Ban Takes Sides in Korea Showdown

Newsweek has my take on Ban’s rather remarkable suggestion yesterday that the Security Council take action on North Korea.   

As a general rule, the U.N. secretary-general shows extreme deference to the Security Council. The sec-gen, as he is known, is also expected to eschew personal affiliations to his home country for the blue flag of the United Nations. At least that is how it is supposed to work. But in an eye-popping moment at the United Nations yesterday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon showed that there is a human element of the job standing in the way of that ideal.

Read the rest.  And don’t miss Colum Lynch —  he has a similar takeaway