Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
It's a failure in almost any way that you care to measure. But it survives by claiming and abusing moral authority. It isn't going to improve, and it isn't going to disappear. It's stuck. Paralysed. Even so, can it be useful?
Privacy, piracy, security, sovereignty. Just some of the battle lines drawn in the war over the Internet. And part of wider questions of freedom and control. Later this year, the key UN treaty will be revised. Here's what's at stake
America. "From Nuremberg on, no country has invested more in the development of international jurisdiction for atrocity crimes. And no country has worked harder to make sure that the law it seeks for others does not apply to itself"
Fourteen years after its inception, and almost $1bn later, the International Criminal Court has yet to complete a case. It's had more judges than defendants. And some of those judges have had no formal legal qualifications
US will kill Palestinian request in Security Council. After that will come "new phase of the conflict in which the formal structures of diplomacy will become irrelevant". Israel likely to face popular mass movement against it
This is a fast-moving story and here is your best guide through it. Latest (provisional) assessment: US can stop this through procedural manipulation without having to use its veto. An eye-opening guide to diplomatic arm-twisting
On Israel and the Palestinians. "I am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN"
Good read on likely outcome of UN gambit. Palestine would be inverse of Kosovo, which has de facto independence but lacks recognition. Palestine would gain recognition but no real sovereignty. Could be a high price for limited gains
What will happen and what it means for the parties most closely involved. Former UN-based British diplomat sets it out succinctly. Point one: Palestine will not be recognised as a state. That is for other countries, not UN, to do
Palestinian leadership has several different paths it could take at UN in attempt to increase leverage with Israel, signal dissatisfaction with US and moribund peace process. Here are the options and how it may play out
Witnesses of plane crash that killed UN secretary-general over Northern Rhodesia in 1961 say his plane was shot down. If so, suspicion falls on Western governments and companies that wanted to frustrate UN peace deal in Congo
Western aid was meant to restore Haiti after last year's earthquake. But seems to have made things worse. Country still deep in rubble, wracked by cholera. Money wasted on gimcrack projects dreamt up by policy wonks and celebrities
The Wall St Journal reporter and member of The Chicago Council For Global Affairs talks on Hunger. Selects illuminating further reading on the subject including a technical analysis of micro-lending as well as the Bible
