Yearly Archives: 2007
The Grinch
Obviously not getting into the spirit of United Nations Day, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad derided as “piles of paper” UN Security Council resolutions demanding Iranian halt its nuclear program.
“The so-called dossier at the Security Council is a pile of papers that have no value. They can add to those worthless papers everyday because it has no effect on the will of the Iranian nation,” state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying Wednesday.
Ahmidenijad has always positioned himself as the fly in the American ointment. But here, he’s not just insulting the United States, but Europe, Russia, and China as well. China, in particular, has increasingly sought to use the Security Council as a locus of its foreign policy priorities so it would seem to me that they have an interest in defending the authority of the Security Council against attacks like this. To the extent that Ahmidenijad has sought to stoke divisions within the Security Council, I have to wonder if his bluster today is ultimately counterproductive.
“Does the UN Effectively Fulfill its Mission?”
Today, in honor of UN Day, DipNote, the “U.S. Department of State Official Blog,” is soliciting responses to the question above. We believe that, although there are certainly steps to be taken to ensure that the UN can more efficiently fulfill its mission (both in terms of reform and the full payment of dues by key Member States), the answer is clear (and thoroughly and eloquently spelled out here).
Submit your answer on DipNote and write to us here at UN Dispatch.
A selection from those who have weighed in at DipNote after the jump.
Opening up the international biofuels market
by Dr. Corrado Clini, Director General of the Italian Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea and Chairman of the Global Bioenergy Partnership Trade in biofuels and biofuels feedstocks is currently too low. European and US systems of subsidies and incentives for domestic production and of tariffs for imported feedstocks and final products are, de facto, reducing the potential biofuels production in tropical and subtropical countries, where biomass productivity is significantly higher than in temperate regions such as Europe and North America (according to some estimates up to five times higher).
Happy UN Day!
As Jessica noted, today is UN Day. Buffalo ExPat, Marketing Buzz, Graf Wurks, Informatics World, SPA Library, Xcuse2Party, and GothicGirl, all take a moment to celebrate.
So do these children.
Happy Birthday to the United Nations!
Today marks United Nations Day, the anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on today’s date in 1945.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, “More people and governments understand that multilateralism is the only path in our interdependent and globalizing world,…Global problems demand global solutions – and going it alone is not a viable option.”
So Happy Birthday, UN. Party on.
“Captain” misses the boat on MONUC
Confusing the Hutus and Tutsis is the least of the mistakes Ed Morrisey made in a post on the Democratic Republic of the Congo this morning. Ostensibly he uses the new Human Rights Watch report on North Kivu as shaky foundation for an attack not only on the MONUC force, which he spuriously claims “has done little but act as observers as the situation has deteriorated,” but on UN peacekeeping in general, which he accuses of “successive failures.”
The “Captain” clearly values his talking points over any semblance of nuanced reporting or opinion. Even the most cursory research (we can suggest UN Dispatch’s new full-text RSS feed) would have revealed that UN workers in this incredibly complex conflict zone have been far more than “observers.” In fact, 81 UN peacekeepers have been killed as part of the mission in the DRC. Morrisey is not only being disrespectful to those who gave their lives to the mission but is insulting those who continue to put themselves in harm’s way as they try to pull the war-torn country together. Mark summarizes the situation (emphasis mine):
-
-
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.
-
-
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.”
-
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.
-
