International Periscope: April 25 issue

April 25 issue - OIL-FOR-FOOD: Influence Peddling

Court documents released last week suggest U.S. federal prosecutors investigating the oil-for-food scandal are focusing on top U.N. officials and appear to be analyzing a meeting involving former U.N. secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Manhattan's U.S. attorney accused Korean businessman Tongsun Park of acting as an unregistered agent for Iraq by lobbying the U.N. on oil for food. The feds say Park's tactics included "receiving and making payments" for Iraq and that his transactions allegedly included investing Iraqi money in a company owned by an "immediate family member of a high-ranking [U.N.] official." Investigators say a key event in Park's alleged scheme was a June '93 meeting in Geneva between "UN Official #1" and two Iraqis; news reports show a critical meeting on Iraq was held in Geneva at that time between Saddam sidekick Tariq Aziz and Boutros-Ghali. U.N. sources say his presence at such a meeting doesn't prove involvement with Park. Boutros-Ghali couldn't be reached for comment; Park's lawyer says his client denies wrongdoing.

The inquiry is also proving awkward for Washington notables. The key witness against Park is Samir Vincent, an Iraqi-American oil trader who pleaded guilty in January to violating U.S. sanctions against Iraq and is now a government witness. Vincent told the feds that while scheming with Park he pursued contacts with former senior U.S. officials in the '90s to modify U.S. policy toward Iraq. One contact, sources say, was Frank Carlucci, defense secretary under Ronald Reagan and until recently chairman of the Carlyle Group, a D.C. investment firm. Documents say Vincent "regularly updated" a "former U.S. government official" on his efforts, with Park, to get a resolution favorable to Iraq. Vincent hoped the unidentified American would "garner support" inside the U.S. government for a U.N. resolution, though there's no evidence that happened.

—Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff

U.S. POLITICS: Test Time for Frist

Sen. Bill Frist, a heart surgeon who admires what he calls "the surgical personality," is precise, sensitive to details, bold but focused. He and his aides thought they had found a politically surgical way for him to participate in a nationally televised prayer service with fervent religious conservatives at a megachurch in Louisville, Ky., next Sunday. The topic: the need to ease the Senate filibuster debate rule so that the Republican majority can confirm George Bush's most controversial judicial nominations. Frist's role: a brief, four-minute videotape stressing a secular argument—that presidents deserve "up or down" votes on all picks. "The senator won't be talking about his own faith and won't be speaking from a pulpit," said an aide.

But then the sponsor, Family Research Council, hit the Web with fliers and press releases dubbing the event "Justice Sunday—Stopping the Filibuster Against People of Faith" and depicting a perplexed teenage boy weighing a Bible in one hand and a judge's gavel in the other. The flame-throwing message—filibusterers are anti-Christian—infuriated Democrats. Even some Bible Belt Republicans were troubled. "Questioning a senator's motives in that way is a very dangerous precedent," said Sen. Lindsey Graham. "That goes to a level where the Senate has never gone before."

Frist is caught between two impulses—the soothing words he needs to utter as Senate majority leader and the strong preaching he needs to deliver as a GOP presidential wanna-be. "If he wants to run for president, this is a test Bill Frist has to pass," says Richard Lessner of the American Conservative Union.

—Howard Fineman

Sainthood So Subito?

The massive and moving funeral of Pope John Paul II has provoked the first major controversy since the cardinals arrived in Rome to choose his successor. Citing the shouts and placards demanding "Santo subito" ("Saint soon"), Archbishop Edward Nowak declared last week that the emotional outpouring was a signal that "the people" recognized the late pope's holiness and wanted him declared a saint—immediately. Recalling that in the early church, saints were made by popular acclamation of the faithful, Nowak, who serves as secretary and acting head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said that his department could assemble "sufficient documentation" on the pope's life and miracles to have him beatified (the step before canonization) when a Synod of Bishops meets in Rome next October. But instead of igniting support for his proposal, Nowak, an intensely nationalistic Pole, unwittingly set off a firestorm of suspicion.

