A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
JUAN COLE: "Two Army analysts who mistakenly claimed that aluminum tubing bought by Iraq was for centrifuges to enrich uranium received job performance awards during the past 3 years. If Elbaradei could see the falsehood of the claims almost immediately, it is not plausible that US analysts could not. Every American should go back and read thoroughly the transcripts of the reports to the UN of Mohamed Elbaradei in February and March of 2003."
PIRATE'S COVE: "I do believe that the United Nations has done, and still does, some good. That's a fact. There is no doubt in my mind that that is the case. However, do the good things that they have done, are doing, and will do, absolve them of the bad that they have done, are doing, and might do? Hell no. So why does the Left excuse the actions of the UN?"
&c.: "Pat Moynihan may have talked tough at the U.N. in the 1970s, but the man understood how to combine tough talk with immense charm when necessary. Bolton--well, not so much."
Selected summary of United Nations news and events
UN Memorial Pillar to be constructed
UN food relief agency to sponsor worldwide walk to end child hunger
Sudan arrests second aid worker, Annan's translator
AFGHANISTAN: Life One Year After Disarmament
U.S. Endorses Plan for U.N. Body on Post-Conflict Peacebuilding
UN News Service: "On "World No Tobacco Day", the UN World Health Organization (WHO) is urging health professionals to be more proactive in minimizing the problems caused by tobacco addiction, consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.
"Tobacco continues to be a leading global killer, with nearly five million deaths a year", notes Dr Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, and "Health professionals are on the frontline. They need the skills to help people stop smoking, and they need to lead by example, and quit tobacco use themselves."
Every day, in field operations around the world, men and women serve under the flag of the United Nations to build and maintain peace, to relieve human suffering, and to promote human rights and sustainable development. Link (pdf)
There are 66,000 military and 15,000 civilian peacekeepers.
115 members of those missions paid the highest price for their dedication to peace in 2004, with 39 more already killed during 2005.
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Alertnet: "The closure of the UNICEF office in Bossaso after several death threats against staff underscores the difficulty and danger faced by the handful of aid workers who venture into the anarchic country ravaged by nearly 14 years of militia fighting."
"Former U.S. president Bill Clinton said on Saturday he supported a tsunami aid-sharing deal between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels, saying it could lead to a lasting peace.
Clinton, the U.N. envoy for tsunami relief, also told a news conference at the end of a one-day visit he had seen much progress in recovery efforts since his last trip in February." Full Story
"With human rights observance being one of the central goals of the United Nations, Human Rights High Commissioner Louise Arbour today outlined a strategic vision for the future and called for tools to increase her office's global leadership and its engagement with individual countries.
"Our objective must be to help bridge the gap between the lofty rhetoric of human rights in the halls of the United Nations and its sobering realities on the ground," Ms. Arbour says in a report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who transmitted it to the General Assembly." Read more...
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
Annan urges donors to bolster expanded African Union efforts in Darfur
Child Trafficking is the Subject of the Latest VOA News Series
France, Germany, Spain call for autonomous UN environment agency
New Program Aims to Reduce Alarming Destruction of Global Forests by Ten Percent Annually
UN investigator in Beirut to probe Hariri killing