Bush’s Selective Perception Bush’s Selective Perception
President Bush's address to the UN General Assembly was less disdainful than earlier speeches, but it shined a light on the President's willful blindness to the complexity of the p...
Sep 21, 2006 / Ian Williams
Cease-Fire and Frustration Cease-Fire and Frustration
After thirty-one days of war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and more than 1,000 dead, the United Nations has finally passed a cease-fire. Now what?
Aug 13, 2006 / Feature / Ian Williams
The Semantics of Terror The Semantics of Terror
The easy invocation of "terrorism"--whether by pundits or political leaders--is not just sloppy use of language. It is precisely targeted phrasing intended to terrorize dissent.
Aug 12, 2006 / Feature / Ian Williams
The UN’s Mideast Mission The UN’s Mideast Mission
The United Nations can be a useful tool in settling the current crisis in Lebanon and Gaza, but only with US support. It is up to President Bush to get on the phone to Ehud Olmert ...
Jul 20, 2006 / Feature / Ian Williams
Say Goodbye to Bolton Say Goodbye to Bolton
Selection of a new UN Secretary General is too important to be engineered by the whims and prejudices of John Bolton. It's time for saner voices in the Administration to tell the U...
Jun 26, 2006 / Feature / Ian Williams
UN to US: End the Abuse UN to US: End the Abuse
UN Deputy Secretary Mark Malloch Brown's measured reprimand of the Bush Administration was not an attack. It was a call for real US leadership instead of the bullying tactics of Jo...
Jun 8, 2006 / Feature / Ian Williams
The Bolton Archipelago The Bolton Archipelago
John Bolton's grandstanding vote today opposing the establishment of a UN Human Rights Council might please hard-core isolationists. But no one else.
Mar 16, 2006 / Feature / Ian Williams
The Secret History of Rum The Secret History of Rum
Long before oil dominated geopolitics, rum was the original global commodity, tying Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean in a complex web of trade and credit. And Bacardi...
Nov 22, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Ian Williams
Oil-for-Food: It Worked! Oil-for-Food: It Worked!
Conservatives have undermined the credibility of the United Nations by exposing corruption in its oil-for-food program. But the inquiry led by Paul Volcker didn't look at the misha...
Oct 6, 2005 / Ian Williams
Bolton Sent to UN Bolton Sent to UN
The conservatives who applauded the President's courage in making a recess appointment are normally strict constructionists, and although Bush is not the first President to abuse t...
Aug 2, 2005 / Ian Williams