Blog Roundup #69

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

Coalition for Darfur: “Darfur: UN Refugee Agency Calls for Urgent Action – From the AP: “The head of the U.N. refugee agency called on the international community to take a united stance and give urgently needed help to Sudan’s embattled Darfur region.”

Democracy Arsenal (Morton H. Halperin): “Having spent most of Friday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, I am much more pessimistic about the chances for reaching agreement on a new human rights council. More alarming, I fear that the US is precipitating a crisis which will further weaken American ability to lead and which could debilitate the UN. As reported in an editorial in the New York Times on Friday, John Bolton has informed his colleagues that the United States will only support an interim three month budget for the UN and will accept a longer budget only after the US reform agenda is implemented. With the possible exception of Japan, the US position has no significant support. UN officials say that the UN will run out of money by late February if this course is adopted.”

Agonist: “UN contemplates military operation for Darfur – Reuters: “A joint military team will visit Darfur next week to study whether the United Nations should take over efforts to bring order to Sudan’s lawless west, U.N. officials and diplomats said on Sunday.”

Strategy Unit: “Ruth Wedgwood is right to say the U.N. should not have a monopoly in what defines the international community and the U.S. should nurture relationships with other international organizations for its own foreign policy goals. But, it won’t be a catalyst for U.N. reform. Indeed, it can lead to the fragmentation of the international community space – with major power getting “legitimacy” for its policies from whatever regional or international organizations out there.”

Tapped (Mark Goldberg): “If you were ever wondering how to lose diplomatic influence across the world, let me suggest using John Bolton’s recent maneuverings over the UN budget as a case study.”