Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

UN Silent as Iranian Regime Plans Arms Purchases and Sales Anytime, Anywhere

The ink is barely dry on the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”), and the Iranian regime is already showing how its word is worth nothing. Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, who was heavily involved in the JCPOA negotiations, was quoted as declaring that Iran would “buy weapons from wherever possible” and “provide weapons to whomever and whenever it considers appropriate.”

UN Security Council Enshrines Disastrous Iran Nuclear Deal into International Law

The United Nations Security Council approved unanimously a resolution endorsing the final Iran nuclear deal agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The resolution, which will go into formal effect 90 days after its passage on July 20th, incorporates the JCPOA as an attachment. The intent in adopting the Security Council resolution so quickly was, in the words of New Zealand’s Foreign Minister who was presiding over the Security Council session, “to give international legal force to the agreement reached in Vienna, and extend the obligations it contains across the broader UN membership.”

UN Set to Officially Endorse Disastrous Iran Nuclear Deal

The final Iran nuclear deal agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is heading this Monday to the United Nations Security Council for a scheduled rubber stamp endorsement of its terms. The resolution, which will go into effect 90 days after passage, incorporates the JCPOA as an attachment. It invokes the Security Council’s authority under the UN Charter to call upon the UN member states to support the implementation of the nuclear deal terms.

The Srebrenica Genocide and Loss of Respect for the United Nations

Russia vetoed a proposed United Nations Security Council resolution intended to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica, which took the lives of at least 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. They were slaughtered in an area that UN peacekeepers were supposed to protect but had abandoned, as armed Bosnian Serbs overran the UN positions. The massacre was the worst to occur on European soil since the end of World War II. The United Kingdom had drafted the text of the proposed Srebrenica commemoration resolution, which it submitted for a vote on July 8 after having failed to satisfy Russia’s demands for certain changes. Though supported by a majority of the Security Council members, the proposed resolution was said to be too “confrontational and politically-motivated," according to Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin in explaining the reason for Russia’s veto. "The draft that we have in front of us will not help peace in the Balkans but rather doom this region to tension," Churkin added.

The UN’s Failure to Live up to Its Charter’s Ideals

The United Nations celebrated the 70th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter on June 26th. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the UN Charter “an expression of hope.” Commemorating the signing of the UN Charter at its birthplace in San Francisco, the Secretary General added that the Charter “symbolizes the hope and aspirations that we can bring the world as it is a little closer to the world as it should be. This we can do through cooperation, dialogue, peaceful settlement of disputes and respect of human rights.”

The Two Popes

Pope Francis issued a lengthy encyclical last week calling for radical change in human behavior to confront climate change. He presented climate change as the moral issue of our time. "Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it," the pope declared. "It is a mistake to rely on the 'myths' of a modernity grounded in a utilitarian mindset (individualism, unlimited progress, competition, consumerism, the unregulated market)," he added. While denying that anyone is suggesting a return to the Stone Age and conceding that "[T]echnoscience, when well directed, can produce important means of improving the quality of human life," Pope Francis refused to dismiss doomsday predictions if society continues along its present path.

New UN General Assembly President: Old Wine in a New Bottle

The United Nations General Assembly elected Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark as president of its upcoming 70th session, which commences this September. Mr. Lykketoft has served in various government positions, including as Denmark’s foreign minister and finance minister, and most recently as the speaker of the parliament. Based on his past record, he will likely be a cheerleader for the wealth redistributionist ideology prevalent at the United Nations, as well as adding to the UN’s chorus against Israel. There may be a new General Assembly president, but he fits the established UN mold to a T.

UN Children and Armed Conflict Report Slants Its Gaza Findings Against Israel

According to the New York Times, citing unnamed diplomats, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon bowed to "unusual pressure from Israel and the United States" in deciding not to include either Israel or Hamas on a list of "armies and guerilla groups that kill and maim children in conflicts worldwide." The list is included in an annex to an annual report by the Secretary General entitled "Children and armed conflict," which he just released for 2015. The list, as its title states, is intended to identify specifically the entities that "recruit or use children, kill or maim children, commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, or engage in attacks on schools and/or hospitals in situations of armed conflict."

