MERIP
Media Resource List, September 13, 2005
AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS
on the following topics:
- UN summit of world leaders, September 14–16
- Israeli PM Sharon's
agenda at UN conference
IAN
WILLIAMS
Ian
Williams is a New York-based writer covering the United
Nations and world affairs. He is the UN correspondent for
The Nation and has written for, among many others,
Middle East Report , Middle East International ,
the Financial Times and the Guardian .
His article "It's the Nations, Stupid!" will appear
in Open Democracy
on September 15. He commented today: "The
sixtieth anniversary summit of the UN will not significantly
affect its future, even if it does represent a lost opportunity.
It is significant that the reform package only proposes minimal
changes to the UN Charter. Even the proposals for expansion
of the Security Council hardly amount to a root and branch
reform. Whatever happens, it is up to the member states --
and their electorates where they have them -- to decide that
the organization is worth fighting for and to collectively
resist any attempt by any state or group of states to weaken
or subvert it. The debates provoked by John Bolton's rebarbative
style of diplomacy may galvanize just such a movement, both
elsewhere, and in the United States, where the Senate opposition
showed unprecedented strength in disowning Bolton's unilateralism.
The US cannot subvert the Millennium Development Goals if
the rest of the world unites around them."
PHYLLIS
BENNIS
Phyllis
Bennis is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and
author of the forthcoming book Challenging Empire: How
People, Governments and the UN Defy US Power (Interlink,
October 2005) and "A
Declaration of War," Tompaine.com, August 31, 2005.
She is in New York for the UN meetings this week. Commenting
on the changes Washington suggests be made to the UN summit
draft of proposed reforms, she said: " The
US deleted the statement that 'the use of force should be
considered as an instrument of last resort.' That's not surprising
given the Bush administration's 'invade first, choose your
justifications later' mode of crisis resolution. Throughout
the document, the US demands changes that redefine and
narrow what should be universal and binding rights and obligations.
In the clearest reference to Iraq and Palestine, Washington
narrowed the definition of the 'right of self-determination
of peoples' to eliminate those who 'remain under colonial
domination and foreign occupation.' Much of the US effort
aims to undermine the power of the UN in favor of absolute
national sovereignty."
ROBERT BLECHER
Robert Blecher is program director of scenario planning at
the Strategic
Assessments Initiative in Washington, DC. Leading a team
of scholars on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the program
generates ideas about conflict resolution that are refined
through a consultative process with grassroots actors, political
leaders and international organizations. Blecher commented
today: "With Gaza disengagement,
Sharon has cemented unilateralism as the dominant diplomatic
paradigm in Israel and Palestine. Should Israel seek a declaration
from the UN that the occupation of Gaza is over, it will be
yet one more indication that pursuing a negotiated end to
the conflict is a thing of the past, and that Israel intends
to rely solely on international support as it imposes
its will on the Palestinians."
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