as explained at https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_50321.htm
signed a framework for expanded consultation and cooperation in September 2008. An updated Joint Declaration setting out plans for future cooperation between NATO and the UN was signed on 26 October 2018.
As for the U.S. state of transparency, the results of a search for ‘U.S. government definition of transparency’ included undated https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/realitycheck/the_press_office/Transparency_and_Open_Government
And Obama at the close of his terms, relied on the UN to sound officious to the end.
…the United States commits to the following actions:
I. Publish National Risk Assessment: The United States published the U.S. national money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessments on June 12, 2015. These comprehensive reviews of the money laundering and terrorist financing threats, vulnerabilities and risks to the United States incorporate relevant information sources in order to help stakeholders understand the money laundering and terrorist financing risks facing the U.S. financial system.
II. Advocate for Comprehensive Legislation: The United States will continue to advocate for legislation that requires the collection of beneficial ownership information for all legal entities formed in the United States and makes such information readily available to law enforcement for money laundering and terrorist financing investigations…
Closing out the Transparency subject with state and local examples using Pennsylvania and Philadelphia .
Years ago, on a railroad trestle spanning a fairly busy Montgomery county (PA) road a message was painted on its east side in large, well spaced letters that read ‘Think Global Act Local’. A high school was just up the road a piece from that bridge. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people read that message every week; it might even still be there.
It’s a suburb of Philadelphia and Philadelphia, where Independence Hall is, just recently updated their https://www.phila.gov/open-records-policy/ It defines how Philadelphia’s transparency works:
The City of Philadelphia has adopted a policy to comply with the Commonwealth’s Act 3 of 2008, 65 P.S. §§ 67.101 et seq., commonly known as the Right-to-Know Law. With certain exceptions, members of the public have the right to inspect and/or copy public records upon written request.
Business day. Monday through Friday 8:30 AM through 4:30 PM, except those days when the City of Philadelphia, the main office of the Law Department, or the office, department, board, or commission to which a request is submitted is closed. For the purpose of this Open Records Policy, City Agencies are closed when any of the following applies:
- The City, the Law Department, or the particular City Department, Board, Office, or Commission operates on an “essential services only” basis;
- The City, the main office of the Law Department, or the particular City Department, Board, Office, or Commission is closed for four or more hours during regular business hours; or
- The City, the main office of the Law Department, or the particular City Department, Board, Office, or Commission closes for any portion of regular business hours on an emergency basis.
In other words, as a citizen who needs an answer from the city on any given weekday, in Philadelphia, chances are you be SOL.
“Think Global Act Local” was one powerful and convincing warm and fuzzy.