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United Nations Tag

The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power recently wrote a piece for Politico arguing the Congress not reject the nuclear deal with Iran. In short she argued that rejecting the deal would leave the United States, not Iran isolated and the ability of the United States would be greatly compromised in its ability to influence outcomes globally. Towards the end she summed up her argument:
The Iran nuclear deal has been championed by the president of the United States, every one of America’s European friends and countless other countries around the world. If Congress rejects the deal, we will project globally an America that is internally divided, unreliable and dismissive of the views of those with whom we built Iran’s sanctions architecture in the first place. Although it is hard to measure the precise impact of these perceptions, I and other American diplomats around the world draw every day on our nation’s soft power, which greatly enhances our ability to mobilize other countries to our side. While that soft power is built in many ways, two of its most important sources are the belief among other countries’ leaders and publics that we share similar values, and that America delivers on its commitments. Of course, there is no substitute for the essential deterrent and coercive effects rooted in the hard power of America’s unmatched military arsenal. But we should not underestimate the political capital we will lose—political capital that we draw upon for influence—if we walk away from this deal.
What makes Power's plea so inexplicable is her record. As Claudia Rosett explained back in July:

The United Nations has declared a war on racism and slavery. Not on real slavery, as practiced by Saudi Arabia and Qatar with an immigrant labour force, but as practiced by the people of Netherlands during their Christmas festivities.  The U.N.’s self-proclaimed “Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination” told the Netherlands to end its "Black Pete" Christmas tradition, in which Dutch people wear blackfaces, calling it a “reminder of slavery.” The actor portraying “Zwarte Piet”, as the jovial companion of Santa Claus is called in Dutch, usually puts on blackface make-up along with a fancy hat and Renaissance attire. (As the Dutch folklore goes, Santa’s companion is a Moor from Spain.) But the crusaders against racial discrimination at U.N. are not having any of it. According to the New York Times:

A number of stories have been reported since the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal with Iran is known, that raise serious questions about its effectiveness to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and even about whether or not it will stop a war.

Syria's Secret Chemical Weapons Stockpile

The Wall Street Journal reported on July 23 (Google link) that Syria, contrary to previous reports, had maintained “caches of even deadlier nerve agents.” Why it's important: The first reason is that Iran is the main sponsor of Assad regime. Given that it has supported the use of WMD in Syria and suffered no consequences for this will likely embolden it. The second reason is more practical. The chemical weapons inspectors were limited by the Assad regime where they could go. They also feared that if they reported something that would displease the authorities they would be barred from other sites. The same problem will exist with Iran. But being able to declare military sites out of bounds for inspections, Iran will limit inspectors' access, compromising the effectiveness of inspections regime.

A report from the London Times has revealed that a senior employee of Amnesty International failed to disclose ties to Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the greater global Islamist network. Yasmin Hussein, 51, was until recently head of Amnesty's international advocacy division, and played an active role in the charity's advocacy at the United Nations. An investigation into Hussein's connections uncovered ties to "a secretive network of global Islamists" both through her husband, who was investigated for working closely with the Muslim Brotherhood, and via her activities with a UK-based aid agency that was banned from Israel for their alleged support of Hamas terrorism. More from the Times of London (hat tip to UN Watch):
Ms Hussein, who is understood to receive a salary of more than £90,000, told The Times that she had “never had any association whatsoever with . . . the Muslim Brotherhood”. Her husband, Wael Musabbeh, was one of several alleged British Islamists, none of them defendants, named in documents released after a 2013 trial in the UAE that led to the jailing of more than 60 Emirati citizens who were tried for conspiracy and sedition.

