A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
UPDATE: Booman Tribune: “The United Nations announced that the United States Government has accepted the world body’s offer of help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.”
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Melancholy ID: “Judy Cannon argues the United Nations can boast a remarkable list of achievements over the last 60 years.”
Echidne: “Remember how the radical cleric Pat Robertson said that he wants to see Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, assassinated? Now Chavez has said this in return: “I announce that my government is going to take legal action in the United States … to call for the assassination of a head of state is an act of terrorism.” Chavez said in a televised speech. The fiery left-wing critic of Bush’s foreign policy who frequently charges the U.S. government is plotting to kill him, called Robertson “crazy” and a “public menace.” He said Venezuela could seek Robertson’s extradition under international treaties and take its claim to the United Nations if the Bush administration did not act.”
Demlog: “Iraqi negotiators finished the country’s new constitution Sunday without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs who helped prepare it, dealing a blow to the Bush administration and setting the stage for a bitter campaign leading up to an October referendum. The 15 members of the Sunni panel said they rejected the document because of disagreements over such issues as federalism, Iraq’s identity and references to Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated Baath Party. Sunni Arab negotiators also said in a joint statement that they had asked the United Nations and Arab League to intervene.”
Martin Stabe: “Canada flexes Arctic muscles – For those who have missed it, the NATO allies Canada and Denmark are in a border spat over a tiny, remote island off Greenland north of the Arctic Circle. The RCN has been conducting “Arctic sovereignty patrols” in the nippy region. In July, the RCN planted a flag on Hans Island, and the Canadian defense minister Bill Graham later made an unannounced visit, prompting protests from Copenhagen, which dispatched its own naval ships to region. Before things got ugly, the two countries decided to settle the dispute at the United Nations.”
Clarity and Resolve: “Jihad In the Balkans – I get the feeling that things may once again get very ugly in the Balkans when the U.N. leaves.”
TPM Cafe (Steve Clemons): “The End of Diplomacy? – This from a thoughtful piece by Anne Penketh in The Independent: “Mr Bolton is at the UN with a mission. At the end of the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama famously decreed the end of history. We could be witnessing the end of diplomacy.” America in the past has generally demonstrated capacity to be a great leader of others — a planning nation, a strategic nation, a complex systems integrator in war and peace — but now the obsession with doing things alone is a rejection of leadership and guarantees future weakness.”