united nations

The recent United States Supreme Court decision in Medellin v. Texas, allowing the State of Texas to ignore a judgment of the International Court of Justice, highlights the country’s shameful failure to live up to its obligations as a global citizen, according to the Center for Inquiry, a leading humanist organization.

Blackwater, the notorious US security firm whose trigger-happy mercenaries were involved in civilian killings in Iraq and elsewhere, is expanding its lucrative business pitch into UN peacekeeping missions, hiding behind a mystique, off-shore affiliate called Greystone.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Monday stressed its opposition to the Taiwan authorities' attempts to hold a "referendum on U.N. membership" in the name of Taiwan. "The SCO member states oppose the intention of the Taiwan authorities to make efforts for Taiwan to join the United Nations by holding a "referendum" on March 22, 2008," the SCO said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has begun secret talks with other world leaders on far-reaching reform of the United Nations Security Council as part of a drive to create a "new world order" and "global society". Brown is drawing up plans to expand the number of permanent members in a move that will provoke fears in his country that the veto enjoyed by Britain could be diluted eventually.

Kosovo, one of the smallest territories in Europe, is casting a large shadow on the diplomatic landscape as the deadline nears for determining its international status. "My sense is that the clock is running out on the issue," says Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations and former U.S. National Security Council director for European Affairs. The United Nations set a deadline of today for resolving the political status of the Serbian province, which has been internationally administered since NATO ousted the forces of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999 to halt an attack on Kosovo's mainly ethnic Albanian population.

A struggle by nations to secure sources of clean water will be "potent fuel" for war, the first Asia-Pacific Water Summit heard yesterday. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, told delegates from across the region that the planet faced a water crisis that was especially troubling for Asia.

The former editor of the New York Times editorial page says it is "crazy" to be opposed to the U.N.’s Law of the Sea Treaty and she can’t understand why it has become a hot-button issue in the Republican presidential race. Gail Collins declared in a November 3 column in the Times that the measure simply clarifies "rules for navigation and mining in international waters" and sets up “a system for settling disputes.” Those opposed to it, she says, are spinning “conspiracy theories.” But Collins is doing the spinning.

America's battered international image has claimed a new casualty - the tough-talking comic book patriot GI Joe. The muscular character was created as a comic strip for US military publications during World War II and has been fighting America's foes ever since. But in a new film version, due to go into production next year, the all-American will no longer work for a covert US special forces unit.

As George Bush made his appearance and speech today at the United Nations in NYC, 1,000 people issued a citizen's arrest warrant against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

These are the shocking images from Burma of a Japanese journalists as he lay dying after soldiers opened fire on thousands of anti-government protesters. Kenji Nagai held his camera above his head to continue taking photos even as a soldier pointed a gun at his chest. He was one of at least nine people who were killed when troops opened fire after ordering the protesters to move on. Another 11 were reported injured.