Full story : BBC

Comments on his final speech and his time as secretary general appreciated.

I'm a little sad that we're losing him just as he was starting to grow some balls and make real progress. Hopefully his successor will be able to continue that legacy, but I have my doubts.

Starting to? Hell, I'd say the first term was when he did the most, made the most progress. He managed to work with the US and the world on a ton of things.
Since this Administration has come into office, one that has been, at best, disdainful of the UN everything he did/was doing all but ground to a halt. As James Traub said in his book "The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power," the start of his being Secretary of the UN was great. He had "balls" as you call it, and was able to work with the US. If anything is responsible for his lack of progress, its the fact that the Bush administration has handicapped any form of progress that could be made.

I suppose. To be fair, I wasn't really paying attention during the first few years of his administration. But from around 2002 (when I really got into politics) until the last year or two, he always seemed rather wishy washy. To be fair, that's not entirely his fault, the Bush administration tends to brush off the UN, and the organization doesn't have a whole lot of legitimacy on its own. But lately Anan's been standing up for internationalism in a way that doesn't just point out how weak the UN is. Now, again, there are a lot of factors playing into that, he's been getting a lot more favorable media attention and popular support of late; but the ultimate result is that the UN and Secretary General's office have been gaining legitimacy. So I worry that his successor won't be able to continue this kind of progress, he's going to have be a damned good PR operator to manage it.

I imagine a lot of his "tough talk," such as his recent remarks that criticized the Bush administration, is a direct product of his "lame duck" status, with like 3 weeks left in his term hes more free to do/say what he wants.

Although it should be interesting to see what the new Sec Gen has to say, mainly as he will come in working with this Administration. Then, in two years when we probably have one thats a little less thick-headed it will again be interesting to see how the relationship/status changes.

This isn't just a recent development, though. He's been talking tougher for quite a while now. The great thing about it is that it helps the UN's cause whether he's a lame duck or not.

Like McKinney's resolution to impeach Bush? (sorry to go off topic)

Pretty much how I see it, yes.

Well, today Ban Ki-Moon becomes Sec Gen of the United Nations, and Kofi Annan's time comes to an end.

Anybody know what he'll be doing after this?