Millions risk not receiving aid to fight Covid-19 as a result of corruption

Millions risk not receiving aid to fight Covid-19 as a result of corruption

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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.

Jerusalem Has Always Been a Contested City

March 7, 2017

by Irwin Arieff

The long-simmering dispute over the fate of Jerusalem stands at the center of the Middle East conflict. Israelis and Palestinians, divided on many points, become most emotional when discussing the future of the walled, ancient crossroads city that is holy to three world religions. So international diplomats took notice when foreign policy neophyte Donald …

Geopolitics, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

Benjamin Netanyahu, British Mandate of Palestine, Donald Trump, East Jerusalem, Israel and UN, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, Jerusalem history, Middle East Quartet, Nikki Haley, Palestine-Israeli conflict

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Seeking a Path for Jerusalem: A Chronology

March 7, 2017

by Irwin Arieff

Here is a brief political history of Jerusalem, in timeline format, dating from the earliest human settlement to the present. The chronology is selective, focusing primarily on the development of competing visions over the years of the ancient city’s past and future. The timeline accompanies a separate article, “Jerusalem’s Fate: Myth Versus Reality,” by …

Geopolitics, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, US Foreign Relations

history of Jerusalem, Jerusalem chronology, Jerusalem holy sites

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Educators on the UN Denounce Trump’s Crackdown on Refugees

January 28, 2017

by Irwin Arieff

More than 700 educators and students, meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York recently, called on the international community to protect refugees’ lives, encourage countries to take in “large numbers of refugees and migrants” and do more to ensure they get an education and are protected from sexual and gender-based violence. Acting as …

Education, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

Committee on Teaching About the United Nations, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, Trump's refugee ban, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UN Population Fund, US refugee bans

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The Syrian War and the Refugee Crisis: Spawning the Rise of the Far Right

December 21, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

The butterfly effect teaches us that seemingly insignificant actions can have enormous future consequences. A tiny pair of fluttering wings can disturb the air in a way that helps trigger a hurricane halfway around the world. Witness Syria, where the Arab Spring made its debut in 2011 in the form of a tame wave …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council, Syria, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

Aleppo, Arab Spring, Barack Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Donald Trump, Kofi Annan, Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian war, UN and Syrian war, UN Security Council and Syria

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Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University

The Danes Shake Up Dining Choices at Grand Central Terminal

December 15, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

During New York’s bad old days, Vanderbilt Hall, the waiting room at Grand Central Terminal, was a vast public space populated by homeless people napping on heavy wooden benches alongside some hardy souls actually waiting for trains. The benches were banished in the 1970s and the space has been at loose ends ever since, …

UN EATS

coffee Midtown East NYC, Danish food in New York, Grain Bar, Great Northern Food Hall, lunch Midtown, Lunch Midtown East, rye porridge, sea buckthorn

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The Rules of War Need a Major Overhaul

December 3, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

Evidence is piling up: the global security framework that emerged from the ashes of World War II is no longer capable of pursuing international peace. The arrangement, conceived by the major powers that won the war, has expanded into a grab bag of rules and institutions that the crises of our own era have …

BOOKS, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Responsibility to Protect, Security Council

"How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon", drone warfare, IHL, R2P, Responsibility to protect, Rosa Brooks, rules of war, UN reform, UN Security Council

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Five Places to Eat a Quick, Tasty Lunch Near the UN

September 18, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

Diplomacy is hard work, and you can easily work up a fierce appetite at United Nations headquarters, whether you’re an actual diplomat or just there to watch. Here are five spots — in no particular order — where you can take a break and get a good meal within easy walking distance of the …

UN EATS

coffee Midtown East NYC, Lunch Midtown East, Midtown restaurants, Mimosas, Pennylane Coffee, Sachi Asian Bistro, Tuttles Bar & Grill, UrbanSpace Vanderbilt

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A Tiny Vietnamese Spot Packing Plenty of Flavor

August 3, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

It’s an unforgivable cliché, of course, to say that good things come in small packages. But hey, in this case, it is true. @ The Spot is about as small as a place can get and still count as a restaurant. But it is a potential destination nonetheless. The modishly named spot focuses on …

