Will Jordan’s new electoral law bring real change?
Jordanians will head to the polls on September 10 to elect all 138 members of their lower house of parliament. Historically, most Jordanian lawmakers have been independents representing narrow...
United Nations Economic and Social Council
Iranian Official Calls to Expel Israel From Women’s Rights Conference
A senior Iranian official on March 11 called for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to expel Israel from its ranks. In a speech before the commission’s...
Flash Briefs
Captagon: Assad’s Deadly Drug Of Choice Expands To Israel
Israel’s Ministry of Defense thwarted an attempt to smuggle thousands of captagon tablets into the Gaza Strip last week. The news was overshadowed by soaring tensions, amidst continued unrest in the...
Op-eds
At the United Nations, Israel is ‘the Jew Among the Nations’
China presented itself as a champion of Muslim rights last Tuesday, when it asked the United Nations Security Council to hold a special session to address an Israeli minister’s visit to the Temple Mount,...
Op-eds
UN Votes to Remove Iran From Women’s Rights Commission
The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) decided today by a vote of 29-8, with 16 abstentions, to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The decision reflects women’s second-class status across the Islamic Republic. The rights of women have taken center stage in the protests now consuming Iran: The regime’s killing of 23-year-old Mahsa Amini, whom security forces had arrested for allegedly violating Tehran’s hijab laws, triggered the demonstrations now nearing their fourth month with no end in sight.
Flash Briefs
The United Nations: Erdogan’s Favorite Platform for Trolling the World
The United Nations General Assembly, which meets every September, offers authoritarian heads of state their favorite platform for trolling the world. For this year’s 75th annual session, Turkish president...
Op-eds
As UN celebrates 75th anniversary, dictators still dominate
The United Nations is currently celebrating its 75th anniversary, but hold the applause. The global body has still failed to address the two key issues that undermine its legitimacy in the United States:...
Op-eds
Turkey’s economy: The next casualty of Erdoğan’s state of emergency
For the past year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has exploited his country’s state of emergency to rule by decree, purging government ranks, imprisoning political dissenters a...
Op-eds
And Now, Iran Wins a Seat on Governing Board of UN Agency for Women
It’s not only at the nuclear talks that Iran is goose-stepping right over those polite U.S. diplomats to grab all it can get. At the United Nations, Iran has just w...
Op-eds
Bad Faith Actor
In the pantheon of United Nations causes, Africa by many measures occupies a preeminent role. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has described “the African challenge” as “the highest...
Op-eds
Turkey’s Two-Faced Aid For Gaza
From the fury with which Turkey's leaders are demanding carte blanche access for aid to Gaza, you might suppose the Turkish government had exhausted every available route for pouring its own...
Op-eds
Enough Already ‘ Just Move the UN to Iran
Last week, when Iran withdrew its candidacy for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, I got messages from a number of folks who were almost sorry to see Iran drop out of the ra...
Op-eds
UN Buddies Up With Terror-Linked Islamic Charity ‘” Again
It sounds like the ultimate Dog-Bites-Man story – ho hum, there’s the UN climbing into bed with yet another terror-linked outfit. Does it really matter? You b...
Op-eds
Call It the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Dictatorships
With Zimbabwe elected Friday to chair the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, we now have the latest poster-child for the usual U.N. Orwellian abuse of the noble mandate, glorio...
Op-eds
Cash-for-Kofi
The U.N. secretary-general wins a half-million dollar prize in Dubai.