CHOOSING FRANK LUNTZ OVER DARFUR. If the political dynamic surrounding Darfur remains static, the region has about three weeks before African Union forces are replaced by the Sudanese military and its genocidal proxies. Meanwhile, Kofi Annan is struggling to sound the alarm on the sheer urgency of the crisis. Yesterday, he appeared in person before […]
Mark Leon Goldberg
Mark Leon Goldberg is the executive editor of UN Dispatch and host of the Global Dispatches podcast.
Posted inArticle
Still Not the One
Standing before the Senate chamber in May 2005, Senator George Voinovich made a tearful, heartfelt plea to his colleagues, urging them to vote against confirming John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “I came back here [to the Senate] and ran for a second term because I’m worried about my kids and my […]
Posted inDispatches
Cash-And-Parry
What would happen if the United Nations ran out of money? Will unpaid translators show up to work at the Security Council? Will Con Edison simply turn the lights off at First Avenue and 42nd Street? More importantly: Will peacekeeping troops across the globe have to pack up and go home? We may soon find […]
Posted inArticle
The Options for Darfur
In the face of a mounting progressive backlash against the liberals who joined with President Bush to help sell the Iraq War, the hawks are fighting for their ideological lives. And as Iraq falls to pieces, what better way to prop up a discredited mantra of aggressive interventionism than to set your sights on the […]
Posted inDispatches
Europe: Continental Drift
Silvio Berlusconi was trailing his center-left rival, Romano Prodi, in polls preceding Italy’s general elections on April 9 and 10. So, less than two weeks before the vote, he did what most politicians in such situations do: He moved to shore up the base — his allies in the hard right Italian Northern League. His […]
Posted inArticle
So Long, Slobo
“Mistuh Meloow-sev-ich,” the late Judge Sir Richard May scolded the former Serbian president in his highbrow British accent. “We’re certainly not going into Shakespeare. You’re cross examining this witness, rather than addressing a literary class. Just examine the witness. ” It was June 2003, and I was a lowly intern for the prosecution team that […]
Posted inDispatches
Ashes of ACT
In the summer of 2005, the director of the largest voter-mobilization organization that progressives have ever seen, sent e-mails out to most of its 30 staffers warning them that their paychecks would be cut off by the end of August. America Coming Together (ACT), the flagship progressive “527” organization, headed by former ALF-CIO political director […]
Posted inFeatures
The Arsonist
There is an excellent coffee shop in the basement of the United Nations building in New York. The espresso is served bitter and strong, Italian style. Sandwiches can be bought on hard French baguettes, and the pastries are always fresh. Whenever a meeting lets out in one of the conference rooms adjacent to the shop, […]
Posted inArticle
The Arsonist
There is an excellent coffee shop in the basement of the United Nations building in New York. The espresso is served bitter and strong, Italian style. Sandwiches can be bought on hard French baguettes, and the pastries are always fresh. Whenever a meeting lets out in one of the conference rooms adjacent to the shop, […]
Posted inArticle
The Lockerbie Solution
At first glance, UN Security Council Resolution 1595 reads like any other bland legal document. But the resolution, which passed unanimously on April 7, is anything but ordinary. Two months earlier, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, along with 22 others, was killed in a car bombing. Hariri was a longtime opponent of Syria’s ambitions […]