Geopolitics

The Debate on Trump’s Budget Ignores Serious Global Cuts

May 29, 2017

When the White House sent its proposed 2018 budget to the United States Congress on May 23, it was apparent that not only would a hawkish, nationalistic focus on military expenditures come at the cost of international aid and support for the United Nations. Worse, the Trump plan would also sideline discussions on global …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, Geopolitics, Health and Population, Humanitarian Aid, Peace and Security, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

GAVI, Pepfar, Rex Tillerson, Stephane Dujarric, Trump budget cuts to UN, Trump budget proposal, UN General Assembly Committee on Contributions, UN peacekeeping budget, UNFPA, US African Development Fund, US budget and the UN, US foreign aid, US global gag rule, USAID funding, White House Office of Management and Budget

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GEOPOLITICS

Did Equatorial Guinea Bribe Its Way to a UN Security Council Seat?

May 23, 2017

by Kacie Candela

Amid the predominantly Francophone region in West Africa is tiny Spanish-speaking Equatorial Guinea, a country blessed — or cursed — with vast oil reserves. For most of its independent life, the country has been ruled by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has the distinction of being the longest-serving nonroyal head of state in …

Africa, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Poverty, Security Council

African Union, Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program, Center for Economic and Social Rights, EG Justice, Equatorial Guinea, ExxonMobil and Equatorial Guinea, Human Rights Watch, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Rex Tillerson, Security Council elections, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, UN's Human Development Index, Wikileaks and Equatorial Guinea

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GEOPOLITICS

UN Is Examining Its Security Policies After Murders in Congo

May 21, 2017

by Dulcie Leimbach

A board of inquiry looking into major gaps or flaws in United Nations security policies that might have contributed to the murders of two UN experts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was set up May 1, according to documents not released to the public yet. The board is to travel to the …

Africa, Geopolitics, Peace and Security, Security Council

Andrew Hughes, Gregory Starr, John Logan, Loraine Rickard-Martin, Michael Sharp, Monusco, Nikki Haley, Olof Skoog, UN board of inquiry into security policies, UN Security Council experts group on Congo, Zaida Catalan

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GEOPOLITICS

Who Is Paolo Zampolli, a Trump Friend, and What’s He Up To at the UN?

May 5, 2017

by Dulcie Leimbach

Who is Paolo Zampolli and what does he want from the United Nations? A friend of Donald Trump’s for decades, Zampolli is an ambassador of Dominica to the UN. He has a busy Twitter page, Facebook page and Instagram account, where he posts photos of himself and his wife, Amanda Ungaro, a model from Brazil …

Geopolitics, UN Diplomats, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

Amanda Ungaro, Cabrits Resort Kempinski, Dominica, Donald Trump, International Renewable Energy Organization, John Ashe, Markus Semer, Melania Trump, Ng Lap Seng, Paolo Zampolli, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, UN Arts Committee, UN Oceans Conference

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Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University

GEOPOLITICS

At UN Session on North Korea, the US Shows It’s Back

April 28, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

Speaking to the United Nations Security Council at a meeting on North Korea held at the foreign-minister level, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked member countries to join the United States in a strong campaign to enhance pressures on the Kim Jong Un regime, whose rapidly developing nuclear and missile programs have reached dangerous levels. …

Asia, Geopolitics, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

António Guterres, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, Nikki Haley, North Korea sanctions, Rex Tillerson

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GEOPOLITICS

Canada Is Still Wavering in Its Pledge to UN Peacekeeping

April 20, 2017

by Julie Vanderperre

Although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged in a splashy way right after his 2015 election to “renew Canada’s commitment to United Nations peace operations,” the country’s contribution to peacekeeping remains at an all-time low. Since Trudeau’s seemingly impetuous campaign promise a year and a half ago, allies and UN member states have anticipated a …

Africa, Geopolitics, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

Canada and UN peacekeeping, Canada defense review, Canada military, Harjit Sajjan, Justin Trudeau, UN peacekeeping defense ministerial summit

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GEOPOLITICS

Can António Guterres Fend Off Trump’s War on the UN?

