The UN-State

What happens if the UN recognizes the state of Palestine before Israel does?

Buying Abstentions

What did the Obama administration give up or promise so that Russia or China wouldn't veto the UN Security Council resolution the U.S. needed for our latest war? Some unpleasant speculation here.

Muslim War III

I'm a little stunned by the UN Security Council vote and haven't sorted it all out yet. For now, my gut's with Andrew Sullivan:

This strikes me as the worst decision by Obama since he ramped up forces in Afghanistan. If he thinks it makes him look stronger, he's nuts. He looks weak and led around by Cameron and Sarkozy and Clinton. If he's doing it purely for humanitarian reasons (and since there are no vital interests involved, he must be, right), why have we not stopped the slaughter in the Congo? Why have we not intervened in Zimbabwe? Why are we not instituting no-fly zones in Burma?

None of this makes any sense. And the cost? $300 million a week - or $15 billion a year. Where is that coming from? Or have we really re-elected another Bush? More war paid for by more borrowing - with no leadership on the longterm fiscal crisis.

More Cultural Imperialism By The West

Reuters:

The United States succeeded on Tuesday in getting the United Nations to restore a reference to killings due to sexual orientation that had been deleted from a resolution condemning unjustified executions.

Don't Say Don't Kill

Western vs. Arab and African nations about protecting gay and lesbian people from being killed.

Benighted Nations

The UN general assembly sticks up for murdering gay and lesbian people.

Nation-Shopping At The UN

With peace negotiations stalled over West Bank settlements, to get their state Palestinians may turn to the body that gave Israel instant international legitimacy in 1947. Would President Obama veto it in the Security Council?

Who Gets To Rap With ET First?

They're still working on it at the UN.

Joker Of The Week

Criticizing Iran's bozo president's way too easy. His critique of western capitalism doesn't withstand a moment's contemplation of the generations of angry, desperate men twisted toward terrorism by the miserably run and in some cases woman-hating regimes of the Arab and Muslim worlds. And then this:

Ahmadinejad proposed that the United Nations name the coming 10 years "the decade for the joint global governance."

Agreed. We vote no bomb for Iran. Moved, seconded, passed.

America, Like A Ring In A Bell

U2's Bono says that President Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize because of his promise (which we can be sure the dedicated citizen-rocker will do his best to make sure Obama keeps) to put the U.S. foreign policy establishment firmly behind the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Bono agrees with his pal the President's national security adviser, Gen. Jim Jones, who says, "Stability = Security + Development." Riffing in the New York Times this morning, Bono sounds a characteristically constructive note:

In dangerous, clangorous times, the idea of America rings like a bell (see King, M. L., Jr., and Dylan, Bob). It hits a high note and sustains it without wearing on your nerves. (If only we all could.) This was the melody line of the Marshall Plan and it’s resonating again. Why? Because the world sees that America might just hold the keys to solving the three greatest threats we face on this planet: extreme poverty, extreme ideology and extreme climate change. The world senses that America, with renewed global support, might be better placed to defeat this axis of extremism with a new model of foreign policy.

Hat tip to Maarja Krusten

Getting A Kick Out Of Obama's Speech

I'm sure the White House loves Fareed Zakaria's Nixon angle:

Obama's [UN] speech was part of a calculated strategy. In sentiment it recalls Richard Nixon's line after losing the California governor's race in 1962: "You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore." Obama was telling the world: the United States is willing to be cooperative, to rejoin international institutions, to adhere to treaties. But in return, other countries will have to help solve some of the world's common problems. You can't just kick us around anymore.

No Nukes

Iran agrees to meet with us and the other permanent UN Security Council members in October as long as the agenda doesn't include the main issue of concern.

Apartheid At Home

The worldwide Anglican Communion sent delegates to the 53rd meeting of UN's Commission on the Status of Women this month in Washington. Today's statement by our delegates reads in part:

The clear statement made at a plenary session by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that 3 million girls are still undergoing female genital mutilation each year requires urgent further action by all concerned. Multiple presentations highlighted the association of this, other acts of violence against women and girls, and the spread of HIV. The lack of sexual and reproductive rights and education puts women and girls at increased risk of HIV and in some areas of the world married women are at highest risk. Innovative prevention measures are desperately needed. The vulnerability of women and girls in areas of armed conflict and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is an area of deep alarm. The delegates also recognize the challenges faced by migrant and indigenous women and girls; work is required throughout the world to support and empower them.

It is evident that gender stereotyping is a major hindrance in moving ahead and now needs to be addressed by clear action throughout the world. Work must be done with men and boys as well as women and girls to address harmful societal norms and practices. We ask churches across the Anglican Communion to examine how they can champion the equality of men and boys, and women and girls particularly with regard to caregiving.

A Thanksgiving Plea For The Congo

The UN's World Food Program