A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Agonist: "The previous Bolton Thread was too long, thus, we have a new one."
Blue Glow Worm: "As I have said in Questioning our U.N. Role from March 17th, the U.N. has a role to play in the world. However, there is little doubt, that reform of the United Nations is necessary and should be a requirement before continuing forward. A report requested by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and published in December, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, is a starting point."
Democracy Arsenal: "Nearly eight months after calling the mass killings in the Darfur region genocide and doing the heavy lifting on a resolution to get the UN involved, the Administration seems to have backed away from that term, and from any sustained effort to address the crisis."
Fistful of Euros: "Views of immigration are changing. Back in the mists of time, when I first came to the conclusion that ongoing demographic changes were going to be important, the voices in favour of a reconsideration of immigration policy were few and far between. Perhaps the first and most notable of these voices was the UN population division."
Juan Cole: "Hmm. Maybe, contrary to what John Bolton says, the United Nations does exist after all. Maybe a lot of countries even pay more attention to it than they do to Washington."
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
U.N. Nuclear Conference Agrees on Agenda
Annan congratulates UK's Blair on elections, looks forward to collaboration on UN reform
U.S. Considers Joining Chemical Treaty
Tsunami provokes radical change in crisis response
UN says number of refugees fleeing insecurity in Togo down sharply
"United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie today saw off a convoy of trucks carrying Afghans home from Pakistan, pushing the total number of those repatriating with help from the UN refugee agency past the 50,000 mark for the year.
The Academy Award-wining actress arrived yesterday in Pakistan for a four-day visit to focus world attention on the plight of Afghan refugees. The 500 refugees who left Attock in the 35-vehicle convoy were all skilled carpet weavers carrying their talents back to their original homes in the northern Afghan provinces of Balkh and Jozan." Read more...
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Betsy's Page: "Joel Mowbray, who does some of the more interesting investigative journalism of any columnist, reminds us of the love fest that Richard Holbrooke faced before a GOP Senate Committee when he was nominated to be Ambassador to the UN."
Blog Critics: "Is the United Nations necessary in spite of its failures? The answer is yes and the reason is because there is no other international forum of comparable importance and almost global representation."
Dead Pool: "Uncle Walter waves his NO NUKES sign a bit higher in the face of the old news networks... "When it comes to reporting on nuclear arms, the U.S. news media let readers and viewers down, giving them only part of the story, former news anchor Walter Cronkite said Wednesday. The celebrated CBS retiree, joining in a panel discussion on the sidelines of a U.N. conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty."
Knitting for Boozehags: "Surely we can find a nominee for UN Ambassador that America can support and get behind -- not someone who divides our country and alienates our allies."
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
Slaying of Afghan Women Concerns U.N.
UN extends mission in Ivory Coast
A Better Way to Fight Poverty
Ethiopia: 'Many children will surely die'
General Assembly approves chiefs for development and internal oversight
Reuters: "The U.N. Security Council pressed Lebanon on Wednesday to hold parliamentary elections on schedule and welcomed "noticeable progress" in Syria's withdrawal, but said all U.N. demands had not yet been met."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Pardon My English: "United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan: "In addition to actions already proscribed by existing conventions, any action constitutes terrorism if it is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act." A clear definition of terrorism."
Stygius: "Considering that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has named a Special Adviser on UN Reform, who reports "directly to the Secretary of State," there's little weight to the "sky is falling" arguments that the UN is somehow unreformable if John Bolton's nomination fails."
Watchblog: "UN member nations are meeting to assess the state of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The consensus seems to be that it's inadequate, if not a disaster."
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
SOMALIA, DEFORESTATION AMONG UN LIST OF '10 STORIES THE WORLD SHOULD HEAR MORE ABOUT'
Iran Stands by Nuclear Plans at U.N. Talks [NPR News audio]
UNICEF to support US $90 million in rebuilding tsunami affected schools
The Problem of Child Sex Tourism and Sex Trafficking in Asia
"For the first time ever a UN program, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has won the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award." LINK