Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

Mali’s Liberation From Islamist Colonial Occupation

The liberator of Mali appears to be its former colonizer, France. Today's colonizers are the Islamist jihadists, many of whom are Arabs. They invaded and occupied the northern portion of Mali and were aggressively extending the territory under their control until France intervened at the Malian government's request with air strikes and ground forces. Vive la France!

Chuck Hagel Does Not Deserve A Chance

Just as rumors began circulating that President Obama was having second thoughts about nominating former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to become the next secretary of defense in light of strong criticisms of Hagel's record, Thomas Friedman wrote an op-ed article for the New York Times on December 26th entitled "Give Chuck A Chance."

The United Nations’ Year-End Message To Israel: Stop Building

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon devoted part of his year-end press conference on December 19th to bashing Israel for its announcement of plans to build new housing in and around Jerusalem. He claimed that the Israeli announcement was a "near fatal blow to a very fragile Middle East peace process."

Turkey Is The World’s Leader In Jailing Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has just issued a report finding that the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide reached a record high this year, many of whom were jailed on the untenable pretext that they were terrorist sympathizers.

President Obama Gives His Blessing To Islamist Dominated Syrian Opposition Coalition

President Obama chose an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters to announce his decision that the United States now formally recognizes the recently formed umbrella coalition of Syrian rebels who are fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad. The coalition is known formally as the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. In yet another example of leading from behind, Obama's decision follows recognition of the rebel coalition by France, Britain, Turkey, the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Barbarians Versus Barbarians In Syria

At least forty thousand people have lost their lives to date during the 21 month war in Syria. The war has turned into a life-and-death struggle between the barbarian Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and its barbarian Islamist adversaries. Every day brings fresh evidence of atrocities committed by both sides. Innocent civilians living within Syria and the surrounding region are caught in the middle.

Islamic Jihadists Occupy Mali With Impunity

Foreign Islamist jihadists from Sudan, Algeria, Libya and elsewhere, who are part of a network of terrorist groups that affiliate themselves with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, are entrenching themselves in yet another African country.

State of Moral Bankruptcy

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas came to New York for the second time in four months to present the Palestinian case for statehood in person to the United Nations General Assembly. He basked in the glory of thunderous standing ovations, which both preceded and followed his speech. Thousands of miles from Gaza and Ramallah, Abbas was enjoying his own version of a Turtle Bay "New York State of Mind."

Abbas’s “Diplomatic Resistance”

Permanent United Nations Observer of Palestine, Riyad H. Mansour, heralded the upcoming vote by the United Nations General Assembly on November 29th to upgrade the Palestinians' status to an observer "state" as an "historic event." He boasted that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's maneuver, in which Abbas will personally appear at the General Assembly and present the resolution for a vote, was a form of resistance to Israeli occupation that Mansour labeled "diplomatic resistance."

Stop The Re-Arming Of The Gaza Terrorists

President Obama pushed Israel into accepting a ceasefire arrangement with Hamas, which was engineered by Hamas's Muslim Brotherhood patron, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is supposed to negotiate, through Egyptian intermediaries, an easing of border restrictions between Gaza and Israel. This would be the same Egyptian government that had sent its prime minister to Gaza to express solidarity with Hamas during the fighting. Hamas, on the other hand, is not required to give up its remaining stockpile of Iranian-supplied weapons, nor to commit to cease all further imports of Iranian missiles or missile parts. In short, the ceasefire is a sham. Only a Gaza Strip without re-armed terrorists can truly stop the fire in the long run.

The Three Evil Pillars Of The Palestinian Jihadist War Strategy

Israel is currently fighting a three-pronged war in its on-going struggle to protect its citizens from Palestinian terrorists - physical asymmetric warfare, cyberwar and lawfare. Together they constitute the three evil pillars of the Palestinian jihadist war strategy that are a severe threat to Israel's security.

Pro-Palestinian UN Rappateur: Boycott U.S. Businesses Dealing With Israeli Settlements

Richard Falk, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967, called on the UN General Assembly and civil society to take reprisal action in the form of boycotts against U.S. and other international businesses that are profiting from Israeli settlements. He made this recommendation in delivering a summary of his report on October 25th to the General Assembly's Third Committee.

International Intrusion Into The U.S. Presidential Election

The presidential election has the Left in panic mode. In addition to preparing brigades of lawyers to challenge every alleged irregularity and try to reverse the voters' verdict in court if need be, the Obama administration and its leftwing boosters are looking to an international cavalry of "election observers" to save them.

Act 2 For The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty

It looks like the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which got nowhere during a month of negotiations at UN headquarters in New York last July, is about to get another chance on the global stage. A resolution is likely to be introduced at the UN General Assembly this month calling for a revival of the negotiations at a treaty conference next March in New York.

The Nobel Peace Prize To The Undeserving European Union

The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012 to the European Union (EU). Although conceding in its press release that "the EU is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest," the Norwegian Nobel Committee rationalized its choice by claiming that it "wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU's most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights.

High United Nations Official Calls Free Speech A “Gift” And A “Privilege”

The United Nations would have us forget all about the idea of inalienable rights with which all individuals are endowed by their Creator. The UN wants us to forget the idea that government was established for the purpose of securing these rights, not to create them with the power to take them away. Such ideas are so old-fashioned, after all. The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, were written in the eighteenth century. The United Nations believes it has a much more modern idea.

Who Should Be Held Accountable For The Benghazi Islamic Jihad Cover-Up?

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Peter King called last week for the resignation of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice. King said that Rice should resign for misleading the American public during a succession of Sunday television news show interviews about what led to the Sept. 11th murders of Ambassador John Christopher Stevens and three other Americans during an assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

President Obama Hits A Right Note And Some Stale Notes At The United Nations

Between taping an appearance on "The View," fund raisers and campaign events, President Obama managed to act the part of the leader of the free world by delivering an uncharacteristically forceful speech at the United Nations on September 25th.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Headlines Crazy Week At The UN

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, the Holocaust denier-in-chief who has repeatedly called for Israel's annihilation, is back in New York this week for his annual United Nations General Assembly tirade against Israel and the West. He is reprising his favorite Zionist-Western conspiracy lines for what will probably be his last hurrah at the United Nations, as his fraudulent presidency comes to an end.

Islamic Violence Needs No Spark

The Obama administration is willfully misleading the American people on the source of Islamic violence and throwing the First Amendment's protections of free speech under the bus to boot. In full dhimmitude mode, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice have been busy blaming an obscure anti-Muslim video for the killing of our ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11.