• Nuclear Disarmament

    P5 MONITOR

    The Perils of Kim-Trump Diplomacy on the UN Security Council

    by  • June 10, 2018 • Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 

    Could the Kim-Trump meeting in Singapore on Tuesday displace the United Nations Security Council’s mandate to regulate the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as the United States succeeded in doing when it withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal? Chances of abolishing the UN sanctions regime on North Korea without the Council having the...

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    WORLDVIEWS

    To Help the World Sleep Better, Salvage the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    by  • May 25, 2018 • Nuclear Disarmament, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS • 1 Comment

    If United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo follows through with his threat to impose “the strongest sanctions in history” on Iran, the United States should be prepared for Iran to retaliate by withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Last month, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security...

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    P5 MONITOR

    The Sanctions War Heats Up: US vs. the World

    by  • May 22, 2018 • Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 2 Comments

    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,...

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    P5 MONITOR

    Is This the End of the UN Security Council?

    by  • May 10, 2018 • Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 1 Comment

    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...

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    P5 MONITOR

    So Who Is Lying: Iran, Israel or Trump?

    by  • May 7, 2018 • Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 1 Comment

    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...

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    P5 MONITOR

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

    by  • April 26, 2018 • Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, P5 Monitor, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 1 Comment

    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...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    How Stormy Was It? The First Year of Trump, Haley and Guterres at the UN

    by  • January 28, 2018 • Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, Secretary-General, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 

    LONDON — President Donald Trump marked a year at the helm of the United States on Jan. 20. Secretary-General António Guterres marked a year at the helm of the United Nations on Jan. 1. How has their first year gone relative to the UN? The short answer is: not as badly as you might...

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    BOOKS

    In a World of Evolving UN Sanctions, an Emphasis on the Humanitarian Effects

    by  • January 13, 2018 • BOOKS, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council • 

    Debates over how to deal with issues like North Korea’s nuclear weapons or the reliability of Iran to adhere to its role in a multiparty nuclear deal have brought questions about the value, design and human effects of sanctions to the fore at the United Nations and in national capitals. Are sanctions a tool...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    The US and UN Sanctions: Outwitted, Outlasted, Outplayed?

    by  • January 11, 2018 • Middle East, Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US-UN Relations • 1 Comment

    With the Security Council’s unanimous vote to expand United Nations sanctions on North Korea on Dec. 22, President Trump appeared to add another high point to a victorious final week of 2017 based on his tax reform in United States Congress. But appearances deceive, as delegations’ statements in the Council demonstrated before adopting Resolution...

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    WORLDVIEWS

    After 50 Years of UN Sanctions, Is the System Broken?

    by  • December 1, 2017 • Libya, Nuclear Disarmament, Peace and Security, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS • 

    With only few of the current United Nations sanctions cases accomplishing their political objectives, it is not unreasonable to wonder why the system seems broken. As the 50th anniversary of the first use of this important political tool is duly noted, the short answer is that nothing is wrong with sanctions. The problem is with...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    What a Stripped-Down State Department Bodes for the UN and Nikki Haley

    by  • November 26, 2017 • Middle East, Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, US Foreign Relations • 

    In Washington, there is no question that the State Department is in a weakened position, a situation that the Trump White House — and the Trump family — seem to relish. To some in the understaffed, stripped-down Foreign Service and to commentators on United States foreign policy, this is a disgrace linked directly to...

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    WORLDVIEWS

    How Companies and Their Investors Pay Lip Service to UN Sanctions

    by  • November 5, 2017 • Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS • 

    If an investment, shareholding, credit or other financing tool benefits an enterprise or an individual that is  somehow violating a United Nations arms embargo or is committing atrocities, terrorist acts or proliferating weapons of mass destructions, is such an involvement contravening sanctions regimes and therefore breaking international law? Checking past and current UN Security...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    With Bombs and Stability at Stake, Nikki Haley Bets on Trump

    by  • October 19, 2017 • Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 

    When you’re a reality TV star running for president who likes to talk tough and you know nothing about foreign policy, maybe it makes sense to repeatedly attack the Iran nuclear agreement as “the worst deal ever” and to pledge to kill it if you ever get the chance. If you end up getting...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    Nikki Haley Is Better Known in the UK Than Her British Counterpart. How Come?

    by  • October 9, 2017 • Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US Foreign Relations • 

    DUNDEE, Scotland — While most British people have a generally positive view of the United Nations, public awareness of who their diplomats are and how they carry out their work in New York is minimal to nonexistent. Yet the United States ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has had no trouble attracting headlines in...

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    UNGA72

    Canada’s Trudeau Uses the UN to Apologize to His Country’s Indigenous People

    by  • September 21, 2017 • General Assembly, Nuclear Disarmament, UNGA72 • 

    One of the biggest criticisms lodged against Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, has been his lack of commentary on the country’s history with its indigenous people of its First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations. In what could be considered a daring move, Trudeau used his time at the General Assembly podium to...

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    UNGA72

    Snubbing Trump, Europe Stands Firm on the Iran Deal

    by  • September 20, 2017 • Disarmament, Gender-Based Violence, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, Terrorism, UNGA72 • 

    The fight over preserving the Iranian nuclear deal took a firmer direction at the United Nations on Sept. 20. After Donald Trump, the United States president, proclaimed to the General Assembly the day before that the deal was “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into,” heads...

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    UN Security Council Slaps More Sanctions on North Korea, Capping Fuel Imports

    by  • September 11, 2017 • Asia, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council • 

    The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed an American-led resolution on Sept. 11, imposing tougher sanctions on North Korea, including a naval blockade and oil embargo, despite wariness from China and Russia. While the final resolution is a much-watered-down version of the original draft circulated to the Council by the United States last week,...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    On Iran Nuclear Deal, Haley’s Dark Side Beckons

    by  • September 3, 2017 • Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council • 

    Donald Trump will have his third chance this October to weigh in on Iranian compliance with the international nuclear agreement reached by Tehran in 2015 with the United States and five other world powers. The United States Congress requires the president to certify every 90 days that Iran is observing the pact’s terms, and...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    The US Ambassador’s Love Affair With TV News Shows

    by  • August 25, 2017 • Journalists, Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 

    Nikki Haley has been appearing on American TV news programs an awful lot lately, so what gives? Some observers point to Haley as a refreshing and stable face amid an unpredictable White House and uncannily quiet secretary of state, while others herald her visibility as a sign of higher political ambitions. Another possibility is...

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    NIKKI HALEY WATCH

    North Korea and the UN: Agony and Ecstasy

    by  • August 14, 2017 • Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, Peace and Security, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations • 

    If you are reading this, it must mean we have not been annihilated by a nuclear war between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Not that Nikki Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, will be able to take much credit — not because she didn’t try but because...

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