Hicham Alaoui was a Moroccan prince who left the monarchy as an adult and is now an outspoken advocate for reform in Morocco, working from his academic base in the United States. In a wide-ranging interview, he delves into his break from the monarchy as well as the failures of the Arab Spring and the prospects for new democratic movements emerging in the region. SOPHIE PARK
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
Mitch McConnell, US Senate majority leader, with a fellow Kentuckian, Jennifer Yue Barber, whom President Trump intends to nominate as the US envoy to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. A lawyer who speaks Cantonese, she has no foreign service experience. MITCH MCCONNELL PRESS OFFICE
President Trump speaking at the UN’s luncheon for heads of state, September 2019. He and other certain global leaders attending the General Assembly opening session signaled the rise of nationalism coupled with pushback on women’s rights. LIZ MUZI/UNCA POOL
In the UN Security Council on Dec. 19, Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador, spoke about the Iran nuclear deal. To his right is Joanne Wronecka, Poland’s ambassador. Russia delayed two separate votes on dueling Syrian cross-border humanitarian-aid resolutions that day. The next day, Russia vetoed the one submitted by Belgium, Germany and Kuwait but voted for its own proposal. Both resolutions failed, creating a bah-humbug mood for the holiday.
People from South Sudan’s Gumbo-Sherikat neighborhood in the capital of Juba meet in a UN-led gathering to build peace, after the signing of the 2018 agreement to end the country’s civil war. So far, the pact has not been carried out, but the author describes another potential path to peace for the world’s youngest nation. ERIC KANALSTEIN/UN PHOTO
Greta Thunberg, center, the Swedish teenage activist, arriving at the UN’s climate conference in Madrid, Dec. 6, 2019. A new poll asking US adults and teens about climate science found respondents more seriously concerned about global warming than in the past, but more than a third blamed the “sun getting hotter” on the problem. UN PHOTO
Kelly Knight Craft, the US envoy to the UN, leads the Security Council in December. She said she wanted to restore “credibility” to the Council. MARK GARTEN/UN PHOTO
GLASGOW, Kentucky — “There’s no place like home for the holidays” is the United States’ theme for the Security Council presidency in December, while at the same time, in a slight contradiction, the US wants to tackle the problem of the Council’s credibility.
One of the most popular activities at the Russian-African summit in Sochi in late October was trying out the virtual reality booth with Russian rifles. President Putin wants investments and closer friendships in Africa, while the United States takes a back seat. JOE PENNEY
Kelly Knight Craft speaks to the media after her first day in the UN Security Council as US ambassador, Sept. 12, 2019. As her country assumes the rotating presidency of the Council in December, Knight Craft is planning a Council trip to her home state of Kentucky. ESKINDER DEBEBE
While most countries use their presidency in the United Nations Security Council to visit war zones and pivotal peacekeeping missions around the globe, the United States ambassador, Kelly Knight Craft, is taking her counterparts to her home state of Kentucky in December.
