Claudia Rosett

The U.N.’s Anti-Semitic Alliance

On Wednesday, under the crystal chandeliers of Vienna’s ornate Hofberg Palace, the prime minister of Turkey delivered a speech in which he called Zionism “a crime against humanity” — equating it with fascism, and, for good measure, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Following his remarks, Erdogan was thanked, and applauded.

Meet Iran’s Ambassador to the UN

Forbes.com In a sold-out event, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaee, will be speaking Wednesday evening at the Asia Society in New York, starring in a "conversation" titled: "The U.S. and Iran: Road to War or Path to Peace?" With tensions high over Iran's nuclear program, and allegations in the press that Iranian officials attended North Korea's latest nuclear test, there are doubtless many questions the capacity crowd would like to ask. But one of the biggest questions hanging over this occasion is, why dignify Iran's regime with yet another stage in New York?

North Korea’s Middle East Webs and Nuclear Wares

North Korea’s third and latest nuclear test is certainly a threat to Asian security, but the dangers go way beyond Asia. For decades, North Korea has been one of the world’s most enterprising and unscrupulous suppliers of weapons to the Middle East. Among North Korea’s chief and most enduring clients is the world’s leading terrorist-sponsoring, nuclear-aspiring state, Iran.

A Tale of Iran, Syria and a Busy Oil Tanker

Although sanctions have forced Iran to cut back dramatically on its shipping traffic, some Iranian-linked vessels continue to slip through the net. For a brazen example, take the case of an Iranian-flagged oil tanker named the Tour 2, currently off Cyprus, which earlier this month paid a call at the Syrian port of Tartous.

Game Plan for the UNESCO Shakedown

National Review Online Alarm bells ought to be going off because of the quiet trip to Washington this week of the head of the Paris-based UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. For at least the fourth time since last December, UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova is visiting the U.S. capital. There are disturbing signs that her trip is part of a renewed push by the Obama administration to waive U.S. law in order to flood UNESCO once again with American taxpayers’ money.

The U.N. Tilt to Terrorists

Originally published in National Review Nowhere in the charter of the United Nations is there any mandate for the U.N. to stack the deck in favor of terrorists. Yet that is exactly the effect of the current U.N. furor over conflict between Israel and the terrorists who control Gaza.

Benghazi and the Missing Obama 9/11 Timeline

The story of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi has been evolving for more than seven weeks now, in its many and oft conflicting variants, and the questions keep multiplying. Amid the official obfuscations and evasions, a patchwork picture has been emerging, by way of congressional questions, leaked emails, anonymous sources and documents discovered as recently as this week by reporters wandering through the still-unsecured, burned and looted diplomatic compound where Ambassador Chris Stevens apparently spent his final moments of consciousness choking on the smoke of a diesel-fueled conflagration.

Obama Out to Lunch at the U.N.

This article was originally published in National Review. At last week’s grand gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, one of the Obama administration’s worst fumbles was largely unreported by the U.S. media. It came during Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Thursday speech to the assembly.

Scores of U.S. Visas for Ahmadinejad’s Bulging Entourage

PJMedia: The Rosett Report When Iran’s pro-genocide president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attends the United Nations General Assembly annual opening in New York this coming week, how many Iranian officials will he bring in his entourage?

About Those Blacklisted Iranian Ships Calling at Libyan Ports…

Forbes The U.S. is looking for ways to beef up security in Libya, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Two warships and 50 marines have been dispatched, as a first move. One item that ought to be added to the list: Could something be done to stop Iranian-linked cargo ships, blacklisted by the U.S., from calling at Libyan ports?

Canada’s Extremely Worthwhile Iran Initiative

Among journalists, there’s an old joke: What’s the world’s most boring headline? “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.”

Syria, Vogue, and the Apologia of Joan Juliet Buck

It's now 17 months since Vogue published its cover-story paean to the first lady of Syria, "Asma al-Assad: A Rose in the Desert." Readers were treated to a profile of Asma up close, "the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies," a dazzling paragon of understated style and philanthropic works, "on a mission to create a beacon of secularism and culture in a powder-keg region-- and to put a modern face on her husband's regime." Asma, "glamorous, young and very chic," was featured playing with her kids, whipping up home-cooked fondue with her jeans-clad husband, "the off-duty president," and urging millions of Syrian youth to engage in "active citizenship."

How Iran Steams Past International Sanctions

Wall Street Journal Too often, one man's sanctions become another man's windfall. So it is with Iran sanctions and the minuscule Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, to which Iran's main oil tanker company, NITC, has just reflagged roughly half its fleet.

Bothered in the Broccoli Republic

Dear Uncle Sam, Forgive me. Although I am a loyal citizen, and despite all the excitement this past week at the Supreme Court, I have not read the entire “Affordable Care Act.” Nor do I want to. I’m not even sure exactly how long it really is, though once any document runs to more than 2,300 pages (which this does), it strikes me that it might be more efficient to skip such niceties as pagination, and just weigh it.

Ahmadinejad in Rio

It is by now a scene so familiar it’s become routine. At your expense, dear taxpayers of the planet — and especially at the expense of all you colonialist, imperialist, capitalist taxpayers of the United States — the United Nations holds a huge gathering. Eminences and excellencies jet in from around the globe, and as they parade across the stage to make their statements, among those invited to the podium is Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran, Voice of the UN’s Committee on Information

It’s quite perverse enough that the United Nations would have a so-called Committee on Information whose members include such censorship-loving regimes as those of Belarus, China, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Syria.

UNESCO Funny Business

Surely Comedy Central’s The Daily Show meant well when it sent comedian John Oliver all the way to Africa to file a report savaging the United States for defunding the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Describing UNESCO as “an organization that helps people in need all over the world,” Oliver lampooned U.S. policy: “We had absolutely no choice but to cut off funding for tsunami victims and starving, drought-ridden African children.”

UNESCO Goes to Washington

National Review Online When the member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization voted last October to confer membership on the Palestinian Authority, they knew their decision would trigger the withdrawal of U.S. funding, which in dues alone accounted for more than $78 million per year, or 22 percent of UNESCO’s core budget. Current American law requires the U.S. to pull funding from any U.N.-affiliated organization that tries to confer statehood on the Palestinians before they have qualified for it through negotiations with Israel. UNESCO did it anyway, the assembled delegates clapping and cheering as they voted. The tally was 107 to 14, with 52 abstaining.

Russia’s Chariot Calls at Iran

Article originally published in Forbes Magazine It’s time for the next installment in the adventures of the Chariot, a Russian-operated freighter that made headlines in January for delivering tons of Russian munitions to Syria. The Chariot then sailed out of the news for a while. But, with a flair for choosing disturbing destinations, this same ship has just called at Iran.

Before We Thank Iran’s Tanker Fleet

Forbes.com With sanctions currently the U.S. tool of choice for thwarting Iran's terror networks and nuclear ambitions, the good news is that U.S. lawmakers are crafting new measures to cast a wider net. Let's hope that this time they don't leave a hole big enough for an Iranian oil tanker to sail right through.