United Nations Archives - Page 10 of 31

Libya: Where Are the BRICs?

by Ben Zala | Mar 21, 2011

Following the vote at the UN Security Council, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States have embarked on military action against Gaddafi’s forces in Libya. They have been careful to include a few Arab states in this new coalition of the willing. But these three countries are the driving force behind the imposition of a no-fly zone and the attacks on the government’s military positions and forces. Yet among the permanent and non-permanent member of the Council who were asked to authorize “all necessary measures” to protect civilians rebelling against the regime, the BRIC powers of Brazil, Russia, India, and China were conspicuously absent.

Obama Surrenders on Settlements

by Ian Williams | Mar 1, 2011

The recent U.S. veto of a UN Security Council resolution denouncing Israel’s settlement policy is a tragicomic way for the Obama administration to abandon its claim to global leadership. But that is what Ambassador Susan Rice’s “nay” vote on February 18 signifies. The battle for a rational foreign policy in Washington has been over for some time. This veto represents surrender.

The Turko-Persian Tandem

by Richard Javad Heydarian | Feb 28, 2011

Home to the region’s biggest economies, largest middle classes, and most educated populations, Iran and Turkey represent vibrant societies with huge reservoir of both soft and hard power. Growing cooperation between the two may signal the opening of a new chapter in the Middle Eastern affairs.

UN Again in the Crosshairs

by Ian Williams | Jan 28, 2011

The UN’s mythical black helicopters are back. The triumphant, reality-challenged new Republican majority in the House of Representatives imagine that they are flying in formation up the Potomac in a bid to take over the United States.

Has the UN Failed Cote d’Ivoire?

by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo | Jan 21, 2011

Polarised and violent political crises that recur in nation states signal that the political formulae adopted to resolve the crises have not worked. Such is the stark reality in Côte d’Ivoire. The United Nations’s (UN) strategy to oversee elections and install a winner-takes-all Western-style ‘democratically elected’ state president has failed.

60-Second Expert: Afghanistan

by Conn Hallinan | Jan 20, 2011

Despite the Obama administration’s repeated assurances to the contrary, the war in Afghanistan has taken a turn for the worse since the troop surge. Public opinion in the United States, NATO countries, and Afghanistan itself increasingly oppose the war. Corruption remains rampant, President Karzai’s influence barely extends beyond Kabul, and the military’s “counterinsurgency” strategy has translated into stepping up aerial bombings and night raids. At $8 billion a month, the war is bankrupting the United States with very few results to show for it.

WikiLeaks: War, Diplomacy & Ban ki-Moon’s Toothbrush

by Phyllis Bennis | Dec 1, 2010

These documents on their own will mean little but as instruments in the hands of rising U.S. and global movements against war, and for diplomacy just maybe these documents will help to end wars and change the world.

WikiLeaks V: Spying on the UN — Et Tu, Obama Administration?

by Michael Busch | Nov 30, 2010

What did the State Department want with the credit card numbers, as well as phone, fax and even frequent-flyer account numbers of UN officials?

Make 1325 Real for Women’s Peace and Security

by Christine Ahn, Gwyn Kirk | Nov 10, 2010

October 31 marked the tenth anniversary of the momentous UN resolution on women, peace and security—UNSCR 1325. This set a new international standard that requires all parties—the UN, states, and armed militias—to ensure that women participate fully in peace negotiations and post-conflict reconstruction. If this really worked, it would transform our militarized world.

Canada on Ice: at the UN

by Ian Williams | Oct 26, 2010

Canada’s defeat in elections for a temporary seat in the UN Security Council has implications that reach beyond being an upset for Stephen Harper’s conservative government in Ottawa. It reinforces how far most UN members are from supporting other nations that unconditionally accept Israeli behavior in the Middle East. It also, ironically, lends some support to Ottawa’s longstanding opposition to increasing the number of permanent Security Council members.