UN matters

In a little noted initiative the General Assembly on November 26, 2013 voted to proclaim 2014 the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was requested to organize relevant activities in cooperation with governments, the UN system, intergovernmental organizations, and significantly, civil society. The vote was 110-7, with 56 abstentions, which is more or less reflective of the sentiments now present in international society. Among the seven opponents of the initiative, in addition to Israel, were unsurprisingly its three staunchest supporters, each once a British colony: the United States, Canada, Australia, with the addition of such international heavyweight states as Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. Europe and assorted states around the world were among the 56 abstentions, with virtually the entire non-West solidly behind the idea of highlighting solidarity with the Palestinian people in...

Analysis, critique and alternatives, 2006. /wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Oberg_EU_Promote_Peace-2.pdf

June 14 , 2004 The unanimous approval of UN Security Council Resolution 1546 about the transfer of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government was a welcome move. It helped heal some of the wounds caused as the result of the illegal invasion of Iraq by US and UK forces, and has again put the United Nations at the centre of global politics. However, as far as the situation in Iraq is concerned, the resolution should only be regarded as the first step in a long process before a legitimate Iraqi government assumes power. The resolution went through a number of drafts but after a great deal of haggling and the incorporation of amendments proposed by France, Germany, China, Russia and a number of other countries, it was greatly improved. While the passing of this resolution provides a glimmer of hope for the hard-pressed Iraqis, the push for a UN mandate...

LONDON – As recently as mid November the U.S. was ignoring the UN despite it being obvious to the outside world that it was increasingly bogged down in Iraq. On November 15th , when the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council signed an agreement that set up a transition plan, the UN was not even mentioned. But a short two months later Washington is on its knees before the UN, its transition plan in tatters.  It’s revealing how in a real crisis- and Iraq is but the latest example- the big powers can run to it to chew the cud and find a solution short of war or revolution. When the antagonists have either talked or fought themselves into a corner they tend often to crawl back to the body that they were not long ago denouncing to find an exit from the horrors that confront them. But then...