-
Global OrganizationsSeptember 21, 2006
Bush’s Selective Perception
President Bush’s address to the UN General Assembly was less disdainful than earlier speeches, but it shined a light on the President’s willful blindness to the complexity of the problems facing the Mideast and the world.
Ian Williams
-
Global OrganizationsAugust 13, 2006
Cease-Fire and Frustration
After thirty-one days of war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and more than 1,000 dead, the United Nations has finally passed a cease-fire. Now what?
Ian Williams
-
MediaAugust 12, 2006
The Semantics of Terror
The easy invocation of “terrorism”–whether by pundits or political leaders–is not just sloppy use of language. It is precisely targeted phrasing intended to terrorize dissent.
Ian Williams
-
Global OrganizationsJuly 20, 2006
The UN’s Mideast Mission
The United Nations can be a useful tool in settling the current crisis in Lebanon and Gaza, but only with US support. It is up to President Bush to get on the phone to Ehud Olmert and tell him to stop.
Ian Williams
-
The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.
-
Foreign PolicyJune 26, 2006
Say Goodbye to Bolton
Selection of a new UN Secretary General is too important to be engineered by the whims and prejudices of John Bolton. It’s time for saner voices in the Administration to tell the UN ambassador his time is up.
Ian Williams
-
Foreign PolicyJune 8, 2006
UN to US: End the Abuse
UN Deputy Secretary Mark Malloch Brown’s measured reprimand of the Bush Administration was not an attack. It was a call for real US leadership instead of the bullying tactics of John Bolton.
Ian Williams
-
Global OrganizationsMarch 16, 2006
The Bolton Archipelago
John Bolton’s grandstanding vote today opposing the establishment of a UN Human Rights Council might please hard-core isolationists. But no one else.
Ian Williams
-
CorporationsNovember 22, 2005
The Secret History of Rum
Long before oil dominated geopolitics, rum was the original global commodity, tying Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean in a complex web of trade and credit. And Bacardi was the original multinational.
Ian Williams
-
October 6, 2005
Oil-for-Food: It Worked!
Conservatives have undermined the credibility of the United Nations by exposing corruption in its oil-for-food program. But the inquiry led by Paul Volcker didn’t look at the mishandling of billions of dollars in oil-for-food surpluses given to US occupation forces or the alleged looting of such funds by US companies.
Ian Williams
-
Global OrganizationsAugust 2, 2005
Bolton Sent to UN
The conservatives who applauded the President’s courage in making a recess appointment are normally strict constructionists, and although Bush is not the first President to abuse the prerogative, it is clear that recess appointments were meant to be be used in cases of unexpected emergencies, not to bypass the confirmation process. Ian Williams reports.
Ian Williams