Yesterday, we posted about Iran's latest---and blatant---two-fold attempt to undermine the United States' moral authority and intimidate Jews living in Israel. The content of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 400-page screed on the inviability of both western hegemony and the state of Israel wasn't particularly shocking, but it should serve as yet another wake up call for those who think it's within the realm of possibility for Iran to play by the rules when it comes to human rights, international relations, or even a budding nuclear program. For their part, Iranian officials are determined not only to flaunt the rules, but to make sure that those violations never make it onto the record. They've launched a smear campaign against Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran. The Guardian reports:
In a concerted effort aimed at discrediting Ahmed Shaheed in the eyes of the general public, Iranian state-run agencies and semi-official websites simultaneously carried articles claiming that the Saudi embassy in Kuwait had paid the UN envoy $1m to take an anti-Iran position. It dominated many Iranian front pages on Tuesday and an Iranian official later used the false information to question Shaheed’s credibility.

For the second time in a few weeks, India has abstained at the United Nations instead of voting on an Israel-related resolution. On July 3, 2015 India abstained from weighing in on a UN Human Rights Council resolution condemning Israel for 2014 Gaza conflict. The anti-Israel resolution passed with 47 votes in favour, with the US opposing, and India amongst 5 nations abstaining. Then on Monday, Israel unsuccessfully tried to table a resolution to challenge the official recognition of Hamas-linked NGO in the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It is fair to ask: why abstain? Israel is one of India's leading defense partners, and an emerging trade partner. But considering the fact that until recently India was referred to as the "23rd Arab state" for siding with Arab-block on every anti-Israel resolution at the UN, this is a huge diplomatic shift for the world's largest democracy. Since India normalized diplomatic ties with the Jewish State in 1991, Israel has become India’s partner of choice when it comes modernizing the country’s military capabilities. The government is collaborating with Israel in agriculture, water management, and renewable and clean technologies; and India’s technology-driven IT giants have made significant investments in Israel’s innovation and startup ecosystem.

Guess the Obama administration isn't waiting for Congress. The United Nations Security Council, at around 9 a.m. (Eastern) this morning, unanimously approved the Iran nuclear deal, Resolution 2231, 15-0. https://twitter.com/AdiKhair/status/623118022337761280 [caption id="attachment_135057" align="alignnone" width="600"][U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Samantha Power, Iran Nuclear Deal Vote] [U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Samantha Power, Iran Nuclear Deal Vote][/caption]

First the good news, the so-called Schabas report, the United Nations Human Rights Council inquiry into last year's war between Hamas and Israel, isn't as bad as its predecessor, the infamous, discredited Goldstone report. But it's still pretty bad. The Schabas report is named for the judge who originally headed it, William Schabas. Schabas stepped down when it was reported that he had done paid work for the Palestinian Authority. Schabas had previously said that he wanted to see Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried for war crimes had to step down when it was clear that he was hopelessly compromised. After he resigned the commission was headed by former New York State justice, Mary McGowan Davis. For the most part media outlets reported that the conclusion of the report is that both sides "may have committed war crimes." There are two problems with this. The first is that it is inconclusive. The second and more serious one is that it put Israel and Hamas, which precipitated the conflict by launching rockets into Israel, on the same level. Rockets fired from Gaza civilian area at Israel

It's too late to undo the massive propaganda campaign surrounding the 2014 Gaza conflict, which Israel called Operation Protective Edge. False statistics about civilian casualties were put out by Hamas ministries and then adopted without question by the UN, "human rights" groups, and the media to create the narrative that "most" or "almost all" or the "vast majority" of deaths were civilian. Critics of Israel have yet to explain how Israel was supposed to stop Hamas from firing rockets, tunneling under the border, or landing commandos by sea without firing into the civilian areas from which Hamas was operating. During the 2014 Gaza conflict, we covered the deliberate Hamas tactic of firing from civilian areas (including those next to hospitals and apartments,) as well as how Hamas used the main Gaza hospital as a military headquarters. Almost all of this was covered up by the media: http://youtu.be/Nu-e5qWXx-k Round two in the propaganda war against Israel will take place this week, when the U.N. Human Rights Council releases its report on alleged Israeli war crimes. The UNHCR is the body completely obsessed with Israel.