Most of the cardinal electors probably believe John Paul II was a saint. But at one of their daily discussions, several of them questioned the demonstration that had erupted during the pope's funeral. The placards, they noticed, were uniformly produced, indicating that the demonstration had been organized ahead of time. According to the rules governing canonization, the deceased must enjoy a genuine "reputation for holiness" among the faithful. The church then interprets this as the work of the Holy Spirit. But to be genuine, such a reputation must be manifested spontaneously—not organized. Though no evidence links the demonstration to Nowak's proposal, it looked as if the organizers—most likely a conservative lay group favored by the late pope—wanted to influence this week's papal conclave: if cardinal electors believed John Paul II were already nearing official sainthood, they might hesitate to pick a man who'd differ with his saintly predecessor's policies.

—Kenneth L. Woodward

THE EURO: Is It The End?

A startling number of serious euro watchers warn that if France votes no to the new European Constitution on May 29, this rejection of closer union could lead to the "failure" of the single currency as well. How so? Here's a guide to the failure scenarios:

Rejection: For the euro zone to work, its 12 members must coordinate tax and spending policies, yet the will to cooperate is already failing. French and German officials have hinted that if the Constitution is rejected, they may form a new "core" group, excluding most other members. If that happens, markets may punish the outliers, asking whether Greek bonds should really be priced the same way as German bonds. Rising rates could lead to defaults, forcing the European Central Bank to ponder bailouts.

Expulsion: At that point, the euro zone may reunite to save the weak, or find a way to kick them out. Alternatively, an economic recovery could inspire Germany or France to quit the euro and restore the mark or the franc. The legal hurdles to reviving old currencies are high but not impassable. National central banks still hold most official reserves and supply money to banks under ECB supervision. Joachim Fels, Europe economist for Morgan Stanley, predicts that if the French vote no, there is a one in five chance the monetary union could break up in five to 10 years.

—Karen Lowry Miller

FRAUD Identity Problems

A recent security breach at TIAA-CREF, the massive American pension fund for teachers and professors, marks a new twist in the problem of identity theft. Recent cases involved hackers who bypassed security controls or posed as legitimate customers to gain access to data. At TIAA-CREF, background checks on employee Sonia Radencovich failed to reveal, among other things, a four-year prison sentence for her role in a huge financial scam. (She was to begin her sentence on Jan. 4, a few months after she started at TIAA-CREF.) Her criminal background went undetected for nearly two months while she had access to customer data from a number of U.S. colleges, including Harvard. Fund execs say they then discovered she had brought her laptop computer to the office—a violation of policy—and downloaded some data. She was fired in November and is now in prison on charges of racketeering and money laundering. A TIAA-CREF spokeswoman says that an ongoing "forensic investigation" of her activities shows she had access to data from fewer than 100 people, but "potentially had access" to many more. She said there's no evidence that Radencovich misused the information. Her attorney, Stephen Manning, says she "did not make any unauthorized use of data."

—Charles Gasparino

AIG: Helping Out a Friend

Maurice (Hank) Greenberg, the ousted chief of American International Group, doesn't seem to have many people rushing to defend him these days. Last week, New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, attacked the former CEO on television, saying "the evidence is overwhelming" that a series of transactions completed by the company under Greenberg's watch constituted "fraud," and that Greenberg could face criminal charges.

But he has at least one friend in high places. NEWSWEEK has learned that following Spitzer's outburst, Greenberg called another New York politician, Sen. Charles Schumer, and asked for a "supportive public statement." Schumer, a ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, has more than a passing relationship with Greenberg; though the former AIG chief supported President George W. Bush, he jumped party lines to support Schumer as well.

Schumer's spokesman confirmed the two men talked, and added: "The senator expressed some sympathy for his personal situation." Editorials have argued that Spitzer was convicting Greenberg before the facts were in, but a spokesman says the attorney general believes he didn't step over the line.

—Charles Gasparino

MUSIC: Bam Bam Merci Ma'am

Before turning to music in the early 1990s, Bams was the long-jump champion of France—and Cameroon, too. "France had enough medals," explains the French-born Cameroonian rapper, "so I decided to compete for Cameroon instead." Her music, on the other hand, transcends both cultures. While her debut effort was pure rap, 31-year-old Bams's ambitious second album, "De Ce Monde," is a winning hybrid of jazz, pop, soul, rap and African rhythms.

