Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
Powers Split Over Iran Talks Bid
Two U.N. Peacekeepers Killed in Haiti
Landslides Strand Quake Survivors
Condemning Violence in Afghanistan,
Security Council Backs New Development Plan
Lebanon Wants UN Force in South for Another Year
UNICEF Brings Community Health Care to Quake-hit Pakistan
Nabarro Begs Richest Nations as Millions Face Bird Flu Death
Bird Flu: Interview With UN Food and Agriculture
Organization's Erwin Northoff
United Nations Holds Informal Session on Space Technology
for Sustainable Development and Disaster Management
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Education Experts: "The United Nations Fulbright Fellowship Program, now in its third year, was created to build new sources of UN leadership and further the ability of the Fulbright Program to educate leaders and lay the foundation for global problem solving. It is funded by a grant from the United Nations Foundation/Better World Fund. This year, 10 UN Fulbright Fellows served in various United Nations departments, offices and funds both in New York City and worldwide, after completing their graduate degrees in the U.S. under Fulbright sponsorship. From June through December 2005, these UN Fulbright fellows had an opportunity to contribute to the advancement of the work of the United Nations, learn from United Nations staff, and gain valuable professional experience to cap off their Fulbright Fellowship in the United States."
Uncooperative Blogger: "Iran Better Consider the Possibilities - You know I have been doing some thinking, and Iran should be concerned that Iran might face Security Council action in February, the very month John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, assumes the Council's Presidency. This would certainly make it more likely that significant sanction would be imposed upon them."
Phil Gomes: "Eric Margolis gives us another view of the possibilities as he anticipates a showdown [with Iran]. Iran must also face the very real threat of punishing UN-imposed sanctions, unless they are vetoed by China or Russia or even a US naval blockade. The EU is proposing sanctions as a way of trying to divert the US from military action, which would damage Europe more than the United States."
Democracy Arsenal: "The latest disturbing news out of Iran is that the government now plans a conference on the Holocaust. Having already judged the Nazi genocide a myth and called for Israel's destruction, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems bent on making a name for himself as this century's leading violent anti-Semitic megalomaniac, this time with nukes.... With Ahmadinejad openly advocating Israel's destruction and cutting the UN seals on its nuclear installations, there would seem adequate grounds today for preventive action to stop Iran from acquiring the means to carry out its destructive aims against Israel. But the principle of preventive war is even more controversial than preemptive war, since its not predicated on a threat that's close at hand."
Counterterrorism Blog: "Norway issued a startling declaration earlier this month. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store announced January 4th that his country would no longer follow the EU lead concerning the designation of terrorist organizations not included in the UN designated terrorist list. A Copy of the Foreign Ministry Statement is here. Norway had previously aligned itself with the EU's list of persons, organisations and entities set out in the Common Position on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism. The decision to now deviate from the EU means that organizations such as al aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hamas, and some 45 other designated terrorist organizations around the world may no longer be subjected in Norway to the same restrictions other EU countries have placed on them."
Michelle Malkin: "IRAN: PREPARING FOR THE WORST - We are on the brink. Via AP: "Iran's president on Saturday denounced Western nations threatening to refer his country to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program, saying the international community has no legal basis for restricting Tehran's right to research."
"Experts meeting at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva today begin discussions on racism and the Internet and other related issues.
During their two-week session, an intergovernmental working group set up to follow-up on decisions made at the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa." [More]
WaPo: "Iran threatened on Friday to block U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities and end all voluntary cooperation with the nuclear watchdog if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council as the long confrontation over Iran's nuclear program moved closer to crisis level."
More from the NYT: "For two years, the United States has repeatedly declared that after many instances of Iran failing to disclose its nuclear activities to international inspectors, its conduct should be subject to condemnation or sanctions at the Security Council. But until this week, the United States' major European allies have declined to endorse that step. Only after allowing the Europeans to negotiate with Iran and to offer possible incentives for suspending its activities, and encouraging Russia to make a separate offer to operate a joint uranium enrichment program on Russian soil, has the United States brought these partners around to more overt pressure."
UPDATE - From Alertnet: "U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday he would not prejudge what the U.N. Security Council would do with Iran, asked about whether he expected sanctions to be imposed if Iran is brought before the Council over its nuclear program."
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Tapped (Mark Leon Goldberg): "Today, at the United Nations, negotiations will begin in earnest over the composition and mandate of a new human rights council that will replace the much maligned and discredited human rights commission. Creating the council has been on the UN reform agenda for quite some time now, and it was one of the pillars of reform that went unfulfilled at the UN summit last September. But as of today, UN member states are redoubling their effort to create a newly empowered human rights organ -- and spoiler countries, like Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela and India, are doing their utmost to stall this work."
Bloomberg: "The United Nations World Health Organization said as much as $1.5 billion is needed during the next three years to combat the spread of avian influenza which has killed almost 80 people since December 2003."
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
US Diplomats Ready to Go to United Nations
UN Resumes Earthquake Aid Flights
United States Sending Diplomatic Mission to Ethiopia, Eritrea
Bird Flu in Turkey Following Asia's Pattern of Poultry-to-Human
Transmission, UN Expert Says
Arms Flow to Sudan's Darfur Despite Embargo: UN
Record Number Of Countries Contributed To UNFPA,
The United Nations Population Fund, In 2005