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Irwin Arieff

Irwin Arieff is a veteran writer and editor with extensive experience writing about international diplomacy and food, cooking and restaurants. Before leaving daily journalism in 2007, he was a Reuters correspondent for 23 years, serving in senior posts in Washington, Paris and New York as well as at the United Nations. He also wrote restaurant reviews for The Washington Post and Washington City Paper in the 1980s and 1990s with his wife, Deborah Baldwin.

Trump Is So Scary He Makes Even Bolton Look Good

June 29, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

I never thought I would ever feel sorry for Nikki Haley. But John Bolton, in his infamous new book, “The Room Where It Happened,” is so unrelenting in his snide comments about Haley, President Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, that you have to draw back and think, Wait a minute, why is …

BOOKS, US Foreign Relations

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Will the Coronavirus Leave Joe and Kelly Craft Homeless? Maybe the Fed Can Help

May 15, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

A year ago, Kelly Craft was serving as Washington’s frequently absent ambassador to Canada, soon to be en route to the United Nations. Her spouse, the coal baron Joseph Craft III, was knee-deep in a Trump administration assault on federal rules aimed at safeguarding the environment, slowing climate change and protecting miners and other …

Covid-19, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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Trump’s Break-Up With the WHO and the US Push for a Vaccine

May 1, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

Just how crazy is Donald Trump’s campaign to punish the World Health Organization over its apparent “China-centric” bias in the midst of a deadly pandemic? Let us count the ways. At the top of the list: It may contribute to a big setback for Trump himself. When the United States president announced on April …

Covid-19, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Kelly Craft Clarifies Her Worldview: Trump’s Word Reigns Supreme

April 17, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

What a difference a few weeks can make. At the end of March, Kelly Craft, President Trump’s top ambassador at the United Nations, insisted that midbattle against a dread disease sweeping the globe was no time for an international blame game. Just two weeks later, there she was, jumping on Trump’s blame-game bandwagon. What …

Covid-19, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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The only talk show of its kind in the world

Is Kelly Craft Out of the Loop on Trump’s Pandemic Plans?

April 4, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

President Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo love to label Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus.” But Kelly Craft, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, is calling on Washington to work hand in hand with China and end the “blame game” of trying to hold Beijing responsible for the …

Covid-19, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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US Ambassador Kelly Craft Resumes Campaign Donations with a Big Gift to Trump

February 26, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

Kelly Craft has taken a big step toward helping to ensure her political future, lavishing a campaign contribution of $360,600 on the re-election of her boss, President Donald Trump. The gift is the first that Craft, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, has dished out since joining the diplomatic corps as ambassador …

Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Will Trump’s ‘Vision’ Shake Up the Middle East?

February 3, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

When is a peace plan not a peace plan? Look no further than Donald Trump’s cynically timed initiative to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. If a breakthrough does result, it will be in spite of itself. Released in late January after three years lurking in the shadows, it would jettison decades …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Security Council, US Foreign Relations

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Trump vs. Iran: What’s the UN for, Anyway?

January 13, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

Donald Trump may have dodged the big one in the Middle East for now. But recent events make clear that the president and his tragic idea of leadership may yet drag the United States into a major war with Iran — and there’s good reason to believe it wouldn’t be pretty. He may still …

The Trump Years, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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The only talk show of its kind in the world

Nikki Haley Makes Her Choice: She’s a Forever Trumper

November 19, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

“With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace,” is framed as a look back at Nikki Haley’s two years as United States ambassador to the United Nations. It’s also not unreasonable to assume she’s just ticking off one more box before an eventual run for high office: Quit your government job, start …

BOOKS, US-UN Relations

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Why Wait Until Trump Starts Talking to the Paintings?

October 14, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

In early 1974, fresh out of journalism school, I walked into the offices of the newly created Federal Energy Office in Washington and asked for a job. Within days I was back — a freshly minted writer-editor in the public affairs office of an agency launched in response to an oil embargo imposed on …

Peace and Security, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Where’s Kelly Knight Craft? She Is Neither in Ottawa Nor at the UN

August 26, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

Donald Trump must have known just what he was getting into when he named Kelly Knight Craft to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations. But does Knight Craft understand the humiliating position the president is putting her into? Knight Craft, the soft-spoken wife of a billionaire coal executive from Kentucky, demonstrates …

Secretary-General, Security Council, The Trump Years

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Kelly Knight Craft: A ‘Very Impressive Individual’ or ‘Unfit to Serve’?

July 31, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

The Senate has confirmed Kelly Knight Craft to be Washington’s top ambassador to the United Nations, even as a key Democrat pronounced her “unfit to serve.” The move ends a seven-month vacancy in one of the country’s most senior diplomatic posts. The July 31 vote on Craft’s nomination was 56 to 34, with 5 …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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The UN Headquarters’ Incredibly Shrinking Dining Choices

July 11, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

Six years ago, hungry staff members at the United Nations’ New York headquarters thought big changes were afoot in the cafeteria, and not a moment too soon. Toward the end, the provider, Aramark, a publicly traded firm best known for its catering at prisons and baseball stadiums, replaced silverware with plastic and got rid of all …

UN EATS

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Trump’s UN Pick Softens on Climate Change, but Not on Paris Accord

June 19, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

Kelly Knight Craft, Donald Trump’s pick to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations, raised eyebrows in her June 19 Senate confirmation hearing by putting some space between her views on global climate change and those of the president. But Trump needn’t worry that she might end up threatening her boss’s …

Security Council, The Trump Years, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Where Will Trump’s Love for Israel Take Us?

April 17, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s not really “America First.” It’s “Donald Trump First.” Life would no doubt be safer for the rest of us if his administration based its foreign policy on something larger than one person’s personal fortune(s). But Trump policies have never been famous for their altruism and …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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