Kofi Annan

The New War on Drugs: Regulation From Cultivation to Consumption

• March 17, 2014

The first day this year began with one of the most surprising achievements in the push against the prohibition of drugs in the United States. In Colorado, thousands of people bought cannabis legally after decades of harsh restrictive laws since the so-called war on drugs had been put in place in the 1980s by …

BOOKS

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The Elders Support a Diplomatic Opening to Iran

Barbara Crossette

• January 31, 2014

The Elders, a group of distinguished former global leaders led by Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general, made an unusual three-day visit to Iran at the end of January to meet with numerous officials, including President Hassan Rouhani of Iran. It was the first trip to Iran by The Elders, who said at …

GOINGS-ON

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Jan Eliasson Explains His Role as No. 2 at the UN

A. Edward Elmendorf

• January 19, 2014

Jan Eliasson has been the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations since July 2012, the second in command after Ban Ki-moon. Eliasson, 73, is a former Swedish foreign minister and was ambassador to the United States twice, among other foreign postings. He was also president of the UN General Assembly and a key UN …

Development, Peace and Security

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The Failure of Mainstream Media to Cover the UN: Who’s to Blame?

Barbara Crossette

• October 3, 2013

As media coverage of the United Nations dwindles and becomes more hyperfocused on geopolitics, the public learns less and less about the UN itself and how it operates. Who is to blame for the decreasing, narrow coverage — the press, a disinterested public or the UN itself? Barbara Crossette spoke on the subject at …

US-UN Relations

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GOINGS-ON

The Elders Group Expand Its Membership

Barbara Crossette

• July 19, 2013

The Elders, a unique group of former heads of government and other global leaders, founded in 2007 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, has added a former president of Mexico and an internationally known Pakistani human-rights advocate to its membership. The inclusion of Ernesto Zedillo, president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000, and Hina …

GOINGS-ON, Human Rights

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Guatemala’s Role on the Security Council, as Viewed by Its Ambassador

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 5, 2013

Gert Rosenthal does not sound like a Spanish name, but the mother of Rosenthal, the Guatemalan ambassador to the United Nations, was born there and his father was German. To complicate matters, “a little accident happened,” he said, as his parents, Florence and Ludwig, left Germany in the 1930s, and Rosenthal was born in …

ICC, Security Council, UN Diplomats

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Kofi Annan: The Back Story

Irwin Arieff

• January 28, 2013

Frederic Eckhard, the United Nations spokesman for eight and a half of Kofi Annans 10 years as secretary-general, was certainly well placed to write a tell-all account of that action-packed era. But readers of Eckhard’s new book, “Kofi Annan: A Spokesperson’s Memoir,” get that and something more. Along with the insider accounts, there’s the …

Africa, BOOKS, Secretary-General

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A Brave New Role for Thoraya Obaid, Former UNFPA Chief

Barbara Crossette

• January 22, 2013

The New Year began with a big step for Saudi women when King Abdullah appointed 30 of them to the kingdom’s traditionally all-male Shura Council, an advisory body that serves as a pale imitation of a legislature in the kingdom, which has no parliament. One of the new advisers is Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the …

Middle East, Women

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Rape in War: It’s Not a Given Any Longer

Dulcie Leimbach

• January 9, 2013

One of Fatou Bensouda‘s missions as the new chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court is to make rape during conflicts a thing of the past. Until 20 years ago, she said in a speech at the United Nations recently, sexual violence and other sexual attacks were “all but ignored and dismissed as regrettable …

Africa, Child Soldiers, Human Rights, ICC, International Justice, Women

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The Syrian War, Picked Apart by a Diplomat Who Knows

Dulcie Leimbach

• November 20, 2012

The new creation of a national Syrian coalition to make the opposition groups more coherent could propel a much-needed breakthrough in the country’s 20-month civil war, Jean-Marie Guéhenno a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, told an audience there on Nov. 13. It has been a costly affair humanitarian-wise: close to …

Middle East, Security Council

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Reasons to Love and Criticize the UN

A. Edward Elmendorf

• November 4, 2012

In his new book, “Living With the UN: American Responsibilities and International Order,” Kenneth Anderson forces readers who lean sympathetically toward the United Nations to consider why they support it despite its faults. On the other hand, the acerbic views of Anderson, a law professor at American University, about the UN are deeply colored by …

BOOKS, US-UN Relations

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The Quiet Korean: Ban Ki-moon Opens Up

Barbara Crossette

• October 26, 2012

Over the last few years, an American journalist and academic, Tom Plate, has been writing a series of books called “Giants of Asia.” Lee Kuan Yew, the brilliant if steely founder of modern Singapore, was first. Then came Mahathir Mohamad, the former long-serving but short-tempered prime minister of Malaysia, and Thaksin Shinawatra, a deposed …

Asia, BOOKS, Secretary-General

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Kofi Annan: Lessons in Futility

Irwin Arieff

• October 24, 2012

Kofi Annan‘s existential crisis during his decade as United Nations secretary-general was without question related to the US-led invasion of Iraq. But the most fascinating part of his new memoir, “Interventions: A Life in War and Peace,” is the account of his numerous attempts to nudge the world toward a Middle East peace …

BOOKS, Secretary-General, US-UN Relations

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As UN Monitoring Mission Dies in Syria, a New Envoy Is Named

Dulcie Leimbach

• August 16, 2012

The United Nations Security Council will not renew the mandate for the monitoring mission it set up in Syria this spring to supervise a peace plan that never materialized. The mandate for the UN Supervision Mission, called Unsmis, expires Aug. 19. The unarmed mission, renewed in July for 30 days, is down to 100 …

Middle East, Security Council

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What the General Assembly Wants From the Secretary-General

Helmut Volger

• August 13, 2012

BERLIN — When the United Nations has been fortunate to have a secretary-general who has great charisma and skills in settling conflicts, the world tends to consider him a figure with his own political status and powers. People like this idea because in difficult times they want to have an authoritative mediator, a moral …