http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/217808/the-us-back-un
The US is back in the UN
Since the Obama administration took over the White House in January, its foreign policy has been focused on restoring relations with former allies and offering dialogue to isolated regimes. Both the State Department and the Department of Defense agree that diplomacy trumps force in today’s multilateral world. President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Gates and the special envoys to troubled regions have all been carrying that message across the world to countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Now with most bilateral relationships restored, the US has turned diplomatic attention to the United Nations. (In contrast to the US, the Philippines can take pride in its consistent supportive role at the UN since its founding in 1945.) But the Bush administration apparently did not consider the UN of any value. It seems odd that President Bush, whose father was a distinguished ambassador to the UN before his presidency, was so indifferent to the United Nations. He sent, as the US ambassador, John Bolton, an outspoken critic of the organization who famously said that 10 floors of the beautiful building on the East River in New York, should be lopped off.
Needless to say, relations grew frosty. President Obama’s first step to reestablish goodwill, was to appoint his own foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, as ambassador to the UN and elevated the position to Cabinet rank. Susan Rice is a Rhodes scholar with a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University. She was on President Clinton’s National Security Council before becoming the assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state and now president of the Brookings Institution, who has worked with Susan Rice, said “Susan is intellectually tough. She’s tough in her approach to how the policy making process should work and she will be a very effective diplomat.”
Falling in line with the president’s show of respect for the United Nations, Congress voted to pay up its back dues to the UN, which dated back to 1999. And President Obama announced that he will host a UN summit on climate change in New York this fall.
As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has pointed out, the UN’s important day to day work is relatively invisible to the general public. It includes prevention of starvation, helping war victims, feeding 90 million people in 70 countries. It obliterates such debilitating diseases as smallpox and polio and vaccinates 40 percent of the world’s children. It provides $2 billion each year in emergency disaster relief and maintains a global peacekeeping force of 120,000 men and women who are sent to maintain peace and order in conflict areas. UNICEF – the agency devoted to children – works in conflict areas to secure the release of child soldiers. The UN mission in the war-torn Congo has secured the release of 32,000 children. The UN also helps nations which do not have adequate security forces, hold free elections.
Since the US has shown its interest in playing an active role in the UN, the US has won membership, for the first time, on the UN Human Rights Council, which tackles issues of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Ambassador Susan Rice said, “We intend to lead, based on the strong principle vision that the American people have about respecting human rights, supporting democracy.”
The US is back in the UN
Since the Obama administration took over the White House in January, its foreign policy has been focused on restoring relations with former allies and offering dialogue to isolated regimes. Both the State Department and the Department of Defense agree that diplomacy trumps force in today’s multilateral world. President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Gates and the special envoys to troubled regions have all been carrying that message across the world to countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Now with most bilateral relationships restored, the US has turned diplomatic attention to the United Nations. (In contrast to the US, the Philippines can take pride in its consistent supportive role at the UN since its founding in 1945.) But the Bush administration apparently did not consider the UN of any value. It seems odd that President Bush, whose father was a distinguished ambassador to the UN before his presidency, was so indifferent to the United Nations. He sent, as the US ambassador, John Bolton, an outspoken critic of the organization who famously said that 10 floors of the beautiful building on the East River in New York, should be lopped off.
Needless to say, relations grew frosty. President Obama’s first step to reestablish goodwill, was to appoint his own foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, as ambassador to the UN and elevated the position to Cabinet rank. Susan Rice is a Rhodes scholar with a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University. She was on President Clinton’s National Security Council before becoming the assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state and now president of the Brookings Institution, who has worked with Susan Rice, said “Susan is intellectually tough. She’s tough in her approach to how the policy making process should work and she will be a very effective diplomat.”
Falling in line with the president’s show of respect for the United Nations, Congress voted to pay up its back dues to the UN, which dated back to 1999. And President Obama announced that he will host a UN summit on climate change in New York this fall.
As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has pointed out, the UN’s important day to day work is relatively invisible to the general public. It includes prevention of starvation, helping war victims, feeding 90 million people in 70 countries. It obliterates such debilitating diseases as smallpox and polio and vaccinates 40 percent of the world’s children. It provides $2 billion each year in emergency disaster relief and maintains a global peacekeeping force of 120,000 men and women who are sent to maintain peace and order in conflict areas. UNICEF – the agency devoted to children – works in conflict areas to secure the release of child soldiers. The UN mission in the war-torn Congo has secured the release of 32,000 children. The UN also helps nations which do not have adequate security forces, hold free elections.
Since the US has shown its interest in playing an active role in the UN, the US has won membership, for the first time, on the UN Human Rights Council, which tackles issues of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. Ambassador Susan Rice said, “We intend to lead, based on the strong principle vision that the American people have about respecting human rights, supporting democracy.”
