Kelly Knight Craft

Look Out, UN, Here Comes More Kentucky

January 2, 2020

Mitch McConnell, the United States Senate Majority Leader, is known for his obstructionist role as Donald Trump’s enforcer and enabler of domestic policies and executive orders. Lately, the senator from Kentucky has also begun maneuvering in foreign policy and diplomacy, notably involving United Nations appointments. Last year, he lobbied Trump for months to get …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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At the UN, Scrooge Haunts the Holiday Season

December 20, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

In this season of giving, the United States delegation offered free bourbon from Kentucky to the media and is splurging on a holiday party paid for by Kelly Knight Craft, the US ambassador, while in more serious business at the United Nations, the Russians not only held up a vote for one day regarding …

LGBT, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

Kelly Knight Craft’s Menu for the UN: Bourbon, Basketball and Bonding

December 6, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach and Stéphanie Fillion

GLASGOW, Kentucky — “There’s no place like home for the holidays” is the United States’ theme for the Security Council presidency in December, while at the same time, in a slight contradiction, the US wants to tackle the problem of the Council’s credibility. To illustrate her point about the Council’s “credibility,” as she said, …

Security Council Presidency, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Destination Kentucky: An Unusual Choice for Kelly Knight Craft’s Security Council Trip

November 18, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion

While most countries use their presidency in the United Nations Security Council to visit war zones and pivotal peacekeeping missions around the globe, the United States ambassador, Kelly Knight Craft, is taking her counterparts to her home state of Kentucky in December. The Security Council will be traveling to what is often called the …

Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Where’s Kelly Knight Craft? She Is Neither in Ottawa Nor at the UN

August 26, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

Donald Trump must have known just what he was getting into when he named Kelly Knight Craft to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations. But does Knight Craft understand the humiliating position the president is putting her into? Knight Craft, the soft-spoken wife of a billionaire coal executive from Kentucky, demonstrates …

Secretary-General, Security Council, The Trump Years

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Who Is Kelly Knight Craft? A Podcast to Get to Know the New US Ambassador to the UN

August 21, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion and Kacie Candela

She calls herself a homemaker, a philanthropist and a consultant, but who, exactly, is Kelly Knight Craft, the newly confirmed United States ambassador to the United Nations? This week, UN-Scripted, PassBlue’s new podcast series, features veteran journalist and PassBlue columnist Irwin Arieff, who describes how Knight Craft will handle all the hot files at …

Security Council, The Trump Years, US-UN Relations

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Pompeo Finds Little Appetite at the UN for His Iran Strategy

August 20, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

In the middle of a muggy August afternoon in New York, the United Nations Security Council gathered once more to figure out how to “maintain peace and security” in the Middle East. But the recurring topic always leaves conversations wide open for interpretation by the Council’s 15 members. The concept by Poland as Council …

Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Strongmen to Kick Off the UN General Assembly Session in September

August 14, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion

Donald Trump will shake hands with Emmanuel Macron, Jair Bolsonaro and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But will Benjamin Netanyahu; Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel be there, too? The 74th opening debate of the United Nations General Assembly, which starts on Sept.17 and ends on Sept. 30; the general debate begins on Sept. 24. With most …

Climate and Environment, General Assembly, US-UN Relations

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Kelly Knight Craft: A ‘Very Impressive Individual’ or ‘Unfit to Serve’?

July 31, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

The Senate has confirmed Kelly Knight Craft to be Washington’s top ambassador to the United Nations, even as a key Democrat pronounced her “unfit to serve.” The move ends a seven-month vacancy in one of the country’s most senior diplomatic posts. The July 31 vote on Craft’s nomination was 56 to 34, with 5 …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Trump’s Candidate for UN Diplomat in Geneva Faces Dissent as Senate Vote Nears

July 22, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

Is President Trump’s nominee to represent the United States at the United Nations in Geneva in last-minute trouble? A long, detailed letter, sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by prominent global human-rights groups and those concentrating on women’s health, voices strong opposition to the candidacy of Andrew Bremberg as US ambassador in Geneva. …

Gender-Based Violence, LGBT, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Trump’s UN Pick Softens on Climate Change, but Not on Paris Accord

June 19, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

Kelly Knight Craft, Donald Trump’s pick to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations, raised eyebrows in her June 19 Senate confirmation hearing by putting some space between her views on global climate change and those of the president. But Trump needn’t worry that she might end up threatening her boss’s …

Security Council, The Trump Years, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Pulling Back the Curtain on the US Mission to the UN

May 22, 2019

by Kacie Candela

The next United States ambassador to the United Nations, which could be Kelly Knight Craft, will arrive at a US mission to the UN that is far diminished in size and stature than the one her immediate predecessor, Nikki Haley, inherited. In the last month, numerous former staff members and high-level personnel from the …

General Assembly, Security Council, UN Diplomats, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Trump’s Not-So Secret Ill Will Toward the UN

March 21, 2019

by Stephen Schlesinger

More than six months ago, the American ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced that she was leaving her post. Following her decision, President Trump nominated Heather Nauert to be her successor. Then the administration tarried, never submitted Nauert’s name for Senate approval — and in February abruptly withdrew her nomination. It put …