The grassroots anti-malaria campaign to raise money for insecticide treated bed nets traveled to the White House yesterday. The NBA and United Methodist Church represented the Nothing But Nets Campaign at a White House Summit on malaria, the number one killer of children in Africa. So far, the campaign has raised over $1.6 million to send life-saving bed nets to Africa. Learn more about the summit and Nothing But Nets.
One has to question the moral compass of the editors of the National Review Online. In back to back "symposiums" NRO contributors take turns exculpating one of South America's most brutal dictators, then in the next breath brand Kofi Annan the leader of a terrorist organization.
On Monday, the National Review ran a series of articles on the legacy of Augusto Pinochet, which as Spencer Ackerman notes, includes a choice contribution from Mario Loyola who argues that the former Chilean dictator "worked hard to protect the bases of a modern progressive democracy." Then, on Tuesday, The National Review uses the outgoing Secretary General's valedictory speech at the Truman Presidential Library to launch a series of attacks on Kofi Annan, culminating in accusations that he is a terrorists' stooge.
With this year's Nobel Peace Prize bestowed on micro-lending pioneer Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Committee affirmed the principle that we cannot have peace while billions live in abject poverty. Since 1976, his Grameen Bank has been fighting poverty in the developing world, one small loan at a time. To celebrate Dr. Yunus' honor, join the Grameen Foundation for a week of activities to help raise awareness of the power of micro lending. And once again, congratulations to Dr. Yunus.
The recommendations of the just released Iraq Study Group report are a sober reminder of the limitations of current strategies for stabilizing Iraq and pursuing peace in the region.
With a new Secretary General comes new opportunities for the United States to strengthen its commitment to the United Nations. The next UNF Insights column outlines some of the openings that this transitional period presents and argues that American foreign policy would be best served by seizing this new multilateralist moment. Click here for the PDF.
In the New Republic online, Peter Beinart has written a not-to-be missed essay touting the successful nation building strategies the United Nations has been quietly developing without much fanfare here in the United States.
In his latest Sports Illustrated column Rick Reilly reports on his trip to Nigeria to distribute the first round of anti-malaria bed nets, bought from money raised by the Nothing But Nets campaign.
In the course of a two and a half hour press conference, Sudanese President Omar al Bashir rejected UN command of a hybrid AU-UN force for Darfur, saying he would only accept African Troops under African leadership. Bashir also gave an impossibly low mortality estimate - 9,000 - as the number of people who have died as a result of the conflict in Darfur. These comments could be a serious setback to the quick deployment of an effective peacekeeping force to Darfur.
In the Pittsburgh Tribune Review an interview with anti-UN activist Nathan Tabor quickly descends into bizarre conspiracy mongering. Tabor, who authored a book called The Beast on the East River: The U.N. Threat to America's Sovereignty and Security, tells the Tribune Review that the United Nations has effectively taken control of American National Parks.