Free Republic

The next feud between America's freedom and democracy hawks and old United Nations diplomats will likely develop this week with the release of a much-anticipated report. Ordered by Secretary-General Annan, it was prepared by a panel of 16 former world movers and shakers now in their 70s, who will undoubtedly be hailed at Turtle Bay as wise men, and derided elsewhere as has-beens. Men who held previous posts like Russian foreign minister and Saddam champion Yevgeny Primakov, British U.N. envoy David Hannay, or current Arab League chief Amr Moussa, are not going to excite anyone looking for fresh insights into...

NEW YORK, October 18 (C-Fam) The pro-abortion UN Population Fund (UNFPA) does not want pro-life critics in attendance when the agency convenes a conference in Nairobi in mid-November. UNFPA and the government of Kenya are co-hosting the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25: Accelerating the Promise to mark the 25th anniversary of the original and very controversial Cairo Conference on Population and Development. UNFPA’s website claims the conference “will offer an inclusive platform, bringing together governments, civil society, private sector organizations, women’s’ groups and youth networks to discuss and agree on actions to accelerate implementation” of the Cairo Program of Action. Pro-life...

Decision Brief No. 05-D 44 2005-08-31 On eve of U.N. push for global government, advocates urge Senate to approve a building block: The Law of the Sea Treaty (Washington, D.C.): As concern grows that the United Nations is intent on replacing what the National Security Guidance calls "an orderly arrangement of sovereign states" with a proto-world government - complete with the ability to impose international taxes, a new push is being made for a treaty that would advance that purpose: the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). This sovereignty-sapping agenda is at the heart of a dispute now playing...

Perhaps the best ambassador to the U.N. that the U.S. has had for a generation, has resigned rather than put his country and the Bush administration through the spectacle of being retroactively "Borked" by a soon Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate. John Bolton was detested by many senators (and admired by a few) as much for his robust personal qualities, as for his proven ability to advance U.S. interests through the chambers of the world's most ponderous, cumbersome, and therefore thankfully ineffective, anti-American institution. As I have written before, with understatement, the United Nations is at the black heart of contemporary international...

Brace yourself. In the United Nations-brokered farce known as the “cessation of hostilities in Lebanon,” we may now be heading for the moment in which Secretary-General Kofi Annan jets to Beirut to crown as the heirs of Lebanon the hijackers of the Cedar Revolution — the terrorists of Hezbollah. Not that the U.N. has exactly expressed it that way. Annan’s office as of Friday afternoon would confirm only that Annan “will likely go to the region in the weeks ahead.” Israeli radio has been reporting that Annan will begin a Middle East tour on Monday in Lebanon, and go from...

As President Bush addressed the United Nations Wednesday, a new advertising campaign blasting the world organization was going on just outside the UN's New York City headquarters. While the UN began celebrating its 60th anniversary, signs reading "Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60" were plastered on locations surrounding the Turtle Bay building. The advertisements for a new, in-depth documentary on UN failures were purchased by the Citizens United Foundation (view the trailer here). The ad campaign was timed to begin Wednesday as 170 heads of state gathered in NYC for the United Nations World Summit. The ads are located...

Donald Trump, regarding the United Nations' remodeling plan: Senator, congratulations. You've got a mess on your hands. The Senate International Security Subcommittee, chaired by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn, was holding a hearing yesterday into the proposed $1.5 billion refurbish project of the United Nations building. One of the star witnesses was The Donald. Just on pure theater, it was fun to watch. In case you missed it, here's Trump's testimony. It's long, but I promise you it's worth it: 07-22thedonald.mp3 Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee. It's a great honor to have been invited,...

THE UNITED NATIONS has been in the news of late. As usual, most of the news is negative: evidence suggesting that one or more members of the Security Council were bribed by Saddam; an inability to deal effectively with various crises in Africa; the embarrassing presence of nations such as Iran, Syria, Libya, Zimbabwe, and Saddam's Iraq on U.N. commissions on human rights, proliferation and weapons of mass destruction; the oil for food scandal. In the midst of these controversies, the United Nations is proceeding with plans to upgrade its Manhattan headquarters. The organization's headquarters at Turtle Bay were completed...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

Expand the United Nations? In New York? Ha! The Post's Ken Lovett reported yesterday that Albany was planning to give the United Nations an early Christmas present — a chunk of the East Side for an expansion. Sunshine being the best disinfectant, Lovett's story caused the state Senate to put the brakes on. For the time being, anyway. Under terms of the deal, the United Nations was to take what is now the Robert Moses playground for renovation and expansion of its Turtle Bay complex. The bill would have allowed U.N. officials to begin environmental and land-use studies preparatory to...

TEHRAN (IRNA) -- Iran plans to propose President Mohammad Khatami to become the next United Nations Secretary General, it was reported here on Friday. Chairman of Iran's House of Political Parties Hassan Ghafurifard said he would discuss the issue with Khatami soon, and that a special committee would be formed to follow up due proceedings. He said he had been informed that the next UN secretary general would be elected from Asia at the recent International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in Beijing. Ghafurifard added that the nomination of Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai for the post had provoked...