President Obama to Use the UN to Stab Israel in the Back

President Barack Obama visited an influential conservative Washington D.C. synagogue on May 22nd with the avowed purpose of assuring his audience of about 1000 people that his “commitment to Israel’s security is and always will be unshakeable.” Donning a yarmulke and speaking from the synagogue sanctuary’s bimah where the Torah is recited, Obama claimed that “no U.S. President, no administration has done more to ensure that Israel can protect itself than this one.” Carried away by his own self-proclaimed support for Israel, he declared himself an “honorary member of the tribe.”

ICC Prosecutor Continues Examining Palestine Situation and Warns Israel

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told reporters at United Nations headquarters in New York, following her May 12th briefing to the UN Security Council on the ICC’s Libya-related activities, that her previously announced “preliminary examination” concerning the situation in Palestine is still open. She has not set any deadline for completing her examination. Ms. Bensouda is continuing to look into whether crimes subject to the ICC’s jurisdiction were possibly committed in the Palestinian territories since June 2014. She is considering information, if any, submitted to her office by both sides to the conflict and from other sources. Ms. Bensouda decided to undertake the preliminary examination, which she described as “a quiet process,” on her own initiative once the so-called Palestinian state acceded to the ICC’s governing Rome Statute. Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute and has not consented to its jurisdiction.

Chasing the Rainbow of Nuclear Non-Proliferation

The nearly month-long 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) commenced at United Nations headquarters in New York on April 27th. These review conferences to assess the operation of the treaty are held every five years.

Abandonment of Christian Victims of Genocide Today

The world is witnessing the horrific genocide of Christians, reminiscent of the genocide of Armenian Christians that began this month one hundred years ago. The Vatican has estimated that "more than 100,000 Christians are violently killed because of some relation to their faith every year." Three Christians a minute are being murdered. As many as 100-150 million Christians are being persecuted.

The Security Council Echo Chamber of Israel Bashing

The United Nations Security Council’s quarterly open debate on the Middle East invariably focuses on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel is invariably the punching bag. The April 21st session was no exception.

UN Security Council Approves Yemen Sanctions and Arms Embargo Resolution

The United Nations Security Council approved on April 14th a resolution regarding the situation in Yemen. The resolution, which was adopted by a vote of 14 in favor, with only Russia abstaining, strongly condemned the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and demanded that all Yemeni parties resume UN-brokered negotiations on a transition to democracy. The resolution, reaffirmed the Security Council's support for the "legitimacy" of Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Yemini's president-in-exile who is currently in Saudi Arabia.

The Yarmouk Double Standard

Yarmouk, once a relatively stable haven for as many as 100,000 Palestinian refugees located in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, has become a living hell for those refugees left behind whom have managed to survive years of starvation, disease or relentless attacks from the Syrian government and its adversaries.

France, Israel, Iran and Obama

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was in New York on Friday March 27^th to lead a discussion at the United Nations Security Council on the subject of persecuted minorities in the Middle East. However, in comments he made to reporters, the focus was on ways to keep the search for an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution alive and the prospects for an imminent nuclear deal with Iran.

UN Security Council Allows Iran a Free Hand in Yemen

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday March 22nd regarding the rapidly deteriorating situation in Yemen. It heard a briefing from Jamal Benomar, the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Yemen, describing Yemen’s descent towards a possible sectarian civil war.

Obama May Throw Israel to the UN Wolves

After seeing their hopes for regime change in Israel go up in smoke, Obama administration officials have been attacking what White House spokesman Josh Earnest called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “divisive rhetoric” during the election campaign. They did not like that the prime minister rejected a two-state solution as they envision it should be designed.

John Kerry’s Hypocrisy and End-Run Around Congress on Iran

Secretary of State John Kerry disgraced his office yet again during his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 11th. He sharply criticized an open letter to Iran’s leadership drafted by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and signed by 47 Republicans, which simply made the point that in our democratic republic the president does not get to bind our country irreversibly to an executive agreement he signs unilaterally with another country.

Hillary Clinton's Talking Points Press Encounter

Using the United Nations as a backdrop to theatrically remind people of her foreign policy gravitas, Hillary Clinton held what the UN referred to as a press "encounter" in front of the UN Security Council today. Hillary repeated over and over again her well-rehearsed talking points regarding the private e-mail account she used during her tenure as Secretary of State. Figuring that it is better to beg for forgiveness rather than refrain from doing something that could later be considered wrong-doing, Hillary said that "looking back" she now thinks it would have been better if she had used one device connected to the official government e-mail account and a separate separate device connected to her own personal e-mail system.