Middle East

Europe and Others Help Fund the UN Palestinian Agency, Filling US Void

September 27, 2018

The European Union, Germany, Norway, Ireland and Kuwait stepped in this week to donate a total of $118 million in financing to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa), after the United States cut $304 million of its annual support to the agency for this year. …

Climate and Environment, Geopolitics, Middle East, Refugees, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Mission in Lebanon, Saved From the US Ax for Another Year

September 11, 2018

by Karim Makdisi

BEIRUT — In late August, the United Nations Security Council unanimously renewed its peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon, called Unifil. The less confrontational tone around the negotiation of Resolution 2433, contrasting with the heated debate on the renewal a year ago, can be read as a positive sign for Lebanon and the UN. It …

Middle East, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The US vs. Unrwa: Who Really Loses?

September 6, 2018

by Mona Ali Khalil

It is entirely the United States’ prerogative to cut off its voluntary contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or Unrwa. In her statements about why the Trump administration has decided to do so, however, Ambassador Nikki Haley misses the mark on who should be grateful …

Human Rights, Middle East, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

In Hodeidah, the Norwegian Refugee Council Hangs On to Save Yemenis

June 20, 2018

by Dulcie Leimbach

As the attack on Hodeidah, a major port in western Yemen on the Red Sea, moves into its second week, led by the coalition of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the rest of the world seems to be sitting and watching the destruction. The Norwegian Refugee Council, an independent nongovernmental organization, has …

Geopolitics, Middle East, Secretary-General, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

Why Israel Dropped Out of the UN Security Council Race: Not Enough Votes

May 28, 2018

by Kacie Candela

From the start, it was a closely watched contest pitting Germany, Belgium and Israel against one another for their regional bloc’s two seats in the next term on the United Nations Security Council. Israel has never held a seat on the Council, and as it celebrates its 70-year membership in the UN in 2018, the …

General Assembly, Geopolitics, Middle East, Security Council

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P5 MONITOR

The Sanctions War Heats Up: US vs. the World

May 22, 2018

by Enrico Carisch

Mike Pompeo, in his first speech as Donald Trump’s new secretary of state, threatened United States’ allies: “You should know that we will hold those doing prohibited business in Iran to account.” Pompeo, speaking at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., on May 21, is actually pitting the US against the United Nations, …

Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

In Year 2 of Trump Presidency, the US Is Still Eroding Both the UN and Women’s Rights

May 21, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

After a year of bombast and threats by Ambassador Nikki Haley and the ever-evolving Donald Trump administration, the tone appears to be turned down a few notches in the second year of the Trump presidency. But efforts to undermine the United Nations and what it stands for have not stopped, at least for now, …

Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Middle East, Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

John Bolton Cracks the Whip on the UN Mission in Western Sahara

May 15, 2018

by Dulcie Leimbach

The message was blunt and judgmental as the United States delivered its ultimatum on the future of the United Nations mission in Western Sahara: “MINURSO is a peacekeeping mission that should have finished its job a long time ago. This is a mission that began 27 years ago almost to the day. This was …

Africa, Geopolitics, Middle East, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Nikki Haley’s Twists and Turns, Leading Down a Path to Nowhere

May 13, 2018

by Irwin Arieff

Nikki Haley is the most popular member of Donald Trump’s national security team, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, which found that 63 percent of voters approve of the job she is doing as United States ambassador to the United Nations. Just 17 percent disapprove. (Only 39 percent approved of Trump’s performance, the …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations

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P5 MONITOR

Is This the End of the UN Security Council?

May 10, 2018

by Enrico Carisch

What can the five remaining signatories to the Iran nuclear deal do now that the Trump administration has trampled on Security Council Resolution 2231 and its 13 binding decisions, adopted under Article 41 of the United Nations Charter? Sooner or later, the other 14 members of the Security Council, especially Britain, China, France and …

Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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P5 MONITOR

So Who Is Lying: Iran, Israel or Trump?

May 7, 2018

by Enrico Carisch

The world will soon know the future of the Iran nuclear deal, when President Trump plans to announce his intentions on May 8 at 2 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, from the White House. The decision follows intense jostling among high-powered countries, current and former government officials and seasoned disarmament people in the last several …

Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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P5 MONITOR

As Moon Meets Kim, Who Will Eventually Claim Credit for a Korean Peace Deal?

April 26, 2018

by Enrico Carisch

Two important global events that are about to happen may sound alluring to some Americans: first, the United States government may jettison or significantly alter the nuclear deal with Iran; and Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea will begin to negotiate terms for long-overdue peace with South Korean President Moon Jae In, when …

Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Why Do You Treat Us Like This?, Iranian Women Challenge Their Government

April 20, 2018

by Johanna Higgs

ZAHEDAN, Iran — “They give all of the rights to men,” said Neda, a young woman living in Zahedan, a border city near Afghanistan and Pakistan, who did not want to reveal her last name. “You can never make your own decisions. Many women need permission from a man in their family to leave …

Gender-Based Violence, Middle East, Women

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Speaking Loudly Even While Wielding the Big Stick

April 15, 2018

by Irwin Arieff

Whatever else came out of the latest American-led strikes on Syrian chemical weapon sites, it put on display rare signs of diplomatic skill on the part of the Trump administration, even if those signs first surfaced at the Pentagon rather than at the White House, the United Nations or Washington’s rudderless Department of State. …

Disarmament, Middle East, Nikki Haley Watch, Peace and Security, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

Confronting Possible Gas Attacks in Syria, the UN Security Council Succumbs to Chaos

April 13, 2018

by Dulcie Leimbach

In a week of reversals, semireversals and blatant backtracking by some of the most powerful countries on earth, diplomacy showed its head-spinning underside in the United Nations Security Council, as three Western allies — Britain, France and the United States — conveyed their outrage against Russia for its perceived role in allowing the Syrian …