Melding these styles—not to mention soprano sax, tambour, Spanish guitar and didgeridoo—with the not-so-subtle flavor of Fela Kutti-inspired Afrobeat isn't easy, but Bams finds just the right masterly melange. Her voice provides the glue, her powerful vocals harmonizing even the most discordant instrumental elements. Bams raps, sings, talks, whispers and even growls her way through the album's 18 dizzying tracks—with a little help from guest artists like Les Nubians and Wu-Tang Clan rapper RZA.

Bams's lyrics also push the envelope. On the equally shocking and funny "Touch My Interlude," she turns the sexually explicit language of hard-core rap on its head, using graphic vocabulary to address men rather than women. And on "Boulice," she mixes a touch of humor with a heavy dose of outrage over Africa's dire state and the fate of African immigrants in Europe. "I want to be a sort of bridge between my two cultures—between Africa and Europe," Bams says. If she keeps turning out genre-crossing albums like this one, she'll soon be a bridge among all seven continents, too.

—Jenny Barchfield

PHOTOGRAPHY: Remembering a Master

If you buy the lush new book "The Stanley Kubrick Archives," you'll never need to purchase anything about Kubrick again. The massive tome, compiled with the cooperation of the Kubrick estate, is the definitive guide to the genius who gave the world "Doctor Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," "A Clockwork Orange" and "2001: A Space Odyssey." The first section of the book is devoted to stills from the set of every Kubrick film from 1955's "Killer's Kiss" all the way up to 1999's "Eyes Wide Shut." But it's the second chapter that's sure to send any real fan into ripples of ecstasy. Packed with sketches, drafts, notes and shooting schedules, it's a wonderfully textured glimpse into the mind ofone of cinema's greatest masters.

—Nicki Gostin

BOOKS: The Long Journey Home

In the 1960s, many disillusioned young Americans left their affluent homes for India in search of Truth. "Baba: Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Yogi" is the colorful memoir of a 19-year-old from Beverly Hills who did just that in 1969. Unlike most others, he stayed the course—and stayed in India. Mystically drawn to Hari Puri, leader of the Naga Babas(Naked Monks), the young American was inducted into the ancient order as "Rampuri." Initially attracted by their "hip arrogance," he soon learned that these "Hells Angels of Hindu spirituality" led a harsh, medieval life, roaming the country covered only in holy ashes, overgrown dreadlocks and long beards.

Many Nagas rejected Rampuri for being a foreigner and ostracized Hari Puri for breaking tradition by admitting him. Rampuri describes the conflicts that made him question the order's rigorous demands and, later, the doubts that assailed him after his guru died. Unsure of his status within the order, he returned to California in 1974 to figure out his future. But, studying India at Berkeley, he discovered a gaping abyss between what "America knew of India and the India I'd experienced": the West was "dreaming India," an Orientalist fantasy. Before the year was out, Rampuri returned to India to unanimous acceptance among the Nagas—a reward for his selfless devotion to his late guru, whom he had nursed on his deathbed. Now, elected to their Council of Elders, he has founded his own ashram. Rampuri's memoir fascinates because he is the Other: an outsider first among his own people, then among those who have never known a foreigner. To be accepted, he's had to learn their language, their rituals, an alien way of life. In return, he's finally found a home, community and respect.

—Vibhuti Patel

Q&A: CAMERON DIAZ

On her new MTV show, "Trippin," Cameron Diaz and cool celebrity friends go to cool places like Nepal and Chile. Diaz chatted with news-week's Nicki Gostin.

Why did you decide to do this show?
It was my last-ditch effort to do something with my celebrity before I high-tail it out of town—no, I'm kidding. I wanted to get kids interested in the world that we live in, to understand how we're connected to it. We're all part of a huge ecosystem and we only have one planet, so we may as well figure out how to make it work together.

Some of the friends you've taken are Eva Mendes, Drew Barrymore and Rebecca Romijn. Do you have to be gorgeous to go on these trips?
No, we're talking about ad-venturous people. What it came down to is the people who could, and were willing to, set aside 14 days to disappear from their world. It's a major, major commitment in this day and age, and especially in this industry.

Did you have a guy along with you carrying your mascara wands?
No, if we'd stopped for hair and makeup we wouldn't have gotten far. We all had our own backpacks. I always carried the biggest bag, and three extra.

What's the thing you missed the most? "Desperate Housewives"?
Oh, God, no. I think probably a clean toilet, which is always a good thing for a girl to have.