Writing in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, Jonah Goldberg gnashes his teeth over the apparent failure of United States Ambassador to the UN John Bolton to win Senate confirmation. And in the process of praising Ambassador Bolton, the conservative columnist goes out of his way to trash the UN and simply make things up about Kofi Annan.
Last Friday, after more than a year of tense negotiations, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted a Global Counter Terrorism Strategy. The strategy is as ambitious as it sounds, and the fact that it passed at all is a huge accomplishment.
For the better part of the year, it seemed that the Assembly would not be able to generate this kind of document as there were deep divisions among member states over how to classify terrorism and terrorist acts. But in the end, it was another feather in the cap for General Assembly President Jan Elliason who oversaw the unanimous passage of the resolution.
Writing in The New Republic, Tim Fenholz asks whether Security Council Resolution 1706 is enough to stop the genocide in Darfur. The short answer is "no," but not because the resolution is feckless -- it is actually quite ambitious and calls for a robust peacekeeping force for Darfur. Rather, the U.S.- U.K. sponsored resolution is failing Darfur because it is currently in a holding pattern while the Security Council awaits Khartoum's consent.
Given Khartoum's intransigence, Fenholz concludes, "Only a Western-led intervention force--whether under the auspices of NATO, the United Nations, or some coalition of willing countries--can put a stop to the genocide." That may be true, but a Western-led intervention is not coming anytime soon. Even in the midst of a bloody new offensive in Darfur, there is little to suggest that the Western powers of which Fernholz speaks have the will to intervene outside United Nations auspices. This leaves the United Nations route--which requires Khartoum's consent to a peacekeeping force--as the last reasonable chance for Darfur.
For years, American foreign policy strategists have articulated the importance of constructively engaging our allies around the world. According to a fascinating new study, this could be good politics as well.
In The Hill, pollster Mark Mellman reveals details of a new survey which shows that Americans, by a wide margin, prefer multilateral approaches to the most daunting foreign policy challenges facing the United States.
Khartoum has dug itself deeper into opposition of Security Council Resolution 1706, which calls for a robust United Nations peacekeepers force to replace the African Union force in Darfur. So desperate is Khartoum to prevent the implementation of 1706, they have issued an ultimatum to the African Union: block the United Nations from taking over the mission in Darfur, or face expulsion on September 30th, when their mandate runs out. Meanwhile, a clearly emboldened Khartoum has launched a major military offensive in Darfur, in clear violation of May's Darfur Peace Agreement.
Last week, we brought you news that Megadeth's next album will be titled United Abominations. Apparently, front man Dave Mustaine came up with that catchy phrase when he was "watching TV and saw the trucks that said 'UN' on them and said, 'Man, you are so un-cool, ineffective, anything...I thought, wow I got to run with this!'"
It seems that a similar amount of thought went into the album art. Without the flags, this could just as well be another historic New York City landmark.
A couple of weeks ago, many bloggers expressed concern that Ambassador John Bolton decided to sit down for an hour-long interview with Pamela Oshry, whose Atlas Shrugs blog is far outside the mainstream. In the past weeks, attention to Oshry has subsided. Her outrages have not.
Since the outbreak of violence in Lebanon last month, the anti-UN crowd has worked overtime tarring the General Secretariat with accusations that it is pro-Hezbollah (and ergo, pro-terrorist). Writing in The Weekly Standard , Lori Lowenthal Marcus mines UNIFIL's press-releases to prove this point.
Ever the thinking person's heavy metal front man, Dave Mustaine articulates to Billboard Magazine precisely how he came up with the name of Megadeth's next studio release.
"I was watching TV and saw the trucks that said 'UN' on them and said, 'Man, you are so uncool, ineffective, anything," the singer/guitarist said in a recent Billboard interview. "I thought, 'Wow, I've got to run with this. I got it -- United Abominations, 'cause it's an abomination what they're doing!"