April 10, 2017

by Dulcie Leimbach

When António Guterres was chosen by the United Nations Security Council in October to become the next leader of the UN, neither he nor anyone else could have predicted precisely who would be commanding the Oval Office of the White House in January 2017, just as Guterres’s term opened. Now that Donald Trump has …

Geopolitics, Secretary-General, Security Council, Syria, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

Amina Mohammed, António Guterres, Donald Trump, Felice Gaer, gender inequality, Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, Justin Trudeau, Kairat Umarov, Melissa Labonte, Michael Bloomberg, Mona Ali Khalil, Nikki Haley, Salam Fayyad, Terje Rod Larsen, Thomas G. Weiss, UN Peacekeeping, UN secretary-general, UN Security Council

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GEOPOLITICS

Russia and US Clash on Syria in the UN Security Council, Once Again

April 7, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

Russia called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, a day after the United States launched a missile attack in Syria. But Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Vladimir Safronkov, faced a tough response from the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who castigated the Russians for supporting …

Geopolitics, Security Council, Syria

António Guterres, chemical weapons attack in Syria, Francois Delattre, Jeffrey Feltman, Matthew Rycroft, Nikki Haley, Sacha Sergio Llorentty Solíz, Syria gas attack 2017, UN Security Council, US airstrikes in Syria, Vladimir Safronkov

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GEOPOLITICS

The US Leaving the UN Human Rights Council Would Be a Mistake: An Envoy Talks

March 21, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

As the Trump administration threatens to turn its back on international organizations unwilling to rubber-stamp Washington’s policies and meet its demands, an early inevitable target is expected to be the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. In both the White House and Congress, opposition to the Council hangs on two …

Geopolitics, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

human rights, Keith Harper, Mahendra Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka and human rights, UN Human Rights Commission, UN Human Rights Council

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GEOPOLITICS

US Mission to the UN: Do Not Release Vitaly Churkin’s Autopsy Report

March 12, 2017

by Dr. Catherine Mullaly

Four days after Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin’s sudden death in New York City last month, the United States Mission to the United Nations wrote to the New York City Mayor’s Office for International Affairs and requested a communications blackout on Churkin’s autopsy findings and cause of death. The result of this request means that …

Geopolitics, UN Diplomats, UN-NY Relations, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

diplomatic immunity and Vitaly Churkin, Dr. Barbara Sampson, James B. Donovan, Julie Bolcer, New York City Mayor's Office for International Affairs, New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, US mission's Minister Counselor for Host Country Affairs, Vitaly Churkin cause of death

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GEOPOLITICS

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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GEOPOLITICS

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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GEOPOLITICS

Can a Trusteeship Rescue South Sudan? Unlikely, Experts Say

February 22, 2017

by Julie Vanderperre

The intense civil conflict in South Sudan that broke out in December 2013 and has brought the world’s youngest nation to the edge of genocide has not subsided, with no solution in sight. Once more, the United Nations Security Council will meet to discuss the newest status report from the UN Secretariat, as President …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, Geopolitics, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations

Alexandra Novosseloff, Andrew S. Natsios, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Mahmood Mamdani, Peter Wilson, Ralph Wilde, Riek Machar, Salva Kiir, South Sudan civil war, UN Trusteeship Council, UNMISS

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GEOPOLITICS

Feelings Hurt, Yemeni-Americans in New York City Protest the Trump Immigration Ban

February 2, 2017

by Dulcie Leimbach

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Thousands of Yemeni-Americans in New York City turned out to peacefully — if not passionately — protest the White House ban on immigrants entering the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen. The protesters waved American and Yemeni flags, shouting slogans like “United we stand against the Muslim ban.” Held …

Geopolitics, Libya, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

Trump immigration ban, Yemen demonstration in New York, Yemeni protests in New York, Yemenis in Brooklyn, Yemenis protest Trump ban

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GEOPOLITICS

Take a Look: Global Refugee Law and US Areas Affected Most by Trump Ban

January 31, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

The public furor and enormous protests by many thousands of Americans nationwide have led experts to try to explain where the decisions made by Donald Trump fall short of legality in both national and international law. From Hollywood to the world of sports to the corridors of the United States Congress, people are saying …

Cities, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

Alan Berube, António Guterres, Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, Collection of International Instruments and Legal Texts Concerning Refugees and Others of Concern to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees., Geneva Conventions, US refugee ban

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Geopolitics

The Debate on Trump’s Budget Ignores Serious Global Cuts

Did Equatorial Guinea Bribe Its Way to a UN Security Council Seat?

UN Is Examining Its Security Policies After Murders in Congo

Who Is Paolo Zampolli, a Trump Friend, and What’s He Up To at the UN?

At UN Session on North Korea, the US Shows It’s Back

Canada Is Still Wavering in Its Pledge to UN Peacekeeping

Can António Guterres Fend Off Trump’s War on the UN?

Russia and US Clash on Syria in the UN Security Council, Once Again

The US Leaving the UN Human Rights Council Would Be a Mistake: An Envoy Talks

US Mission to the UN: Do Not Release Vitaly Churkin’s Autopsy Report

Jerusalem Has Always Been a Contested City

Seeking a Path for Jerusalem: A Chronology

Can a Trusteeship Rescue South Sudan? Unlikely, Experts Say

Feelings Hurt, Yemeni-Americans in New York City Protest the Trump Immigration Ban

Take a Look: Global Refugee Law and US Areas Affected Most by Trump Ban

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