Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

Obama Ignores UN: Poised to Attack Syrian Regime

The United Nations Chemical Weapons Team led by Swedish Professor Sellstrom has decided for security reasons to postpone until at least tomorrow any further visits to the locations of the most recent alleged chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21st.

Security Council Punts Again On Syria

The United Nations Security Council held an urgent consultation meeting to hear a briefing on what various eyewitness accounts reported to be a major chemical weapons attack that took place in the suburbs of Damascus, Syria during the morning of August 21st. The Security Council listened, but took no effective action.

Secretary General Admits UN Bias Against Israel – Or Did He?

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said during his trip last week to Jerusalem, in remarks addressed to Israeli students, that Israel “has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias — and sometimes even discrimination” at the UN. After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said that “The time is now for Israel to be fully respected as a member of the international community.” He called in particular for “a more constructive relationship between Israel and the Human Rights Council.” Unfortunately, the Secretary General’s refreshing moral clarity on this issue lasted only a few days.

United Nations Expert Challenges UN’s Pet Development Project

The United Nations has refused to publish a recent study by one of its own statisticians employed by the United Nations Population Fund, Dr. Howard Friedman.

Argentina’s Neo-Colonialism

Argentina is currently a member of the United Nations Security Council and is chairing its meetings this month. For this reason, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Argentina’s president, came to New York to personally preside over a UN Security Council session on August 6th that was supposed to be devoted to the theme of cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations such as the Arab League, the African Union and various Latin American regional organizations.

Latin American Foreign Ministers Bash U.S. Surveillance Program

Five foreign ministers from member states comprising the Latin American Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) trade bloc, led by Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Elías Jaua, met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 5th to condemn the United States for spying on them. They expressed their serious concerns about alleged U.S. electronic surveillance of their countries as disclosed by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

Syrian Opposition Lobbies UN For Support

Syrian opposition political leaders, including Ahmed Jarba, president of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), came to the United Nations on July 26th to appeal for support from the UN Security Council.

John Kerry’s Day At The UN

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived at the United Nations on Thursday morning in a multi-car caravan. The primary purpose of his daylong visit was to preside over an open UN Security Council meeting on “The Situation in the Great Lakes Region: Supporting the Great Lakes Framework.”

Obama’s State Department Unfairly Condemns U.S. Ally Rwanda

Secretary of State John Kerry is coming to the United Nations on July 25th to lead a special session of the UN Security Council on Africa’s Great Lakes region, which includes the neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. In typical Obama administration fashion, the State Department has already chosen to bash our ally Rwanda this week, taking sides in a conflict involving rival rebel groups in the DRC.

The United Nations Re-Opens Rwanda Wounds

Starting in April 1994, the horror of genocide engulfed the people of Rwanda. The United Nations had peacekeeping forces on the ground there, with a commanding officer who pleaded to New York headquarters for authority to intervene in time to stop the imminent violence before it exploded.

UN Security Council Continues To Dither On Syria

Senior United Nations officials once again urged the Security Council to “come together to put an end to the bloodshed” in Syria. “We are not only watching the destruction of a country but also of its people,” the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos said in her briefing to the Security Council on July 16th.

Russia Submits Expert On-Site Syria Chemical Weapons Report To The UN

Russia’s United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin announced on Tuesday that he had just provided UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with a detailed 80 page report setting forth the results of an analysis of samples taken by Russian chemical weapons experts on-site in Syria.

The United Nations’ Confusion About Terrorism

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon confirmed earlier this month the appointment of Jean-Paul Laborde from France as Executive Director of the UN's Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate. One problem with this appointment from the get-go is that Laborde does not believe there needs to be a definition of terrorism in order to deal with it. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah are terrorist movements, according to the new UN Executive Director of Counter-Terrorism.

North Korean UN Envoy Blames the United States For All His Country’s Problems

At a news conference held on June 21st at United Nations headquarters in New York, UN Ambassador Sin Son Ho of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (referred to in short as North Korea or DPRK) accused the United States of being "entirely responsible for the ever-worsening situation on the Korean Peninsula."

UN Special Envoy Confirms Dire Situation In Libya

Tarek Mitri, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative for Libya, delivered a dose of reality to the UN Security Council in his briefing on June 18th regarding the bleak political and security conditions in that beleaguered country. While he does not think that Libya was in imminent danger of complete collapse and that opportunities remained for progress through inclusive political dialogue, Mr. Mitri believes there are very serious problems that require significantly more assistance from the international community to help resolve.

Susan Rice’s Talking Points: The Syrian Chapter

Outgoing United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice delivered the latest set of the Obama administration's talking points to reporters on Friday June 14th, this time regarding the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons and the U.S. response. Rice said that U.S. intelligence agencies had determined with "high confidence" from "multiple streams of information" that the Assad regime has used the chemical weapon sarin multiple times in small amounts over the last year. There was no reliable, corroborated reporting, according to Rice, that the Syrian opposition possesses, or has used, any chemical weapons.

UN Ignores Hamas Training Of Child Soldiers

The annual report of the United Nations Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict highlights progress it claims was made in 2012 to protect children living in countries affected by conflict, but also documents how the evolving character and tactics of war are creating unprecedented threats for them.

The Grenade-Throwing President of the Palestine Olympic Committee Comes To The UN

Palestinian Major General Jibril Rajoub, Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee and the president of the Palestinian Football Federation and the Palestine Olympic Committee, spoke to reporters at United Nations headquarters in New York on June 6th. He was accompanied by Palestine's Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Riad Mansur.

President Obama Chooses Left-Wing Samantha Power For UN Ambassador Post

Samantha Power, who previously served in the Obama administration as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director of Multilateral Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council, is President Obama's choice to take Susan Rice's place as the United States' Ambassador to the United Nations.

New High-Level UN Development Panel Report Retreads Old Left-Wing Ideas

On May 30, 2013,the United Nations High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda released a report entitled “A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development.” Its authors claimed that the report sets out a "universal" and "transformative" agenda to eradicate extreme poverty from the face of the earth by 2030, and deliver on the promise of sustainable development.