The UN has a lot of sub-organizations. Most deal with specific aspects of international cooperation. In common with most bureaucratic organizations, the first order of business for many of them is to ensure that they continue to exist. This is being written because one such organization, in particular, has continued to function long past the … More Time to Clean Up a Bureaucracy
I mentioned the “Palestinian ” refugee problem previously. This is one aspect of the ongoing argument that appears to be easy to remove from the discussion. The Palestinian Authority won’t like it, but they have a lot of things they don’t like. Their position has always been that the only solution is to return all … More Deal of the Century – part 4
A major obstacle to reaching an accommodation between Israel and the Palestinians has always been Jerusalem. The Palestinians have claimed that all or part of the city is theirs and that it is their capital. The fact that they actually run their services from Ramallah doesn’t affect that claim. Even the UN partition resolution of … More Deal of the Century – part 3
One of the red-line conditions of the Palestinian Authority has always been the return of all “Palestinian refugees” to their original homes. But who is a “Palestinian refugee”? The original definition was set to include anyone who had lived in Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948. This conveniently eliminated the problem of Arab refugees … More Deal of the Century – part 2
UNIFIL (UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON) just had it’s annual mandate renewed on August 29th. The organization currently comprises some 10,500 personnel from over 40 countries. Participation ranges from over 1300 Indonesians to single individuals from several different countries. What they have in common is an assignment to try to keep the Lebanon-Israel border … More UNIFIL is still with us
The latest events in our neighborhood have an almost surrealistic aura about them. I mentioned previously that Nasrallah and Hizbullah in Lebanon were making threats. I also beleive taht when Nasrallah threatens something. he intends to make it happen. Well, maybe not this time. According to a report that surfaced in the London Times there … More …And Getting Burned
The watchdogs for the agreement on Iran limiting storage and production of nuclear materials have confirmed that Iran is violating the agreement. The Iranian government has confirmed this. This US pulled out of the agreement because it was not an effective deterrent for Iran to proceed with the construction of a nuclear weapon. The iranian … More Iran – “Playing with Fire”
That statement, as many others that the American President has uttered, resulted in a lot of comment, both pro and con. But it should not be surprising. It is a simple recognition of Israeli rights that ought to have been affirmed long ago. I mentioned this here on my blog back in December. I’m repeating … More Trump says Golan belongs to Israel
After 25 years the observer force of 64 members of TIPH will be packing their bags and going home. TIPH stands for Temporary International Presence in Hebron. It was established in 1994 to try to keep down violence between the Arab and Jewish communities in the city.. The current observers come from Italy, Turkey, Norway, … More End of an Era
The UN Human Rights Council recently appointed a representative from Yemen as deputy. Women’s rights is the chief area of responsiility for the deputy. Out of 149 countries on that body Yemen ranks 149th in protecting women’s rights. Yes, that’s right. Dead Last. Someone said that this is like appointing a pyromaniac to be chief … More UN Human Rights Activity
Wetherhorn 