United Nations

United Nations

Optimism and Fear

September 2013
Phyllis Bennis

If I was really optimistic, I’d say that President Obama is hoping that Congress will follow the example of the British parliament – and vote against his proposed military strike on Syria.

The Checkered History of Humanitarian Intervention

September 2013
Walden Bello

The impending US strike on Syria is justified as necessary to punish the Assad regime for using chemical weapons on its citizens and prevent it from further employing them. The situation, says Washington, calls for “humanitarian intervention.”

The Syrian Civil War, Chemical Weapons, & the Rush to Regional and Global Disaster

August 2013
Tom Reifer

The US, Saudis and Qatar who seek to take sides in fuelling sectarianism and violence in the Middle East, should remember how a similar discourse of preventative war and promotion of sectarian forces in Europe led to World War I.

 

Syria crisis demands tough diplomacy

August 2013
Phyllis Bennis
David Wildman

The threat of a reckless, dangerous, and illegal US or US-led assault on Syria is looking closer than ever. However any attack will not protect civilians—it will mean taking sides once again in a bloody, complicated civil war.

Secrets, Lies, & Propaganda

January 2013
Tom Reifer

After the US embrace of torture after 9/11 it was only a matter of time before Hollywood decided to make a tribute to America’s liberal culture of torture for the big screen; Zero Dark Thirty

The Phases of War: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Israel

April 2012
Phyllis Bennis

The U.S. is 11 years into its current war in Afghanistan and still losing. We never had a chance to "win" this war of vengeance – and while few in Washington are ready to admit that, they’ve continued to revise and redefine just what "winning" might look like.

Assessing Burma/Myanmar’s New Government

April 2012

Burma is in the midst of its most important period of political transition in over two decades. TNI and BCN hosted a conference to look at the challenges and opportunities in five key areas: politics, ethnic relations, the economy, social and humanitarian affairs, and the international landscape.

Bye-bye peace process: Palestine comes to the UN

September 2011
Phyllis Bennis

After 20 years of failed U.S. diplomacy based on protecting Israel’s occupation, the need to move to a new diplomacy rooted in international law and human rights remains a vital necessity.

Staying in Afghanistan: Unending occupation

August 2011
Ross Eventon

While the US focuses on consolidating its permanent military presence in Afghanistan, designed to guard and exploit Central Asian energy reserves, its earlier rational "to fight terrorism" is a faded memory. Afghanis, meanwhile, continue to lose their lives and humanitarian conditions worsen.

Libya: Too Soon to Declare Victory

August 2011
Phyllis Bennis

The success of Libya's uprising will have a great deal to do with the willingness of its leadership to break its dependency on the United States and NATO.