Security Council and Syria

Russia Brings Human Contact Back to the UN Security Council

October 4, 2020

From the very moment that the United Nations decided to work online, after the pandemic hit, Russia has been the strongest and loudest opponent of going virtual at the world body. For its Security Council presidency, in October, Russia finally got its way: the Council will be meeting once again in its chamber, sitting …

Africa, Middle East, Security Council Presidency

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THIS WEEK @UN

Climate Change Risks, Israel-Palestine Covid-19 Crisis, UN’s Partial Reopening

July 24, 2020

by Allison Lecce

The Security Council held a climate change and security debate, led by Germany, nearly 10 years since the first and last time the Council met on this specific issue and agreed to a presidential statement on it. The Dominican Republic also led a meeting on climate change in January 2019. Although no resolution was …

Climate and Environment, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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As Explosive Weapons Kill More Civilians Abroad, US Companies Just Sell More of Them

July 15, 2020

by Allison Lecce

For the ninth year in a row, 90 percent of people killed by explosive weapons in urban areas were civilians. The use of these devices is proliferating in conflicts because they are becoming easier to come by — sometimes they are even homemade. The United States is the world’s largest overall exporter of arms …

Disarmament, Middle East, Security Council, Syria

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THIS WEEK @UN

Finally, a Global Cease-Fire Resolution, US-Iran Venom, Desperate Syrians

July 2, 2020

by Allison Lecce

The United States took a beating in the Security Council on Tuesday in its goal to extend the arms embargo in the Iran nuclear deal, but the next day all 15 members of the United Nations’ elite body adopted a resolution calling for a global cease-fire during the pandemic to enable successful humanitarian responses. …

This Week @UN

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

From Five to Four: Belgium Strives to Fill the European Gap in the Security Council Left by Brexit

February 6, 2020

by Stéphanie Fillion

In Brussels, the month started with the removal of Britain’s flag from the European Union headquarters, while in New York, Belgium became rotating president of the United Nations Security Council for February, ready to fill the political vacuum left by Britain’s departure from the European bloc on the Council, thanks to Brexit. PassBlue met …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Security Council Presidency, Syria

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Reading the US Presidential Tea Leaves: Do the Candidates Even Care About the UN?

January 29, 2020

by Jeffrey Laurenti

President Trump was at the United Nations last fall telling world leaders that “the future does not belong to globalists” when Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the United States House of Representatives would launch an inquiry into his possible impeachment. It was the same General Assembly whose derisive laughter at Trump’s boast a year before …

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

Britain’s Plan for the UN Security Council Presidency: Forget About Brexit

November 7, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion

While Britain struggles to find an orderly way to exit the European Union after several years of attempting to do so, the country will highlight how other world problems affect ordinary people in its role as Security Council president in November. That focus definitely means avoiding the subject of Brexit! Britain, which has been …

Security Council Presidency

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GEOPOLITICS

Of Oil and Kalashnikovs: At the First Russia-Africa Summit, Putin Makes Power Plays

October 28, 2019

by Joe Penney

SOCHI, Russia — As the Turkish presidential plane carried President Recep Tayyip Erdogan across the Black Sea from Sochi, Russia, back to Ankara last week, dozens of African heads of state arrived in this resort city for the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit the next morning. During two days at a convention center in the Olympic …

Africa, Geopolitics, Security Council, US Foreign Relations

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A New OPCW Team Is Ready to Find the Culprits Behind Chemical Attacks in Syria

May 6, 2019

by Johannes Visser

THE HAGUE — The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is inching closer in trying to determine who instigated the various chemical attacks in Syria last year. In April 2018, gas cylinders filled with chlorine were dropped from a helicopter in the residential areas of Douma, outside the capital of Damascus. At least …

Asia, Disarmament, Security Council, Syria

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Children Trapped in Syria Suffering From the War

May 8, 2013

by Lorraine Boissoneault

As the Syrian government increasingly resorts to using heavy armaments and long-distance aircraft — and possibly chemical weapons — to attack the opposition movement and other enemies, the risk of children being killed or maimed in the fighting has risen sharply, says the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for …

Human Rights, Middle East, Refugees, Security Council

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When Intervention by Foreign Powers Is Justified

April 24, 2013

by Yermi Brenner

One of the most complicated dynamics in international relations is whether foreign powers should intervene when a government is creating a humanitarian crisis among its own people. David L. Phillips, a former a senior adviser to the United States Department of State and to the United Nations, has repeatedly dealt with this problem, and …

Human Rights, Peace and Security

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WORLDVIEWS

Susan Rice’s Rise Beyond the United Nations

April 18, 2013

by Patrick Rosenow

JENA, Germany — Many rumors abound regarding the future of America’s top envoy at the United Nations, Susan E. Rice. While she is still working as the United States ambassador to the UN, some media reports are predicting that she will become President Obama’s next national security adviser, succeeding Thomas E. Donilon. As to …

Security Council, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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The Masterminds Behind Security Council Resolutions

March 14, 2013

by Amy Lieberman

The United Nations Security Council bases its resolutions on agenda items as varied as the renewal of a peacekeeping force mandate in Haiti to responding to a missile launching in North Korea. With resolutions’ language often dense legalese that recalls, recognizes, emphasizes, demands and, at times, condemns and deplores the issue at hand, the …

Africa, Peace and Security, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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

March 5, 2013

by Dulcie Leimbach

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 …