The wheels on the bus go thump-thump-thump...right over the guy tasked with fixing an impossible mess. It's official: Jamal Benomar, the UN's special advisor on Yemen has resigned. For the past four years, Benomar has been the person tasked with guiding the various factions in Yemen through a peaceful, post-Arab Spring transition. The UN hasn't provided any information regarding a possible reassignment for Benomar; however, when asked who was slated to replace him, officials said that they would select "someone who can talk to all parties." Because that's what's happening in Yemen right now---talking. But I digress. For a while, it seemed like Benomar was making progress---but then things began to unravel:
U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks were private, said that ministers from the Sunni-led Gulf Cooperation Council met Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a trip to Kuwait in late March and told him of their unhappiness with Benomar.

Yesterday the United Nations Security Council met in a rare Sunday meeting to discuss the devolving political and social situation in Yemen. What does that mean? It means that United Nations Special Adviser Jamal Benomar said a lot of words:
“Emotions are running extremely high and, unless solutions can be found, the country will fall into further violent confrontations,” Mr. Benomar declared. “Events in Yemen are leading the country away from political settlement and to the edge of civil war.” Meanwhile, pre-empting criticism of the UN-brokered political talks, the UN envoy also admitted that the international community had no other alternative but to continue in its calls for restraint, de-escalate the situation, and engage all sides, including Yemen's 12 political parties and the Houthis, in the political process. “I urge all sides in this time of rising tension and inflammatory rhetoric to appreciate the gravity of the situation and deescalate by exercising maximum restraint,” Mr. Benomar concluded. “Peaceful dialogue is the only way forward.”
I'm not going to sit here at my laptop and pretend that anything the UN did on Sunday even comes close to mattering. It was over the moment Benomar used the word "emotions." "Emotions" are not "running high." The US was forced to pull all remaining security forces out of the country amid a growing security disaster---and this happened after our first withdrawal and subsequent loss of half a billion dollars worth of military aid. Right now, Iranian-backed rebels are in control of key locations in a country once controlled by a western-backed government. The Yemeni al Qaeda cell is making moves internationally. ISIS has claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings that killed over a hundred people, and wounded over three hundred. Oh, and Iran just did an arms dump benefiting Houthi rebels, and is making moves to seize more control over Yemen's infrastructure:

Boko Haram is still burning its way through west central Africa, but a multistate coalition is slowly finding ways to fight back. Reports are just now surfacing that over the weekend, soldiers from Niger and Chad retook the city of Damasask from Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram. The push was part of a region-wide campaign to regain control of several areas in northern Nigeria.
An Associated Press photographer in the northeastern town said it was largely deserted of civilians. Four people, including an old man, came onto the street to wave at a convoy among 2,000 troops from Niger and Chad in the town. There were still signs of the town's occupation by the rebels. Their writings were scrawled on every wall and the groups' black and white flag still flew above some buildings. A group of Chadian troops transferred weapons confiscated from Boko Haram into a pick-up truck truck. They were then taken to helicopters for transport to Niger. The weapons included AK47 assault rifles and 50-calibre guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells.
Boko Haram killed 10,000 people last year, and now the UN has finally come forward with a plan for a resolution to endorse actions taken by the governments of Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Benin to further roll back the influence of Boko Haram. Using Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the resolution would endorse military action for a period of 12 months to take "all necessary measures" against Boko Haram. It also asks for the establishment of a trust fund to help finance the military operation. Of course, there are disagreements:

The United Nations Security Council just voted against a controversial Palestinian Authority proposal, introduced by Jordan, requiring Israel to pull back to the 1967 lines (the 1949 Armistice line), including designating all of East Jerusalem (which includes the ancient Jewish Quarter of the Old City). The vote failed to get sufficient votes to force a U.S. veto. Aljazeera reports:
The UN Security Council has rejected a Palestinian resolution calling for peace with Israel within a year and an end to Israel's occupation by 2017. The resolution failed to muster the minimum nine "yes" votes required in the council for adoption. It received eight "yes" votes, two "no" votes from the United States and Australia, and five abstentions, from the UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, South Korea and Rwanda. The US, Israel's closest ally, had reiterated its opposition to the draft resolution earlier on Tuesday. Washington said it could not support the draft because it was not constructive and failed to address Israel's security needs.
Samantha Power US votes No Palestinian Statehood The Times of Israel adds that the result surprised the Palestinians:

