As Mr. Annan and his top aides endlessly talk of “reform,” they are engaged in an illegal “conspiracy and racketeering activity,” according to a motion that will be presented today to the Supreme Court.

Even if, as expected, the high court will never entertain the unprecedented allegations made by attorney Ed Flaherty in Brzak v U.N., Annan, Lubbers, et al., it is clear that the secretary general is too scandal-ridden to change Turtle Bay for the better.

When the oil-for-food scandal was in full bloom, the Bush administration made a bet, protecting Mr. Annan so America could force him to plow through necessary U.N. changes. That was a bad bet. Even by Turtle Bay’s standards, Mr. Annan is too tainted by corruption to be allowed to use the word “reform.”

Aspiring to solve top international crises, the United Nations is unable to fix its own home. Like the organization it houses, the landmark East River building displays an impressive facade but is disintegrating. In a resignation statement worthy of the biblical Tower of Babel tale, the man charged with removing asbestos from the building and bringing it up to current safety codes, Louis Frederick Reuter, showed how the United Nations is too busy talking, in too many languages, to take care the crumbling of its own house.

Turtle Bay “is at a critical point in its evolution,” Mr. Reuter, who has headed the renovation project known as the Capital Master Plan, said. “The time to work through those changes and challenges are likely, in the months ahead, to slow and delay many actions, including those required by the Capital Master Plan.”

Many at the United Nations couldn’t help but wonder why anyone talented enough to work anywhere else would stay at a place where the only commodity ever being produced is hot air.

The United Nations needs reform, then. Mr. Annan, who came to power in 1997 as a reform candidate, wrote a booklet last year that aspired to do just that. Almost none of his ideas have yet to be enacted. One rare “success” will be tested this week as membership of the recently “reformed” Human Rights Council will be voted on at the General Assembly. America did not even bother to run, while Iran, Cuba, and China are expected to be easily voted in.

A “management reform” attempt, aspiring to transfer key powers from the hands of member states to the secretary general, failed spectacularly at the assembly recently. This failure was so blatant that it might force Congress to withdraw U.N. funds. But how could anyone say with a straight face that any good can come from giving the Annan administration more powers?

In the first lawsuit involving the United Nations ever to reach the Supreme Court, Cynthia Brzak, reminds us through Mr. Flaherty how her sexual harassment allegations against the head of the agency, Ruud Lubbers, were handled by the secretary general. Only once his defense of Mr. Lubbers became a joke, was Mr. Annan convinced to force for Mr. Lubbers’ resignation.

Circling the wagons is still a favorite Turtle Bay activity. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, a patronage politician brought in by Mr. Annan to reform the institution last year, recently instructed the independent arm charged with internal investigations to quickly exonerate higher-ups in the organization. He also advised Mr. Annan to accept a $500,000 prize from the emir of Dubai, after telling the rest of the staff to stop accepting any gifts worth more than $250.

Mr. Annan then named one of the men responsible for awarding the Dubai environmental prize, Achim Steiner, to head the U.N. Environmental Program. Allegations of quid pro quo are “unfair” to Mr. Steiner, Mr. Annan told the press late last week, adding, “Almost everybody agreed that he was the best candidate.”

Unlike the petroleum-producing Gulf emirate that cynically uses it, UNEP’s has very little impact on the environment. The only qualification to head the agency in the post-oil-for-food era is passing the smell test. The “best candidate” is certainly not a man who helps Mr. Annan to a half million dollars of Dubai’s treasury.

Following such goings on, anyone claiming to care about the United Nations would be hard pressed to say leaving Mr. Annan intact was a good bet. Even now might not be too late to push for an early resignation, which would serve as warning for future Turtle Bay leaders.