Peter Galbraith Fired for Speaking Out on Afghan Election Fraud

The UN's number two official in Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith, has been fired after a clash with head of mission Kai Eide over how to handle fraud in the recent presidential elections.  Galbraith alleges that Eide is covering up massive corruption for reasons of expediency. My New Atlanticist essay, "Galbraith Fired, Refused to Hide Afghanistan Election Fraud" rounds up the reporting on ...

UN Demands Torture Prosecutions

Manfred Nowak, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on torture, proclaimed yesterday that the United States must prosecute the lawyers who drew up the torture memos and that if we fail to do so it is the duty of other states to step in and bring charges. In my New Atlanticist piece, "UN: United States Must Prosecute Torture Lawyers," I wonder how ...

Israel Bombs UN Headquarters (Updated)

Oops. [caption id="attachment_29989" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="United Nations workers and Palestinian firefighters work to try and put out a fire and save bags of food aid at the United Nations headquarters after it was hit in Israeli bombardment in Gaza City, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009. Israeli forces shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, setting the compound on ...

New Term Nonpermanent Seats on the UNSC

Japan, Austria, Turkey, Uganda, and Mexico will replace Indonesia, Belgium, Italy, South Africa, and Panama in the two year terms for nonpermanent seats on the United Nations Security Council beginning on January 1 of next year: UNITED NATIONS — Japan easily drubbed Iran in the election on Friday for a two-year seat on the Security Council, while the recent financial meltdown ...

Expanding the Security Council?

French and EU President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a call from the floor of the UN yesterday to expand the Security Council and G8. Declaring that, "The 21st century world cannot be governed with the institutions of the 20th century," he argued that inclusion of today's emerging powers is not just "a matter fairness" but a necessary condition ...

John McCain: Shadow President?

John McCain is taking advantage of Barack Obama's "foreign vacation" in Hawaii and using the crisis in Georgia to showcase his foreign policy prowess. He's dispatched his minions, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, to Georgia.  TPM's Greg Sargent figures, The idea is to showcase himself as a man of action during a time of international crisis and to remind people that the ...

Russia Orders Georgia ‘Cease-Fire’

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has ordered what the press is describing as a "cease-fire" in Georgia. Given that he is not withdrawing Russian forces and is going to keep killing Georgian troops in South Ossetia in violation of international law, however, that term doesn't quite seem to fit. NYT: The president said Russia had achieved its military goals during five days ...

Georgian Forces Retreat, Wonder Where Friends Are

Georgian forces have been routed and have retreated from their South Ossetia province after being outmatched by the Russians.  Now, many Georgians are wondering where their Western allies are. Tony Halpin for The Times of London: As a Russian jet bombed fields around his village, Djimali Avago, a Georgian farmer, asked me: “Why won’t America and Nato help us? If they won’t ...

Russia Invades South Ossetia, Georgia Shoots Down Russian Planes

Russian tanks have moved into the disputed Caucasus region of South Ossetia, dramatically escalating already high tensions with Georgia. Russian television reports that Russian troops are moving into South Ossetia. The development comes hours after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned Georgia that its attack on South Ossetia will draw retaliation. Channel 1 television showed a convoy of Russian tanks that it said entered ...

Global Food Security Banquet

Dave Schuler: "I wonder if the irony of a dinner in the interests of aiding the hungry is lost on them." He doesn't really wonder.

Institutionalizing Counter-Terrorism

Bernard Finel argues that we have done a poor job of formalizing rules to deal with the fight against international terrorists. Few, even today, question the legitimacy of the U.S. campaign to remove the Taliban. But has this case set a broader precedent? And if so, what are the parameters of this precedent. Does any country unilaterally have the right to ...

Rebuilding the UN from the Ground Up

Speaking of decrepit New York City landmarks, Mark Leon Goldberg reports on a major renovation of the 50-year-old United Nations building, which would have condemned "long ago if not for the fact that it falls under international jurisdiction." According to the UN News Centre, the current buildings are "plagued by leaks, safety violations and outdated systems." Somehow, that seems ...

McCain the Anti-War Warrior?

In the cover story of the new American Prospect, Matt Yglesias describes John McCain thusly: The candidate who, despite his protestations in a March speech that he "hates war," not only stridently backed the 2003 invasion of Iraq but has spent years calling on the United States to depose every dictator in the world. He's the candidate of ratcheting-up action against ...

U.S. Foreign Policy in the Post-Bush Era

Fareed Zakaria argues that John McCain's foreign policy would be bellicose whereas Barack Obama's would be conciliatiatory but, as Dave Schuler notes, both are "confrontational" and "interventionist," just with slightly different priorities. Zakaria points to a recent McCain speech: Not only does it declare war on Russia and China, it places the United States in active opposition to all nondemocracies. It proposes ...

Does John McCain Want to Kill the UN?

During a major foreign policy address yesterday, John McCain talked about his plan to create a League of Democracies. Charles Krauthammer sees a plot to do away with the United Nations: Well, I like the idea of the league of democracies, and only in part because I and others had proposed it about six years ago. What I like about ...