The current President Bush did a smooth job of massaging delegates' egos while at the same time issuing some sharp reminders they might have preferred not to hear in his recent address to the UN General Assembly, which was mostly about Iraq and what the Organization needs to do to shape up and meet the perceived threat from Saddam Hussein. Even some erstwhile critics admitted it was quite a tour de force. Stunning, one said.

Since then, Bush has spoken often about the United Nations, slurring the words according to his familiar Texas speech pattern which somehow adds a perhaps unintentional impression of a put-down. Be that as it may, the message is clear: the US wants action and if the UN is to be relevant in today's world it had better deliver. John D. Negroponte and Jeremy Greenstock, the US and UK ambassadors, currently are crafting a resolution they hope the Security Council may adopt and that then will make Saddam sit up and take notice.

Secretary General Kofi Annan, whose recent stance Iraqwise has not been quite as tough as some in Washington might wish, has been scurrying back and forth hoping to be helpful.

There was a big stick behind Bush's carefully constructed remarks at the UN and Annan and his aides have to worry when the Organization's most powerful member uses words like "ineffectual debating society" when mentioning the UN and what it could sink into unless somebody stops the rot.

The secretary general just came out with a report on what he thinks can be done to make his institution more effective.

One important recommendation to delegates is just to shut up. They talk too much. Incredibly, no fewer than 15,484 meetings were held during 2000 and 2001. Also, Annan advises they should stop demanding all those secretariat reports. In that same period, there were 5,879 of them. Who on earth could possibly read all this stuff? Yet the UN keeps on grinding it out in six languages, including Chinese which only one member state understands.

"We must take a critical look at all our activities and ask ourselves whether they are relevant to the implementation of the Millennium Declaration [adopted by heads of state, including Bill Clinton, in 2000] and whether they have made the desired impact," Annan writes. "And if the answer is no, we must be willing to let go."

Mary Robinson was recently let go after a distinguished tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. After Sept. 11, she and the US didn't see eye to eye over America's treatment of terror suspects, including those incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. Washington was not unhappy to see her depart, past President of Ireland though she is. Now Annan talks of a need for improving UN performance in human rights. A Brazilian expert on refugee problems, Sergio Vieira de Mello, is Robinson's successor as High Commissioner.

One of the cushiest jobs in the system is director of a UN information center in a foreign capital. It confers privileges that often are not far short of those that ambassadors receive routinely. Getting a center posting is a great sinecure for superannuated diplomats with or without public relations expertise -- mostly, be it acknowledged, without.

Annan proposes to close down 71 centers and transfer their responsibilities to regional offices, beginning with one for Western Europe. Governments of some small countries that like the idea of having a UN information center and in many cases are willing to pay the freight for it will squawk for sure. So don't be surprised if Annan has to compromise a bit.

The secretary general plugs for the besieged Organization in his report, observing that the need for an efective multilateral institution dedicated to the service of all humanity has "never been more acutely felt than in the current era of globalization."

The challenge, he remarks, is to strengthen the ability for collective action and thus forge a common destiny at a time of global change.

Footnote: A recent Notebook about Germans' fears that an angry US will drop support for a permanent seat for Germany in the Security Council in response to the recent rhetorical excesses of Chancellor Gerhard Schroder omitted to mention that they likely will get a Council seat anyway for the next two years, under a regional rotational system for elected members. Expect Joschka Fischer, the charismatic Greens leader and foreign minister who already is seeking to ease Bush's bruised feelings, to come to New York during Germany's month as Council president, in February.