Security Council

Ma Zhaoxu, China’s ambassador to the UN and rotating president of the Security Council for November, briefs the press on Nov. 1, 2018, on the Council’s program of work for the month, including a Council trip to some of China’s richest cities to showcase the country’s “development,” Ma said. MARK GARTEN/UN PHOTO
Welcome back to our monthly column, Security Council Presidency, providing insight into the United Nations Security Council member sitting in the rotating seat of the presidency every month and featuring a capsule of the country itself.

António Guterres, the secretary-general, giving a toast at a luncheon for world leaders gathered at UN headquarters, Sept. 25, 2018. The General Assembly may have laughed at President Trump in his speech that day but, more broadly, leaders are realizing the extent of the US government’s disregarding a constructive role across the earth, the writer says. LI MUZI/POOL
The UN audience could only gasp when Donald Trump made his stormy debut in the United Nations General Assembly in 2017 as president of the United States. This year they laughed in his face.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Nikki Haley, America’s envoy to the UN. The writer asks, is US policy toward the Israel and Palestine conflict now being driven by the Republicans’ need to please wealthy donors? HAIM ZACH/GPO
O.K., let’s be honest here. Iran is a bad actor, just as Donald Trump says.

Syed Akbaruddin, India’s ambassador to the UN, chairing an event marking the first anniversary of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund. On his left is Secretary-General António Guterres and, right, Achim Steiner of the UNDP, June 8, 2018. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO

 
Donald Trump led his first-ever UN Security Council debate, on nonproliferation, on Sept. 26, 2018. In a surprisingly subdued but stern meeting attended by many heads of state representing the Council’s members, they spoke on a range of issues, from the use of chemical weapons to the Iran nuclear deal. Out of the blue, Trump warned China not to interfere with US midterm elections and to stay out of future US voting. KACIE CANDELA

Donald Trump, president of the United States, prepares for the first time to address the General Assembly’s annual general debate, Sept. 19, 2017. He is scheduled to speak at the UN this year, starting with a brief meeting on the global drug problem on Sept. 24. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
A year after his bombastic debut at the United Nations as president of the United States, Donald Trump returns on Monday, Sept. 24, to lead a US effort to spur global action to stem the narcotics and opioid plagues. Could the US be asking the UN for help this time?

Major D.K. Kim and Captain Denis Zubac of the UN military observer mission for India and Pakistan, center, meeting people in Minimarg, Pakistan, near the line of control in Kashmir.  May 2016. A new controversial UN study on human-rights abuses in the disputed region revealed a long-hidden scene by India. UNMOGIP PHOTO  

A Médecins Sans Frontières cholera treatment center opened in Abs town, northern Yemen, in July 2017. The disease is a fallout from the three-year war in the country, as humanitarian aid deliveries and general services have collapsed in many places. GONZALO MARTINEZ/MSF

Jane Holl Lute, an American who has worked for the UN and the US government in various high-level jobs, is now asking the two long-feuding sides in Cyprus to meet for talks once more. She is on a tight deadline, however. Here, she visits the UN mission in Central African Republic. MINUSCA

Iranian police during protests in the country, Jan. 2, 2018. After Trump’s recent reimposition of US sanctions against Iran, the UN Security Council appears wary of responding to the actions, for good reason. CREATIVE COMMONS