Turner Offers $35 Million To Help U.S. Pay U.N. Dues
http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi?acct=mb1075995

By Colum Lynch
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, December 22, 2000 ; Page A01

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 21 -- CNN founder Ted Turner has offered to make up the
$35 million difference between the dues that the United States owes to the
United Nations for 2001 and the amount Congress is willing to pay.

Turner's offer is intended to help U.S. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke
clinch a deal for a permanent reduction in the U.S. share of the U.N.
budget and to bring an end to Washington's chronic debts to the world
body, U.S. officials and a Turner representative said.

The prospect of a billionaire media entrepreneur bailing out the United
States is a measure of how complex and troubled the U.S. relationship
with the United Nations has become.

As the Clinton administration draws to a close, it is making a final push
to resolve the funding issue and to reduce simmering resentment over the
U.S. debts, which senior American diplomats contend are not only an
embarrassment but also reduce the nation's clout in the world body.

At the same time, key conservatives in Congress, such as Sen. Jesse Helms
(R-N.C.), remain skeptical about the United Nations and its many offshoots,
which they view as spendthrift, bloated bureaucracies that often take
anti-American stands.

Turner has stepped into the middle of this picture, showing an apparent
taste for the limelight through high-profile philanthropy as well as a
passionate conviction that the United States should be more deeply
involved in the United Nations. He previously pledged to donate $1 billion
to the organization's work, but had said he would not help pay America's
dues.

In sticky negotiations that have come to a head this week, Holbrooke and
Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright are trying to persuade other
countries to agree to reduce Washington's share of the annual U.N.
administrative budget from 25 percent to 22 percent.

Congress has passed legislation capping the U.S. contribution at 22 percent
and also has made payment of $926 million in U.S. arrears contingent on the
United Nations accepting that reduction permanently.

During a closed-door meeting at U.N. headquarters this week, Holbrooke
promised his counterparts from around the world that if they agreed to
reduce Washington's share of the U.N. budget, the United States would
voluntarily cover the difference -- about $35 million -- for a year.

What he didn't tell them was that Turner would provide those funds, though
only if a firm deal is reached.

Turner made the offer to Holbrooke about five weeks ago at a board meeting
of the United Nations Foundation, a private charity Turner established to
distribute the $1 billion he pledged to contribute to U.N. causes.
Albright, briefed on the offer, "thought it was wonderful," a U.S.
official said.

"Ted's gesture is extraordinary and visionary," Holbrooke said today. "I hope
it proves to be the key that unlocks this extraordinarily complex problem."

Turner was unavailable for comment, according to a spokeswoman at CNN
headquarters in Atlanta. But Tim Wirth, the former Democratic senator from
Colorado who runs Turner's U.N. Foundation, confirmed Turner had made
the offer.

According to Wirth and others, Holbrooke told the U.N. Foundation's board
of directors last month that most countries had already set their national
budgets for 2001. As a result, Holbrooke warned, it would be difficult for
those governments to agree to cut the U.S. contribution and increase their
own shares of the United Nations' $1.1 billion budget for 2001.

"Holbrooke said how complicated and difficult this [negotiation] was going
to be," Wirth recalled. "So Ted said, 'Well, what if I made available
funding so that you have flexibility? If that would be a useful part to
throw into this negotiation, you know I'll be happy to do that.' "

The potential arrangement was then vetted by State Department lawyers,
according to a senior U.S. official. "It is legal," the official said.
Although the United Nations is prohibited from accepting money from a
private donor to cover a country's dues, "as a matter of principle,
the U.N. can accept contributions from governments, and the U.N. doesn't
care where it comes from," said Fred Eckhard, spokesman for U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan.

In the budget negotiations, the 15-nation European Union has refused to
increase its portion of U.N. funding, arguing that it already pays more than
the United States although its collective economy is about the same size as
America's. Japan, like the United States, has demanded a reduction in its
dues, noting that its share of the global economy has shrunk in the past
decade. Several emerging economic powers, including Singapore, Brazil and
South Korea, are reluctant to pay more.

Under a bipartisan U.S. congressional agreement fashioned by Helms and Sen.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), payment of U.S. debts to the United Nations
is also contingent on a reduction in Washington's share of peacekeeping
costs, to 25 percent from 30 percent. But Biden has indicated that
Congress might be willing to compromise on the peacekeeping budget,
now about $3 billion a year.

At a gathering of U.N. ambassadors Dec. 12, Biden said he would seek to
persuade his Republican colleagues in Congress to accept a smaller reduction
in the U.S. share of the peacekeeping budget -- if the world body's 189
members first agree to slash the U.S. portion of the regular budget.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said today
that Biden and Helms have been briefed on Turner's offer.

Holbrooke has told several ambassadors here that retired Gen. Colin L.
Powell, President-elect George W. Bush's nominee for secretary of state,
hopes the long-festering dispute will be settled before the change of
administrations.

A senior U.N. official predicted that a deal could be sealed by the end
of the week.

"The member states have moved appreciably towards agreement," the official
said. "A number of the hardest issues have been dealt with successfully, and
fortunately Christmas is coming, people are leaving for holiday, and they
all have non-refundable airline tickets."

Diplomats said key elements of a potential deal have jelled during a week of
late-night sessions in a U.N. budget committee. In addition to imposing a
22 percent ceiling on any country's dues for the administrative budget,
the United Nations would establish a new method for determining each
country's capacity to pay.

In the past, dues have been calculated by averaging a country's gross
domestic product over six years. Under the proposed new system, the period
would be shortened to about 41/2 years, providing relief to countries,
such as Japan, whose economies have been declining. To shield economically
vulnerable countries, such as Nigeria and Brazil, the organization would
phase in the rate increase over three years.

Diplomats said they were also close to an agreement that would reduce the
U.S. share of the peacekeeping budget to between 26 percent and 28 percent.
The balance would be covered by slashing the "discounts" previously given
to some developing countries, particularly those with fast-growing
economies, such as Singapore, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar
and Kuwait. "We are centimeters away from an agreement," an Asian diplomat
said last night.

© 2000 The Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39092-2000Dec21.html
======================================================================
Ted Turner donates $1 billion to 'U.N. causes' - September 19, 1997
http://europe.cnn.com/US/9709/18/turner.gift/index.html

TURNER FOUNDATION
Objective
Worldwide development of policies and practices which will
reduce population growth by addressing the relationships between
population growth, global resources, the status of women and
girls, and access to family planning and reproductive health
services.
http://www.turnerfoundation.org/turner/popul.html

Turner and Fonda Split
http://vikingphoenix.com/public/CelebrityFiles/TurnerandFonda/TurnerandFonda.htm
04 January 2000 (CNSNews.com) - Media mogul Ted Turner and his
actress/political activist wife, Jane Fonda, have agreed mutually to
live apart, the couple announced in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon. In
a brief, prepared statement released by Turner's office, the couple
said, "While we continue to be committed to the long-term success of our
marriage, we find ourselves at a juncture where we must each take some
personal time for ourselves. Therefore, we have mutually decided to
spend some time apart. We ask that you respect this decision." (By Bob
Melvin, CNS Evening Editor, 04 January, 2000, 09:16 pm) CNN: FULL STORY,
World Net Daily SCOOP | Fonda becomes born-again Christian, Hollywood
Christian leader: Pray for Jane Baehr says 'God trying to get Turner's
attention',
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/20000106_xex_fonda_become.shtml

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http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00b/20000830a.htm

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http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a1004089.htm
===========================================================================

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