I’ve just sat down with the UK Ambassador to the United Nations Mark Lyall Grant. He is serving as the president of the Security Council this month and our conversation comes one day after the Austrian government announced it is pulling its troops from the longstanding UN Peacekeeping Mission in Golan, and about 4 hours before the Security Council is meeting to discuss the issue.
In our conversation Ambassador Grant discusses why he does not want the Peacekeeping Mission in Golan to disintegrate (hint: because it may compel Israel to enter the Syrian conflict in a more robust way); the logic of arming rebels; the forthcoming international Syria conference; and his impressions of the newly nominated US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power.