While most Americans were enjoying Christmas Eve, the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty went into effect. On the surface, the treaty is supposed to help regulate international arms trade but Awr Hawkins of Breitbart reports that there's more than meets the eye (emphasis is mine):
Gun Control Groups Cheer as UN Arms Trade Treaty Takes Effect Gun control groups cheered as the UN Arms Trade Treaty went into effect on Christmas Eve. Although the treaty’s ubiquitous aim is regulation of the export and import of small arms for signatories, Breitbart News has previously reported the treaty poses international gun control and, to be enforceable, will require the creation of an international gun registry. According to Reuters, Control Arms’ Anna Macdonald praised the treaty, saying, “Campaigners have been pushing for this moment for a decade.” She said the treaty could usher in the “dawn of a new era” if “robustly implemented.” She also indicated the UN treaty subjugates arms trade to “international law.”
Although the Obama administration has signed on to the treaty, Hawkins reports that Republican Senator James Inhofe prevented the senate from ratifying it. Liberal news outlet The New Republic describes the treaty as 'most reasonable' but controversy has followed the plan for over a year.

Residents of Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia voted in this month's election to legalize marijuana within their states' borders, and this has some officials at the United Nations working overtime to convince U.S. officials to force the states to get in line with international norms. Via Reuters:
"I don't see how (the new laws) can be compatible with existing conventions," Yury Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told reporters. Asked whether there was anything the UNODC could do about it, Fedotov said he would raise the problem next week with the U.S. State Department and other U.N. agencies.
After Washington state and Colorado voted in 2012 to legalize recreational marijuana, the Justice Department made waves when it announced that it wouldn't challenge the new laws, causing some to question whether or not this could cause similar legislative initiatives in other states. Now, two more states and the District have voted to legalize, which means that if the UN wants to roll back legalization, they'll need to work fast, because the legislative trend is spreading:

Mahmoud Abbas showed his hand today at the U.N., accusing Israel of genocide, getting a predictable reaction, via Times of Israel:
In his address, Abbas accused Israel of committing genocide in its recent conflict with terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip — calling 2014 “a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people” — and said that Israel was not interested in living in peace with its Palestinian neighbors. “It’s a speech of incitement full of lies,” an unnamed source from the PMO told the Hebrew press. “That’s not how someone who wants peace speaks.” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a statement shortly after Abbas’s speech that the PA president demonstrated that “he doesn’t want and cannot be a partner for a logical diplomatic resolution.”
Here is part of the speech, in which Abbas heaps verbal abuse on Israel:

President Obama addressed the United Nations today with the confidence of a world leader, although some would argue that he has yet to display competence in the area of actual international leadership:
Each of these problems demands urgent attention. But they are also symptoms of a broader problem – the failure of our international system to keep pace with an interconnected world. We have not invested adequately in the public health capacity of developing countries. Too often, we have failed to enforce international norms when it’s inconvenient to do so. And we have not confronted forcefully enough the intolerance, sectarianism, and hopelessness that feeds violent extremism in too many parts of the globe. Fellow delegates, we come together as United Nations with a choice to make. We can renew the international system that has enabled so much progress, or allow ourselves to be pulled back by an undertow of instability. We can reaffirm our collective responsibility to confront global problems, or be swamped by more and more outbreaks of instability. For America, the choice is clear. We choose hope over fear. We see the future not as something out of our control, but as something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort. We reject fatalism or cynicism when it comes to human affairs; we choose to work for the world as it should be, as our children deserve it to be.