"The influential International Peace Institute (IPI) has caught the
attention of the non-profit news organization, ProPublica, which earlier this
week published a report on the think tank's decision to open up an office in the capital Manama, at the
expense of the Bahraini government. The think tank, the headquarters of which
are housed in a 1st Ave. building, across the street from U.N. headquarters in
New York, has long been linked to the United Nations. U.N. Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon serves as an honorary chair of the organization." "In 2005, Larsen was
appointed executive director of IPI, which now pays him a $495,000 salary. That
role placed Larsen in the position of simultaneously serving the United Nations
in its impartial mission -- while soliciting funds for his non-profit from many
governments, including the United States, Norway, and the European Union, that
pursue their own more narrow national interests at the United Nations."