Tag Archives: By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 22, 2010 (IPS) – Defying a challenge by the government of Sri Lanka, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday named a three-member panel of experts to advise him on how he should proceed with investigating violations of human rights and humanitarian law during the concluding stages of that country's long-drawn-out separatist war last May. "The secretary-general has all …

After several months of closed-door negotiations and shuttle diplomacy, the United States succeeded Wednesday in getting a new Security Council resolution – the fourth in a series – imposing a fresh set of sanctions penalising Iran for its nuclear programme. But the most powerful political body at the United Nations refused to give the United States what it needed most …

by: Thalif Deen  |  Inter Press Service United Nations – After a 12-hour emergency session that lasted until early Tuesday, the 15-member U.N. Security Council was unanimous in its condemnation of Israel for the killing of at least 10 civilians who were part of a flotilla of six ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The condemnation came in a presidential …

UNITED NATIONS, May 18, 2010 (IPS) – The United States, and most of the Western world, have transformed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into a virtual bogeyman, thereby spreading fear throughout the neighbouring countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A nuclear-powered Iran, so the argument goes, is a …

With tongue firmly entrenched in his cheek, an Arab diplomat recounts an Israeli cabinet meeting interrupted by an aide rushing in with the latest statistics on the state of the economy. The crops were down, growth was low, reserves were minimal and inflation was high, he announced, portraying a rather gloomy economic picture. Momentarily, the prime minister seemed flustered by …