Dmitry Polyanskiy, the deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN, photographed at the Russian mission, in Manhattan. Polyanskiy was interviewed in August on how his country would lead the UN Security Council in September and on Russian-US relations. STEPHANIE FILLION
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from left, and his entourage about to attend the UN Security Council meeting on peace and security in the Middle East. He talked about Iran’s role in sowing unrest in the region. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
In the middle of a muggy August afternoon in New York, the United Nations Security Council gathered once more to figure out how to “maintain peace and security” in the Middle East. But the recurring topic always leaves conversations wide open for interpretation by the Council’s 15 members.
Kelly Knight Craft, hosting an event in Ottawa, June 26, 2019, as US ambassador to Canada. On July 31, she was confirmed by the US Senate to be the next US ambassador to the UN, moving on to New York.
The Senate has confirmed Kelly Knight Craft to be Washington’s top ambassador to the United Nations, even as a key Democrat pronounced her “unfit to serve.” The move ends a seven-month vacancy in one of the country’s most senior diplomatic posts.
Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s nominee as ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. The vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his candidacy has been delayed as a leading Democrat has demanded more details on a separate matter: the White House’s new migration agreements. GAGE SKIDMORE/CREATIVE COMMONS
Andrew Bremberg at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. A group of human-rights and global-health nonprofit organizations has recommended that the Senate reject the nomination of Bremberg as US ambassador to the UN in Geneva. GAGE SKIDMORE
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with the newly named chair of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, Mary Ann Glendon, right, July 8, 2019. The commission will be operating on the principles of “natural” law and rights, and Glendon has close links to the Vatican. MICHAEL GROSS/STATE DEPARTMENT
Pierre Krahenbuhl, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or Unrwa, briefs journalists at the UN after a pledging conference for the agency, June 25, 2019. The $110 million that was raised will get the agency through the summer. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO
The United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians is vastly short of funds for 5.4 million people, while the Trump administration is doing its best to shut down the program and initiate new, albeit controversial financing.
Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 20, 2019. Aspects of his anti-abortion views, whether rape victims should be entitled to abortions, infuriated Senator Bob Menendez, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee. Bremberg, above, in 2018. GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The aftermath of a terrorist attack in northern Mali. A new survey of Malians finds that they back their own armed forces more than they do the UN peacekeepers in their nation, revealing frustrations about their role.
Kelly Knight Craft, shown here as the American ambassador to Canada, is Trump’s nominee for the top envoy role at the United Nations. Her Senate confirmation hearing, held June 19, 2019, for the UN ambassadorship elicited many questions from senators regarding her posture on climate change. She and her husband, Joseph Craft III, have extensive coal investments.
