A survey of the op-ed pages in major newspapers today finds a somewhat surprisingly low number tied to the traditionally convenient news peg of the UN General Assembly, where debate opened today in New York. The financial crisis seems to have pushed the UN out of the editorial limelight at The New York Times and The Washington Post, while The Wall Street Journal uses the occasion to assess the legacy of one of New York's more infamous yearly visitors. Many of the UK's top papers are mostly focused on Gordon Brown's big speech today or, again, the financial crisis, but the UN chief does find a spot in The Guardian.
Secretary-General Ban's piece runs the gamut of dangers facing the world: from the global food shortage to climate change to, you guessed it, the financial crisis. He is honest about the need to continually reform the UN to cope with these challenges, but he does not shy from lauding the UN's successes.
While praise for the UN could be expected coming from the head of the organization, support from a leader who does not use the word "we" as much as one might like comes as a bit more of a surprise. Yet, even if his reliance on the UN is "stealthy," as Stephen Schlesinger writes in a Los Angeles Times op-ed (I knew there had to be at least one about the UN today), George W. Bush has undeniably come to the organization time and time again, in some of the most crucial moments of his Presidency. Most prominently, Bush turned to the UN in dealing with two of the defining issues of his eight years in office -- the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Schlesinger runs down some of the less publicized elements of Bush-UN history: the good, the bad, and the familial:
by Katherine Miller, executive director of communications, UN Foundation
Speaking today at the World Savers Congress, professional poverty fighter Jeffrey Sachs challenged the travel industry to help make billion people who travel each year global ambassadors.
The Congress, sponsored by Conde Nast Traveller, is an invitation-only gathering of leaders in the travel industry. Once a year they come together to look at new strategies on environmental and cultural preservation, wildlife preservation, health education, and poverty alleviation.
Sachs kicked things off by first thanking the people in the room for keeping him fed, safe, and comfortable as he travels more than a million miles each year. Once the laughs subsided, he got down to business and asked the audience to recognize that travel is one of the keys to understanding diverse cultures in diverse circumstances. "No one can understand extreme poverty until they have seen it," Sachs said. "But travelers shouldn't be scared of what they might experience. It is up to you to help them try new things that may enrich and change their lives."
President Bush just wrapped up his address to the General Assembly. The transcript is not yet up on the White House website. I'll present some more analysis later, but I just wanted to give some quick thoughts.
It was impossible to watch this speech and not be overwhelemd by the amount of attention paid to terrorism. The President immediately launched into the topic and didn't relent until at least half-way through his remarks. And, even after that point, he tied every issue -- democracy, global health, and trade -- back to security. This session is bracketed by high-level events on Africa and the Millennium Development Goals, but those issues saw little daylight in President Bush's address.
Phases that weren't mentioned (at least according to my notes and memory): "climate change" (or even "energy security"), "Millennium Development Goals," "peacekeeping," or "food crisis."
His address will stand in shocking contrast to the remarks delivered by other leaders. In fact, right now, President Sarkozy, on behalf of the EU, is speaking in an entirely different tone and with an entirely different focus. Someone that I'm watching with notes that he uses "we" a lot more.
Yesterday was the 7th annual International Day of Peace, and the UN Secretary-General, along with hundreds of peace lovers and cellphone users around the world, marked the occasion by sending the following text message:
"On 21 September, the International Day of Peace, I call on world leaders and peoples around the world to join forces against conflict, poverty and hunger, and for all human rights for all."Almost 2000 texters worldwide typed out messages of peace, which were collected on this website and will be shared with world leaders when they meet for the General Assembly tomorrow. Mobile technology is already being used to overwhelming effect in relief and humanitarian operations; while texting for peace may seem a more abstract venture, this may just represent the next frontier in harnessing the power of information sharing and electronic communications to help achieve real peace on the ground. Some of the potential of this innovative strategy can already be seen in Afghanistan, where the avid preparations for the International Day of Peace did not disappoint, as guns fell silent across the violent country yesterday. If even Taliban insurgents are taking these text messages to heart, I think we can be sure that others will, too.
Tomorrow, the 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly opens and President George W. Bush will address the assembly for the last time. Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin are expected to be on hand to meet with world leaders. Their visit is a high-profile opportunity to highlight the importance of a strong U.S.-UN relationship in the years ahead.
The Better World Campaign and its sister organization, the United Nations Foundation (which sponsor UN Dispatch) are working together on an ad for Tuesday's New York Times. This ad outlines specific steps the next Administration can take to strengthen the U.S. relationship with the UN (the are also sending the memo to Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden).
With all eyes on New York next week during the General Assembly, this is a unique opportunity to help encourage a renewed U.S. leadership role at the UN and to foster international cooperation in support of a better, safer world.
International cooperation through the United Nations is needed now more than ever to combat global climate change, promote peace and reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and ease poverty and disease around the world. Working together is not only necessary to overcome the world's challenges, it also ensures that no nation has to bear all the risks, burdens, or costs of achieving a safer, more prosperous world.
Here is how you can help.
