Part I

Watching the meeting of the Security Council on the evening of March 17, one could only wonder in disbelief (1) Here the 15 member states of the Security Council, by a vote of 10 in favor and none opposed, with five abstentions, passed Security Council Resolution 1973.(2) This resolution authorized a foreign military assault on a sovereign nation. The Security Council gave the ok to Western former colonial powers and the US to carry out a military campaign including bombing and missile strikes against another UN member nation. How did the members of the Council justify this authorization of an attack on Libya? The “pretext”, the term used by the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation,Vladimir Putin, 4 days later, was that the aggression was for “the protection of the civilians.”

The source of the disbelief I felt sitting and watching Thursday’s meetings was that not only did… weiter lesen

[Note: This article is about how some of the unifying foundation was set for the broad non-violent demonstrations of the people of Egypt which took place during the 18 days of January - February 2011.]

On Wednesday February 8, the Egyptian Ambassador to the United Nations, Maged A. Abdelaziz, spoke to journalists at a stakeout outside the Security Council. (1) There had been an ongoing set of questions to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his spokesman and to the Security Council President by journalists covering the United Nations in an effort to understand what role the UN is able to play in the struggle going on in Egypt. In response to a question about the ongoing assault at the time on journalists by police in Egypt, the Ambassador said that someone from the foreigner side was instigating the uprising.

This refrain accusing outsiders of instigating the Egyptian… weiter lesen

‘You are the sixteenth member of the Security Council.”
China’s UN Ambassador Li BaoDong speaking to the international media

In March, China took over the rotating presidency of the Security Council for the month. As is the practice at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on March 2, the 2nd day of his presidency, Li Baodong, China’s Ambassador to the UN, held a press conference for journalists at the UN.(1) At the beginning of the press conference, he welcomed the media, saying that the media is the “sixteenth member of the Security Council.” (There are 15 member nations on the UN Security Council.)

Thinking of the international media in such a way recognizes its influence on the actions of the UN Security Council. This presents an interesting phenomenon which it is important to understand. The international media does indeed play a role in how the Security Council… weiter lesen