A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Brothers Judd: "U.S. Lambastes Iran, N. Korea at U.N. Meeting" ... Good thing John Bolton hasn't been confirmed or they'd be feeling lambasteder."
Lucianne: "Sit-ins, human-chain demonstrations and a U.N. conference were underway or scheduled in countries from the Philippines to Senegal for the 15th annual World Press Freedom Day."
Polianna: "By simply pursuing the United Nations website one can find a multitude of sub-organizations that do everything from research on agriculture to preserving global culture to some of the best anti-poverty work being done today."
Sudan: The Passion of the Present: "Even though both the Bush administration and the United Nations have spoken out on the situation in Darfur, with U.S. officials even terming it a case of genocide, the Khartoum government has remained entrenched." [Washington Post]
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
Annan warns on regimes' nuclear programmes
Entrenched stands threaten nuclear nonproliferation conference
India teams with UN to fight spread of HIV/AIDS
Press Freedom Day celebrated in region noted for press curbs
UNESCO Director-General Condemns Murder of Sri Lankan Journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram "Taraki"
Struggling Nepal media marches on World Press Freedom Day
UN transfers refugees to new sites away from congested Rwanda-DR of Congo border
"The voice was soft, calm, familiar. But the scenario Kofi Annan sketched out was chilling.
A nuclear bomb goes off in a great city. Chaos ensues, and a frightened world asks, "Was this an act of terrorism? Was it an act of aggression by a state? Was it an accident?"
Tens or hundreds of thousands would be dead, the U.N. chief said, and questions, implications and dread would consume world leaders. Treaties might collapse, trade and economies totter, human rights and freedoms come under threat. And statesmen would ask: "How did it come to this?"
It was Monday's arresting opening to a monthlong conference reviewing the workings of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, at a moment of rising nuclear tensions in the world, on a day when speakers called for concessions from many sides - Iran, North Korea, America, Russia - to move toward a world free of the nuclear threat." More...
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
Annan, General Assembly President express optimism over talks on UN reform
World gathers to review nuclear treaty
Nuclear conference opens, hears UN watchdog call for balance between security and development
U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference
UN urged to investigate media killings in the Philippines
Downer asks UN for help in hostage crisis
Annan welcomes lifting of state of emergency, release of some prisoners in Nepal
Annan meets with 50 Jewish leaders from around the globe
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Chrenkoff: "Good news from Afghanistan, Part 12 ... "UNICEF is planning to hold 18 workshops on children's rights in the forthcoming year to educate government officials about children's rights."
Mudville Gazette: "For the seventh time since it took force in 1970, the world's nations gather Monday to reassess how well the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is keeping the lid on man's most terrible weapons."
Washington Note: "[America's Ambassador to the United Nations] must represent the best of who we are and be a no-nonsense advocate for American interests as well as committed to an institution that helps further global stability and which can address some of the world's most insoluble problems."
"Fifteen years after the former Iraqi government used old blueprints dating from the British Empire to drain a vast wetland, the area is slowly creeping back to life.
For millennia, the Mesopotamian Marshlands were an isolated and swampy oasis in the desert, covering more than 20,000 square km of interconnected lakes, mudflats and bayous. Some believe it is where the biblical Eden was located.
The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), which first alerted the world via satellite images that the marshes were vanishing, is playing an active role in capacity-building and promoting sustainable development in the area.
The agency created the Marshland Information Network, comprising the Marshland Arabs Forum, various government ministries and the U.S.-based Iraq Foundation, which runs the Eden Again Project.
"We're targeting smaller communities with projects for drinking water, sanitation and water quality management," said Chizuru Aoki of UNEP. "The goal is to support environmentally sustainable technologies." Read more...
For background on this story read The Demise of Mesopotamian Marshlands, UN Chronicle 2002
Insight (PDF file) from the President of the United Nations Foundation on the role of the UNF: "We focus substantively on children's health, with the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Some major partners of ours in that area include Rotary on polio and the Red Cross and the Center for Disease Control on measles; and we are also working on an emerging malaria issue. We work on AIDS and reproductive health issues with UNAIDS and UNFPA, focused in particular on the ability of people to protect themselves and on women's empowerment. We work on a range of environmental issues with UNDP and UNEP, and with a special focus on energy, security, and climate issues through our own Energy Future Coalition. You all may have seen a recent initiative of Frank Gaffney, Jim Woolsey, Boyden Gray and others focused on security and energy. That is an initiative that came out of these efforts. And we have a variety of initiatives on human rights and governance."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Chez Nadezhda: "With all the ink spilt and airwaves filled about John Bolton and UN reform, very little in the way of "what exactly do we mean by reform" has been discussed by either proponents or opponents of Bolton's nomination."
Democracy Arsenal: "It's extremely healthy for the policy blogs like Democracy Arsenal to expand beyond Bolton himself to the specifics of UN reform."
Fire of Liberty: "Bolton possesses the qualities that most effective diplomats need to have in order to get things accomplished."
Outside the Beltway: "If Bolton's chief flaw is that he is sometimes rude to subordinates who turn in subpar performances, I don't see that as a disqualifier."
War and Piece: "Perhaps not surprisingly, there's little sunlight between the Annan reform proposal and the ideas discussed by Condoleezza Rice's UN advisor."
Washington Note "There is a large group of people -- liberal, conservative, and centrist -- who have each played a key role in bringing the opposition to John Bolton's nomination where it has come."
From President Bush's press conference, 4/28/05:
"I think the United Nations is important. As a matter of fact, I'll give you an example. Today I met with the United Nations representative to Syria, Mr. Larsen. He's an impressive fellow. Now, he's delivered -- to Lebanon, excuse me -- he's delivered a very strong message to the Syrian leader, though, that the world expects President Assad to withdraw not only his military forces, but his intelligence services, completely from Lebanon.
And now he is in charge of following up to make sure it happens. I think that's a very important and useful role for the United Nations to play. We have played a role. France has played a role. A lot of nations have played roles. But the United Nations has done a very good job in Syria -- with Syria in Lebanon of making sure that the world expects the Lebanese elections to be free in May, without Syrian influence. He's an impressive fellow. I applaud him for his hard work.
But there's an example of why I think the United Nations is an important body."