The following is a sneak preview of a full page New York Times ad that the United Nations Foundation and Better World Campaign will take out today, when the members from both presidential campaigns visit New York. Help spread the word.
MEMORANDUM
TO: The McCain-Palin & Obama-Biden campaigns
FROM: The United Nations Foundation
DATED: September 23, 2008
SUBJECT: Background for Your Visit to the United Nations
Your visit to the opening session of the 63rd United Nations General Assembly underscores the UN's value as the world's platform for bringing together world leaders to tackle shared global challenges, from terrorism and proliferation of nuclear weapons to climate change, HIV/AIDS, health and poverty.
Today, President George W. Bush will address the UN General Assembly for the last time, highlighting America's partnership with the United Nations, which is now more important than ever. Balancing America's military strength with creative diplomacy is essential for keeping the United States secure and prosperous. And the UN is the indispensable venue for exercising U.S. diplomacy and leadership, and for sharing the burdens and rewards of creating a better, safer world.
The UN is not a partisan issue. President Bush and his administration- like its Democratic and Republican predecessors - have relied extensively on the United Nations to advance U.S. security, economic, humanitarian and environmental interests. Next January, a new American President will be inaugurated, opening a new chapter in the U.S. - UN relationship. The next U.S. President will have an opportunity, on day one, to present a new face to the world, help strengthen the United Nations, and enhance America's reputation by exercising U.S. leadership on the great global challenges of the 21st Century.
Opportunities for the Next Administration
* Leading international cooperation on nuclear proliferation, terrorism, climate change, health and poverty alleviation so that the UN is in the forefront of security challenges the U.S. and all countries face today.
* Strengthening our partnership with the UN in Iraq and Afghanistan, where UN experts are playing a key role in political reconciliation and reconstruction which will help reduce sources of terror.
* Working constructively to strengthen the UN's management and budgetary practices to meet 21st Century standards and improve transparency, efficiency and effectiveness.
* Supporting international peacekeeping by providing the resources and expertise needed to help the UN manage its important and difficult assignments stemming conflicts in the world's most dangerous places.
* Paying off the U.S. $1 billion debt at the UN and eliminating barriers that stand in the way of the United States honoring its UN commitments on time, in full and without condition.
Again, welcome to the United Nations. Whatever the results of this November's election, we trust that you will visit the UN frequently to help the United States work with the international community on behalf of a better, safer, more prosperous world for Americans and all people.
Matthew Lee and I discuss Sarah Palin's forthcoming visit to the United Nations.
The Bottom Billion author writes a New York Times op-ed:
The Millennium Development Goals have been a major improvement on the unfocused agenda for poverty that preceded them, but the world has changed radically since they were announced in 2000. And the assumptions on which they are based need to be rethought. The World Bank has just raised the bean count of global poverty to 1.4 billion people, from just under a billion. It had previously overestimated the level of Chinese and Indian per capita incomes, so the count now shows that the number of poor Chinese and Indians far exceeds the number of poor Africans. But this is misleading because Chinese and Indian incomes are rising far faster and more surely than African incomes. The big difference between a poor Asian household and an equally poor African one is hope, not necessarily for the present generation of adults but for their children. Hope makes a difference in people's ability to tolerate poverty; parents are willing to sacrifice as long as their children have a future. Our top priority should be to provide credible hope where it has been lacking. The African countries in the bottom billion have missed out on the prolonged period of global growth that the rest of the world has experienced. The United Nations' goal should not be to help the poor in fast-growing and middle-income countries; it should do its utmost to help the bottom billion to catch up. Anti-poverty efforts should be focused on the 60 or so countries -- most of them in Africa -- that are both poor and persistently slow-growing.Read the rest.
I'm willing to grant that certain logistical and bureaucratic delays on the part of the UN have played a significant role in slowing the deployment of the UN-AU joint peacekeeping force to Darfur. But this? Please.
Sudan's Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem rejected the idea that Khartoum was at all responsible for delays in deploying the joint U.N.-AU peacekeeping mission (UNAMID). He said his government was doing everything in its power to ensure that the U.N. target was met. Le Roy said he expected that only half of the 26,000 UNAMID peacekeepers would be on the ground in Darfur by the end of the year. "If there are delays, it's because of the United Nations," Abdalhaleem told Reuters, adding that he hoped Le Roy would create better ties with Sudan than his predecessor.The new UN peacekeeping chief's honest assessment of the deployment rate in Darfur should not be taken as license to blast the UN for not meeting its target. The host government's cooperation -- particularly in the politically contentious and logistically difficult case of Darfur -- is absolutely crucial in securing full deployment of as large and ambitious a peacekeeping force as UNAMID, so it goes without saying that, unless the UN simply isn't trying to deploy, the government in Khartoum bears at least some responsibility for the delays. Of course, when others have claimed that the government has persistently withheld visas, imposed arbitrary and draconian regulations, held up the transport of vital supplies, stolen fuel, and even attacked neutral peacekeepers, it isn't exactly fully committed to facilitating the deployment of a robust international force on its territory. Ambassador Abdalhaleem's statement seems designed to deflect attention from his own government's obstructionism, but it flies in the face of far too many facts to be taken at all seriously.