Trump and the UN

• March 21, 2019

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 …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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GOINGS-ON

Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin May Be Trump’s Pick for UN Envoy

Dulcie Leimbach

• December 5, 2018

Marillyn Hewson, the head of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is the latest name to surface as a potential successor to Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, according to a diplomat there. Hewson has been the chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin since 2013. The company, based in Bethesda, Md., is the …

GOINGS-ON, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

With US Leadership Gone, Japan and Europe Can Seize the Day

Yasuhiro Ueki

• November 15, 2018

We live in an age of uncertainty caused by the shifting structure and dynamics of international politics, economics and social change. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his address to the General Assembly in September that this uncertainty was “a bad case of trust deficit disorder” at three levels. First, within countries, he …

Asia, Disarmament, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

At the UN, Trump Declares: America Embraces ‘Patriotism’

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• September 25, 2018

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, arrived late for the opening day of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 25. His speech began on an awkward note as he elicited laughter from the world audience for boasting about his accomplishments. During his speech, he also aggressively rejected the global approach …

General Assembly, Geopolitics, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Ambassador Haley’s Delusions of Grandeur

Irwin Arieff

• September 12, 2018

There’s a rumor going around that Donald Trump is a master diplomat, a whiz at foreign affairs whose America First policies have taken the world by storm and won widespread admiration for his leadership skills. Check out the recent New York Post column by a Fox News analyst, Ralph Peters, claiming that the president’s foreign policy …

Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

Trump’s Nominee Lost the UN Migration Agency Vote. Is It a Signal?

Barbara Crossette

• July 2, 2018

The unexpected, decisive rejection of the Trump administration’s candidate to head the premier United Nations agency for resettling refugees and other migrants appears to be a warning. Which is that other nations are not prepared to indefinitely defer to the power of the United States when human rights and democratic values are assaulted by …

Geopolitics, Migration, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Do We Even Need the UN? An Academic’s Quest to Find the Answer

Dulcie Leimbach

• June 24, 2018

Would the world be better off without the United Nations? The question couldn’t be more important in the age of Trump and his rejection of multilateral institutions as well as traditional allies. Thomas G. Weiss, Presidential Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York Graduate Center, took on this question, speaking …

Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

As Expected, the US Quits the UN Human Rights Council

Barbara Crossette

• June 19, 2018

In a long-expected decision, the United States announced it was withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council, the world body’s primary organ for promoting and protecting the rights of people worldwide. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, delivered comments on June 19 in the …

Human Rights, Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Reform Eludes the Human Rights Council as Bolton Returns to the Scene

Barbara Crossette

• April 1, 2018

The 2018 winter session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was marked more by what didn’t happen than what did. There was still no official announcement in Geneva from the Trump administration about whether the United States would leave the Council or even seek re-election in 2019, when its current term expires. There was …

Human Rights, Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

China’s Notions of UN Reform: Filling the Growing Vacuum Left by the US

Kacie Candela

• January 3, 2018

China has presented its position on United Nations reform, and it aligns with Secretary-General António Guterres’s own agenda. It pushes for practicalities, such as a transparent process, a stronger peace and security pillar, streamlined internal management and more geographic diversity in hiring practices in peacekeeping and the UN Secretariat. “The world is undergoing major …

Asia, Development, Geopolitics, Peace and Security

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Nikki Haley’s Balancing Act

Irwin Arieff

• July 25, 2017

Nikki Haley is one lucky Trump appointee. Sure, sure, it’s a great honor to be a public servant, especially when you’re way up at the top. But the GOP wastes no love on the United Nations; Republican presidents can take years to realize that it can prove pretty useful every once in a while. …

Nikki Haley Watch, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

US Congress Starts Slicing Away at 2018 National Budget, Sure to Hurt UN

Barbara Crossette

• July 24, 2017

The first round in the battle to write a federal budget, working off the Trump administration’s ruthless proposals announced in May, has ended in the House of Representatives appropriations committee. As feared by advocates for women, the poor, refugees, global health programs and even foreign language study, the Republican-led appropriations committee, which sets budget …

Geopolitics, Secretary-General, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

US Pressures UN Chief to Take the Executive Reins

Dulcie Leimbach

• July 17, 2017

António Guterres just laid out his first major reform plan for the United Nations through a report presenting concrete suggestions embedded in wonky language and hyperbole. One recommendation that stands out is the emphasis by Guterres, the secretary-general, to reassert his role as the chief executive of the UN. It is that emphasis on …

Nikki Haley Watch, Secretary-General, US-UN Relations

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GOINGS-ON

The Academic Council on the UN System Moves to Britain

Barbara Crossette

• June 19, 2017

The Academic Council on the United Nations System, founded in the United States in 1987 and housed in a series of North American universities since then, announced on June 15 that it would move in July from its current base in Canada to the Center for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University …