Election day here in the United States is still about one month away. But in New York today, the General Assembly is set to select new members of the Security Council for two year stints. UPDATE: The results are in. UPDATE II: Canadian recriminations begin! UPDATE III: Canadian recriminations get personal.
The Security Council adopted a sanctions resolution on Iran, with a vote of 12 -2, with one abstention. The outliers, as expected, were Brazil and Turkey which recently negotiated a fuel swap deal with Iran. Apparently the P-5 found that deal insufficient, so they imposed a new round of sanctions today. According to a release from the United States Mission to the UN, this is what the resolution specifically targets:
The valuable, insidery Security Council report just put out an alert suggesting that a vote on a new round of Security Council sanctions on Iran can be expected as early as tomorrrow. Unlike the three previous sanctions resolutions on Iran, however, it is unlikely that the resolution will pass unanimously. From the Security Council Report:
Last night, the Security Council issued a "Presidential Statement" on the incident aboard the a Gaza-bound humanitarian convoy that was poised to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Ten people were killed in the raid and hundreds of nationals from Europe and Turkey (including several dignitaries) are being detained by Israel.
The Security Council held an emergency session yesterday. Judging from the readout, the session produced some very volatile moments.
The General Assembly held Security Council elections yesterday. As is the case with many procedures at the UN, a certain number of seats are set aside for specific regional blocs. And, as is often the case, the blocs decide amongst themselves who will stand for election. This is what happened yesterday in which five countries ran un-opposed for five seats on the council. The results are as follows:
Africa & Asia: Gabon, Lebanon & Nigeria
You have to credit the United States with making the most of its month long chairmanship of the Security Council. First, President Obama chairs a meeting on non-proliferation and disarmament with other heads of state. Now, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is using the platform to push an issue critically important to international peace and security: combating sexual violence as a tool of warfare.