A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Rikomatic: "The United Nations recently concluded an international conference on early warning in Bonn, Germany. Over 1,200 participants from 140 countries participated in the gathering, that concluded that a "people-centered" approach was needed to build effective early-warning systems to prevent the loss of human life from natural disasters such as floods, tsunamis and pandemics. As a preparation for the conference, a "Global Survey of Early Warning Systems" [PDF] was prepared by the UN, that details what capacity already exists for early warning, what the major gaps are."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Democracy Arsenal (Suzanne Nossel): "In scenes straight out of a Hollywood action figure, last week former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor found himself in a dragnet when the Nigerian government, after years of protecting him, finally announced plans to turn the ex-dictator over to a UN special court to be tried for war crimes and atrocities committed in support of civil war in Sierra Leone. Within 24 hours Taylor had escaped, and rumor was that he might attempt a coup back in Liberia's capital. But the Nigerians nabbed him, and Taylor is now in UN custody in Freetown, Sierra Leone on his way to trial. If things go as planned from now on, Taylor's extradition could become a major step toward justice and accountability in Africa."
Informed Comment: "The UN oil for food program has continued to provide staples to most Iraqi families, but will be phased out by the end of 2006 as a "socialist" legacy. Despite the talk of staples "stabilizing," the price of foodstuffs has skyrocketed. Nor is a share for Iraqis in some of their oil wealth socialism. The Alaskans get a direct dividend from their petroleum, and the food aid was the closest thing the Iraqi public had to that. If the end of the program produces, as is likely, hardship and even hunger, there will be big urban disturbances. I lived through one such in Cairo in January of 1977. The gloaming was polluted with the bottles and stones thrown at government buildings by angry crowds chanting against the International Monetary Fund. That will be the final indignity, if the Americans actually manage to starve Iraqis to death with their policies."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Paper Chase: "UN Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel said Thursday that the UN is ready to begin final negotiations on the establishment of an international tribunal to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Michel said that a mixed tribunal with both Lebanese and international support, similar to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, would produce the best outcome. He said that it is unlikely that the tribunal will be established inside Lebanon and that factors such as impartiality and safety of witnesses and judges will determine its location. Michel's comments follow a recommendation of a mixed tribunal from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this week."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Science Blog: "A far wider range of species, some of them rare and endangered, may be affected by highly virulent avian flu than has previously been supposed, ranging from big cats like leopards and tigers to other mammals like martens, weasels and badgers to 80 per cent of all bird species, the United Nations environmental agency warned today."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Agonist: "Security Council Fails To Reach Accord on Iran - WaPo - The Security Council's five permanent members and Germany failed to reach agreement at a meeting Monday on how to respond to the Iranian nuclear crisis but said they would forge ahead in the coming days to break the impasse. The deadlock comes as U.S. and European officials confirmed that Britain had presented the United States with a paper outlining a possible diplomatic strategy to resolve the crisis, including new talks and concessions. But the British representative at Monday's talks, John Sawers, said Britain had not made such a proposal at the meeting."
Tapped (Mark Leon Goldberg): "Finally, there's some good news out of Western Africa: The newly elected president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, formally requested that the government of Nigeria extradite former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor to the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Huffington Post (Steve Clemons): "Anne-Marie Slaughter sums up the state of affairs regarding America's stance towards the new Human Rights Council beautifully. Slaughter, the dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, outlines that although America voted "no" on the Council, word from the U.N. has it that Secretary Rice pushed hard to soften Bolton's stated opposition to the Council... Far more important, though, was the announcement later in the day that the U.S. would in fact help to fund the Council and would pledge support for making it "as strong and effective as it can be."
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."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Democracy Arsenal: Guest Blogger: Jon B. Wolfsthal, Nonproliferation Fellow -- International Security Program, CSIS: "For three years the United States has been trying to bring Iran's violations of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons to the UN Security Council. The International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors reported Iran's behavior to the UN in early February and gave Iran one month to clear up lingering concerns about its program, after having previously found Iran in violation of its inspection obligations. Nobel Laureate and IAEA Director General reported to the IAEA Board last week that Iran is still obstructing inspection requests by the Agency, and advancing its uranium enrichment program and despite last minute diplomatic efforts by the EU and Russia, the matter is now headed directly for New York and the UN Security Council."
RCP Blog: "In widely reported remarks this weeked at the AIPAC conference U.S. Ambassador John Bolton warned of "tangible and painful consequences" for Iran if tit doesn't acquiesce to international demands. Today The Guardian reports that Bolton offered an even more frank assessment of the situation with Iran to a delegation of British MPs visiting Washington last week."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Paper Chase: "EU supports UN rights council proposal despite US opposition - The 25-member European Union (EU) has issued a statement of support for a draft resolution [PDF text; JURIST report] proposing a new UN Human Rights Council to replace the generally-discredited Human Rights Commission, which has been severely criticized for not preventing rights violators from using their membership to protect one another from censure."
Sudan Watch: "Feb 28 2006 Bloomberg report reveals the UN's top envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk said intelligence shows there are "persons in Khartoum who were not there before," meaning al-Qaeda terrorists who have threatened his life and would act against any UN troops, particularly non-Africans."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Daily Kos (DemFromCT): "Combining two favorite topics of mine (bird flu and polling), here's a bird flu poll, courtesy of Harvard School of Public Health. Some of the interesting findings: "More than half of Americans (57%) report that they are concerned about the potential spread of bird flu in the United States (Figures available here in .ppt). However, only 15% are very concerned at the moment." Meanwhile, H5N1 is becoming endemic in Europe. This means that the poultry may be exposed again and again to the virus, as has already happened in Hong Kong. The longer term approach may be a better vaccine for poultry and humans; short term, culling and other methods must be used. But senior flu researcher Robert Webster in this paper warns against killing migratory birds: "...culling migratory birds is not acceptable to any international authority (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], the World Organization for Animal Health [OIE], the World Health Organization [WHO]). The idea of culling migratory birds must be strongly discouraged, for it could have unknown ecologic consequences."