Monthly Archives: June 2006
New Mission to East Timor
Unrest in Dili. © UNHCR/S.Martins
“The international community should not have pulled out of East Timor so quickly, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday. Mr Annan earlier announced plans for a major new mission to the troubled nation.
The American Enterprise Misleads
Crunching numbers provided by the State Department’s annual report on voting patterns in the United Nations, Fred Gedrich concludes that General Assembly member states vote against the United States 75% of the time. So doing, he argues that this voting pattern evidences a chronic anti-Americanism at the United Nations. Alas, he fails to impart a rather significant disclaimer to that figure: it does not include resolutions reached by consensus.
Irresponsible Punditry
Media Matters: Limbaugh and Fox News Attack Mark Malloch Brown
Media Matters: “In response to recent remarks by Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, who criticized “U.S. administrations of both parties” for allowing the U.N.’s “loudest detractors, such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News,” to define the international organization for the “U.S. heartland,” Limbaugh and various other Fox News media figures smeared Brown, referring to him, in turn, as a “pointy-headed, elitist liberal” and “a phony.”
UN Seeks Funds For East Timorese Refugees
The United Nations is launching a global appeal for funds to support 100,000 refugees in East Timor. The number of people displaced from their homes in East Timor’s capital, Dili, is still rising. At least 65,000 people are in camps around Dili while an estimated 35,000 have fled to outer districts, the ABC reports.
The United Nations is launching a flash appeal in New York to raise money to feed and shelter those in the camps for months if needed. The UN Development Program is hoping to raise at least $28 million, and is confident the international community will pitch in. [More]
WaPo Op-Ed: ‘At the UN, Bluster Backfires’
Sebastian Mallaby: “Last month President Bush issued a rare apology. “Saying ‘Bring it on,’ kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal,” he confessed. “I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted.”
Well done, Mr. President, you’ve understood that bluster can backfire. Now how about sharing this insight with your ambassador to the United Nations?”
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The SC; HRC; DPRK; South Sudan
The SC: The Security Council today held its last consultations under the Council Presidency of ROK. Tomorrow, Russia will take over the rotating Presidency of the Security Council for March under Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
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The SG; Mali; Middle East; Palestine
The SG: At the Fifth Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Vienna, Austria today, the SG emphasized the role of youth in ensuring a “prosperous, equitable and peaceful future.”
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The SG; DRC; HRC; Palestinian Prisoner
The SG: In Ethiopia over the weekend, the SG is now in the United Arab Emirates. Today he met with Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, where the two discussed developments in the region, including Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and in the Middle East Peace Process.
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