Terrorism

India’s Reliance on Fossil Fuels, Casting Light on UN Counterterrorism Ops, US Asylum Seekers Stuck in Mexico

August 29, 2020

US asylum seekers pushed back into Mexico in unprecedented numbers amid Covid-19; an investigation into the mysterious work of the richly financed UN counterterrorism operations; chastising India for its support of fossil fuels; and a UN envoy’s assessment of the new United Arab Emirates-Israeli pact. Greetings from This Week @UN, our summary highlighting the most …

Climate and Environment, Middle East, Refugees, Terrorism, This Week @UN, US Foreign Relations

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Throwing Light on the UN’s Counterterrorism World, Funded Mainly By the Saudis and Qataris

August 24, 2020

by Stéphanie Fillion

For years, Saudi Arabia has been playing a heavy-handed role in the work of United Nations counterterrorism through its financial contributions, even as the country’s own history of funding of terrorism is problematic. Some officials who work or have worked in the UN’s counterterrorism operations denounce their lack of transparency and shudder at how …

Middle East, Terrorism

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GEOPOLITICS

Afghan Migrants Flee Iran as US Sanctions Damage Iran’s Economy

February 18, 2019

by Sonah Lee

After fleeing violence and unemployment in their home country for the relative stability of neighboring Iran, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans are now returning home. The mass reverse migration is taking place just as the United States, eager to withdraw from Afghanistan, holds its most concerted peace talks with the Taliban in years. …

Asia, Geopolitics, Migration, Terrorism, US Foreign Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Base in Timbuktu: A Demanding Deployment in the Sahara

October 30, 2017

by Benoit Bryche

TIMBUKTU — Who wants peace in Mali? If everyone says they want it, why is carrying out the 2015 peace agreement and its cease-fire so difficult? Part of the challenge for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali is not only helping to implement the agreement in the major cities, such as Timbuktu, but …

Africa, Terrorism, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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BOOKS

A Hint on Confronting Islamist Power. Or Maybe Not.

October 7, 2017

by Irwin Arieff

Will it never end? When will time run out on the array of shape-shifting militant Islamist movements intent on moving into shaky trouble spots around the world to impose their extreme ideology, harness the population and hijack the local economy? How long will it take for the international community — the ubiquitous West — …

BOOKS, Libya, Middle East, Syria, Terrorism, US Foreign Relations

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UNGA72

Snubbing Trump, Europe Stands Firm on the Iran Deal

September 20, 2017

by PassBlue

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 …

Disarmament, Gender-Based Violence, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, Terrorism, UNGA72

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UNGA72

Trump Blows Up the UN, Metaphorically Speaking

September 19, 2017

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

Can a rebuttal happen before an event occurs? United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres took pre-emptive strikes against President Donald Trump in his speech at the opening session of the 72nd General Assembly, on Sept. 19, 2017. Rumors were rampant that Trump would deliver a strongly nationalistic speech, reportedly written by Stephen Miller, author of …

General Assembly, Middle East, Migration, Peace and Security, Refugees, Terrorism, UNGA72, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Building a Case for Prosecuting the Genocide of Yazidi Women

August 1, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

As the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq crumbles, assessments begin to emerge of the damage left in its wake by its cultural nihilism and harsh sectarian absolutism designed to remake an Arab society. The human costs have been high in Iraq — in deaths, maiming, displacement and the enslavement of girls and women. …

Gender-Based Violence, Middle East, Responsibility to Protect, Security Council, Terrorism, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

Flung Into Mosul, Stopping the Bleeding, Slowing Death

June 27, 2017

by Mark Shilen

MOSUL, Iraq — For two weeks in early April and again in June, I was embedded in Mosul with an emergency-response division of the Iraqi army, which is fighting to retake the city from ISIS. The nonprofit organization I work for, NYC Medics, was contracted by the World Health Organization to run a trauma …

Humanitarian Aid, Middle East, Terrorism, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Despite the Terrorist Attack on Our Beloved Malian Resort, We Will Come Back

June 24, 2017

by François Rihouay

It always took me ages to hit the road to the Kangaba camp. Leaving downtown Bamako can be tricky, especially if your place is baco fé — on the far bank of the Niger River — as they say in Bambara, the local language. The traffic is a nightmare. On weekends, dozens of old yellow …

Africa, Peace and Security, Terrorism, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Can the G5 Force Work Counterterrorism Magic in Africa’s Sahel Region?

June 15, 2017

by Signe Marie Cold-Ravnkilde

Although the plan to deploy a West African troop contingent, called the G5 Sahel Joint Force, presents an opportunity to improve much-needed cooperation among the Sahel countries, it will not be a game-changer in the fight against the persistent security challenges in the region. Yet, without adequate financial and logistical support from the United …

Africa, Terrorism, WORLDVIEWS

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TOPIC: WOMEN

US Immigration Ban Stirs Controversy at the Annual UN Women’s Forum

March 13, 2017

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

Despite fears that efforts by President Trump to bar visitors to the United States from a number of Muslim majority would limit attendance at this year’s annual United Nations conference on women in New York, UN officials have kept saying there will be record participation. On the first day, however, people were more worried …

Gender-Based Violence, Terrorism, UN Agencies, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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António Guterres, Sounding Priestlike, Arrives for Work as UN Secretary-General

January 3, 2017

by Dulcie Leimbach

He is no longer the “next SG,” as Twitter posts have been referring in the last few months to António Guterres, the man who was selected by the United Nations Security Council in October to lead the world body as the ninth secretary-general. Guterres, a 67-year-old former prime minister of Portugal who also managed …

Peace and Security, Secretary-General, Terrorism, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Cloaked in Secrecy: How the Saudis’ $110 Million Gift to UN Counterterrorism Is Being Spent

November 21, 2016

by Ilgin Yorulmaz

The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center was set up in 2011 with money from Saudi Arabia to combat terrorism worldwide. Some experts, however, now question the center’s ability to eliminate terrorist threats. There are also questions about whether the money that the Saudis donated, a whopping $110 million, is being spent effectively. The Saudi donation …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council, Terrorism

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In Iraqi Kurdistan, It’s a Life of Harsh Contrasts for Women and Girls

July 9, 2016

by Johanna Higgs

ERBIL, Iraq — Despite the war crimes being committed against women and girls in northern Iraq since the extremist group ISIS invaded two years ago, rejection of entrenched violence and discrimination against females may be taking root among pockets of the autonomous Kurdish region here. Yet in many ways, life for women and girls …