United Nations

The Fatal Flaws of R2P

By Rajan Menon

It is now a commonplace belief that a worldwide diffusion of human rights norms occurred following the Cold War, creating a consensus favoring humanitarian intervention. The cachet acquired by the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) is proffered as proof of this proposition. This is wishful thinking.

Will the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty Be Effective?

By Alex Ward and Morgan Timme

Earlier this month, states that participated in the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty last March were allowed to sign the document. The ATT—designed to curb the sale of small arms and ammunition to terrorists, criminal gangs, and organizations committing human rights violations or genocide—passed a UN General Assembly vote with 154 in favor, […]

Assistant Secretary of State Countryman: The US “Will Sign” the UN Arms Trade Treaty

From March 8th through the 28th, the United Nations held a conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)—the last days of a seven-year effort to control the flow of small arms so that they do not end up in the hands of terrorists, organizations aimed at committing human rights abuses, and other malicious entities. The […]

Russia’s Foreign Minister sees danger in ‘NATO trying to play a global role with global military reach’

By Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Policy

From Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Policy:  Of course the relationship between such big countries can never be cloudless. And we have some things which still divide us. Missile defense is one case in point.

India’s Tough Road to the Security Council

By Rajan Menon

Something President Obama said in his speech to India’s parliament in 2010 gladdened lots of Indian hearts.

Syria: Between Sarajevo and Baghdad

By Julian Lindley-French

Thucydides, the great-great grandfather of unforgiving International Relations, once said, “The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept”.  British Foreign Secretary Hague’s announcement last week in Parliament that Britain will send armored vehicles and bullet-proof vests to support the Syrian National Coalition came just at the moment when […]

US-Mideast Policy Is Isolating America, Not Iran

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Two thirds of the U.N.’s countries recently signed a communique expressing support for Iran’s nuclear energy program and rejecting, what they termed, the United States’ unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic. A flashing red light that signals the American policy aimed at isolating Iran in order to curb its nuclear ambitions appears instead to have […]

Preventing Atrocity Crimes in Syria: The Responsibility to Protect

By Paul R. Williams J. Trevor Ulbrick and Jonathan P. Worboys

Has the Syria crisis finally reached the tipping point for intervention? In Aleppo, Human Rights Watch reported that Syrian aircraft have been deliberately bombing breadlines.