Secretary-General António Guterres holds a virtual press briefing to appeal for a global cease-fire during the coronavirus pandemic, March 23, 2020. So far, his call has been heard in Cameroon, Philippines, Yemen and parts of Syria. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
In Italy, temperature checks. As the coronavirus rages globally and nations say they are waging a war, the United Nations Security Council has not done anything to address the pandemic’s intensifying threat to international peace and security, the author argues.
The state of affairs in New York City, March 18, 2020, as the metropolis practices social distancing, self-isolating and working from home. Our new podcast episode reveals how four ambassadors who represent their country at the UN are navigating digital diplomacy. EVAN SCHNEIDER/UN PHOTO
The UN’s main lobby in New York, March 11, 2020. By Friday evening, March 13, the UN announced that virtually all personnel working at New York headquarters were being ordered to telecommute for four weeks, after a Filipino diplomat confirmed that a colleague had Covid-19. MARK GARTEN/UN PHOTO
US Ambassador Kelly Craft voting in the UN Security Council on a women, peace and security resolution, Oct. 29, 2019. She and her husband, the coal billionaire Joseph Craft, have donated money recently to a political action committee dedicated to re-electing Trump.
Kelly Craft has taken a big step toward helping to ensure her political future, lavishing a campaign contribution of $360,600 on the re-election of her boss, President Donald Trump.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, holds a map as he addresses the Security Council session focusing on the new Trump proposal for the Mideast, Feb. 11, 2020. Abbas described the proposed land configurations by the United States and Israel as resembling “Swiss cheese.” ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
President Trump has made good on his campaign promises to redefine America’s relationship with the rest of the world — for better or for worse — and the United Nations has in many ways been the epicenter of his “American First” policy abroad.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, arrives to address the Security Council on the new Trump plan for the Mideast, Feb. 11, 2020. The meeting was not as fraught as it could have been, given the outright rejection by Abbas and many others to the US proposal. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
President Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Jan. 28, 2020, in the White House, unveiling details of the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan, after keeping it secret for three years. It disregards any attempt to ensure a fully sovereign state for the Palestinians. SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD/WHITE HOUSE
When is a peace plan not a peace plan?
Look no further than Donald Trump’s cynically timed initiative to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
If a breakthrough does result, it will be in spite of itself.
Mohamed Siad Doualeh, the ambassador of Djibouti to the UN. He contends that his country, not Kenya, should be the candidate running for the African bloc’s current open seat on the Security Council. China’s influence has been shadowing the process.
Djibouti is vying with Kenya to win an elected seat in the United Nations Security Council for the 2021-22 term among the African bloc. The candidacy contest for the current open seat has revealed a rare open disagreement between African nations that is linked to China’s control in parts of the continent.
Secretary-General António Guterres arriving at the Security Council meeting on upholding the United Nations Charter, Jan. 9, 2020. The debate was scheduled long before the recent US-Iran attacks, but those alarming actions were referred to directly or alluded to by member states as discouragement prevailed. MARK GARTEN/UN PHOTO