UN EATS

@ The Spot, Asian fusion restaurants Midtown East NYC, lunch Midtown, Mayhem & Stout, Midtown NYC, Sachi, Vietnamese food Midtown NYC, Vietnamese midtown restaurants

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Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University

Africa’s War Problem

July 12, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

Too much of Africa is a mess. While there are, of course, great success stories, many countries continue, despite the end of colonialism and the Cold War, to suffer wildly from poverty, illness, corruption, coups and wars — too many compared with the rest of the world. Even as an outsized slice of United …

BOOKS

"War & Conflict in Africa", Africa's wars, African Union, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola movement, Paul D. Williams, UN peacekeeping missions, UN Security Council

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Momosan: Ramen Specialties Cooked by an Iron Chef

June 9, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

It started out as fast and filling food for impoverished students. Now ramen is a huge commodity and restaurants are ladling it out all over New York City, often with haute cuisine pretensions and prices to match. So what’s the big deal about a bowl of broth with noodles? Well, how about if the …

UN EATS

Food Network, Iron Chef, lunch Lexington Avenue, lunch Midtown, Lunch Midtown East, Masaharu Morimoto, Mimosas, ramen restaurant Midtown

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Poké, a Hawaiian Import, Makes Big Waves on 38th Street

April 28, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

Entering Sons of Thunder, past pictures of surfboards and surfing, you might think this Murray Hill restaurant is dedicated to the thundering of waves. In a sense it is. The top dish here is poké, derived from a Hawaiian snack based on marinated raw tuna. The name, however, derives from the Bible: among the …

UN EATS

lunch Midtown, Lunch Midtown East, poke bowl, Sons of Thunder

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Foxy John’s: A Flat-Screen Jungle, Volume Turned Low

January 7, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

Foxy John’s calls itself an Irish bar, and it’s true that Guinness and Jameson flow there freely. But the place looks like a sports bar, feels like a neighborhood watering hole and dishes out food that is more Cajun, Mexican or Italian than Irish. So don’t bother stopping by for lunch or a midafternoon …

UN EATS

Dinner Midtown East, Foxy John's, Lunch Midtown East, restaurants near UN

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Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University

Falling Flat in Syria: How Not to Fight Jihad

February 20, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

Sun Tzu’s classic work on the art of war advises would-be warriors to “know your enemy.” What were Western powers and the United Nations thinking when they first pondered ways to stop Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from beating, torturing, bombing and even gassing his own people after the first hesitant protests against his rigid …

BOOKS

"The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda, Bashar al-Assad, Charles R. Lister, Free Syrian Army, ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad, Sergio Vieira de Mello, Syrian Center for Policy Research, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency"

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The Best Bets at UrbanSpace Vanderbilt, a New Food Hall Near Grand Central

October 29, 2015

by Irwin Arieff

In the beginning, chefs created amazing food in Manhattan, and the critics said their restaurants were good. Then the darkness lifted over the waters of the East River, and chefs began creating amazing food in Brooklyn, and New Yorkers flocked to Brooklyn, by bridge and tunnel and yeah, even by subway, and some critics …

UN EATS

Amali Mou, BrisketTown, Delaney Chicken, Dinner Midtown East, Dough, Lunch Midtown East, lunch restaurants NYC, Mayhem & Stout, No. 7 Veggie, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Roberta's, Sips & Bites, Toby's Estate, UrbanSpace Vanderbilt

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Housing in South Africa: Making the Most Out of Very Little

August 18, 2015

by Irwin Arieff

CAPE TOWN — Declarations that people have a right to adequate housing are a dime a dozen. Among the many documents spelling out or elaborating on this right are the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and at least nine other international treaties, plus numerous …

Africa, Cities

apartheid, Cape Town, Cape Town free housing, Habitat for Humanity Global Village, Nelson Mandela Build, Pelican Park, right to housing

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Millions risk not receiving aid to fight Covid-19 as a result of corruption

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