Kofi Annan, it is fair to say, is a thorn in the side of President Bush (liberals like me find satisfaction in this of course). But the Nobel Peace Prize winner, originally from Ghana, who has been the Secretary General of the United Nations since 1997, won’t be the U.N. Sec Gen forever. Who will replace him in 2007? The New York Sun reports:

The early scramble to see who will fill the shoes of Kofi Annan has begun, with states and regions vying to bring one of their own into the position of secretary-general of the United Nations and all the bully pulpit privileges that come with it.

The latest Iranian attempt, floating the candidacy of President Khatami for the position, was seen, at Turtle Bay, as a diversion. But it also stirred the pot in the hallways, and as world leaders gathered here for a week of meetings, some wonder whether it is too early to ask: Who will be Mr. Annan’s successor?

More than anything, the early maneuvering for the position, which will become vacant at the end of 2006, underlines the chaotic method of selecting someone for the high-powered position. To be successful at this stage of the race, one has to feed the rumor mill.

Well hell. I feel like Sepia Mutiny is obliged in that case to feed the Rumor Mill, so I will take it upon myself to do so.

Shashi Tharoor

At the U.N., where Mr. Annan is held in high regard, many believe that, as one official put it, “he raised the bar.” And so they assume his replacement has to be someone of stature - no more junior than a foreign minister. Others assume that Mr. Annan has set another trend: a secretary-general from the ranks of the institution itself. One such candidate whose name is whispered around the halls of the world body is the undersecretary-general for public information, Shashi Tharoor, an Indian-born, British-educated writer with a Hollywood flair who some swear is the real source for his own name’s being floated.

With what sounded like a well-honed non-denial of his candidacy, Mr. Tharoor told the Sun: “The secretary-general is barely halfway through his second term. We all have a great deal of work to do to fulfill what remains to be accomplished in this term, and we’re all concentrating on that. I am certainly focused on that.”

I have listened to Tharoor give a couple talks and once shared an elevator with him as well. In addition to being a good U.N. official he is a fine author. But is he ready for the prime time? I have never seen him display the hard edge that might be needed for the job, but not all good leaders need a hard edge. Also he needs a good haircut. Any other objections?

Despite his meteoric rise within the organization, however, Mr. Tharoor is widely viewed as being not yet ready for prime time. The reason he may even be under consideration is that he fits one job requirement, at least according to common wisdom here: He comes from an Asian country.
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Indeed, while Asia contends that its candidate must become the next secretary-general, some groups disagree. At an inter-regional meeting recently, some members of New Europe contended that while the Burmese U Thant’s term ended as long ago as 1971, one region has never had a secretary general: Eastern Europe, which once was the Soviet bloc.

You guys should read the article to see the other contenders as well. One candidate that should absolutely NOT be considered is that weakling Khatami from Iran. He couldn’t even run his own country, so how is he going to run the U.N.?