Blog Roundup #94

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

Informed Comment: “Kofi Annan says that two things are keeping back an expansion of UN activities in Iraq: no nation will transport UN workers inside Iraq by plane, and the general violence that plagues the country.”Mahablog: “Iran Update – Bronwen Maddox of the London Times provides an update on the Iran nuclear situation: “EVERYTHING is set for the row over Iran’s nuclear work to land before the UN Security Council in New York. The council is preparing to take up the baton next week. Yet until this week’s acrimonious and muddled meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna finally ends, there is a hovering uncertainty that this will happen.” Iran, in its inimitable vocabulary, warned the US that it, too, could cause “harm and pain”, and threatened to disrupt oil markets. It attacked US “warmongers”, saying: “Surely we are not naive about the US’s intention to flex muscles. But we also see the bone fractures underneath.” Ms. Maddox writes that the Security Council will be reluctant to impose sanctions. Nobody expects anything to happen soon.”

MoJo Blog (Bradford Plumer): “Eric Reeves, who’s followed the Darfur conflict closer than just about anyone else on the planet, notes today that it’s not just Europe that deserves the blame here. The United States isn’t exactly leading on the issue, either. And while both the EU and the U.S. are pushing for UN involvement, that won’t be enough – ultimately, NATO needs to get involved.”