WILL IT STILL BE HER SENATE?
ACTION DOES. ACT TODAY.
Posted on 10/29/2002 2:35:14 PM PST by USA21
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:39:24 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Fifteen of the United Nations' 185-member states control more than half the 12,998 staff positions at the Secretariat In New York, even though most pay only a tiny fraction of U.N. costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
WILL IT STILL BE HER SENATE?
At issue is what France, Russia and China, who hold veto power in the 15-member Security Council
WHY?
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Amid a stream of ultimatums from the White House, officials from France and the United States on Tuesday were scrambling behind the scenes to reach a compromise on a U.N. resolution on Iraqi disarmament. At issue is what France, Russia and China, who hold veto power in the 15-member Security Council, consider hidden "trigger" language in the U.S. text that they say would allow Washington to attack Iraq, overthrow President Saddam Hussein and then contend the United Nations had authorized it.
France, which has led resistance to the U.S. text, has drawn up an alternative proposals that would force Washington to go back to the council for consent to launch a military strike if U.N. inspections of Baghdad's arms are obstructed.
But as the White House put public pressure on the United Nations for a quick vote, Secretary of State Colin Powell engaged in a flurry of telephone calls on Monday and Tuesday with his counterparts -- Dominique de Villepin of France, Igor Ivanov of Russia, Jack Straw of Britain and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
And in Paris, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said Villepin, in addition to Powell, had spoken to Straw, Ivanov and Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, one of many council members leaning toward the French proposals.
"We want to address a clear and firm message to Saddam Hussein," Villepin told the lower house of parliament on Tuesday. But he repeated that force could only be used "as a last resort."
VOTE DELAYED TO NEXT WEEK?
The United States was pushing for a vote before the end of the week, although White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he did not rule out a delay until next week.
"Always at the U.N., as these things come down to the wire, the timing is a little hard to pinpoint so I don't rule out that it could be next week as well," he said on Tuesday.
"I think the United Nations understands it's decision-making time very soon," he added.
Diplomats at the United Nations said that if the United States did not get enough agreement for a vote on Wednesday or Thursday, it would wait until Nov. 6, a day after the U.S. Congressional elections.
President Bush used two campaign appearance in Western states on Monday to repeat threats that "the United States will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein" if the world body did not support Washington.
But after six weeks of on and off negotiations, the Bush administration still appears to lack the nine votes it needs in the 15-member body to get its text adopted without changes.
In addition to Britain, which co-sponsored the U.S. proposal, Bulgaria, Singapore, Colombia and Norway are considered the only fairly sure votes are this point.
Many council members, from China to Mexico, as well as most nations in the world prefer France's position but are wary of jeopardizing future ties with the world's only superpower and hope they will not have to choose.
On Tuesday, U.N. Security Council members were scheduled to meet late in the day to review the less controversial preamble provisions in the draft U.S.-British resolution.
FRANCE RESISTS U.S. STRIKE
The U.S.-British draft declares Iraq in "material breach" of the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire and warns of "serious consequences" if it fails to live up to U.N. demands.
France is willing to go along with a warning of "serious consequences," but has balked at a declaration of "material breach," fearing this might give a legal basis for a military strike. But the United States has insisted these words stay somewhere in the text.
The United States and Britain were encouraged on Monday by support from the leaders of U.N. weapons inspection teams, who agreed with most, although not all, of the tough demands in the U.S. draft resolution.
Hans Blix, the chief U.N inspector, said it was important for Iraq to understand that any lack of cooperation would call "for reactions on the part of the council, and it has to be not only in the first month, but on a continuous basis."
Each year, the Arizona Model United Nations hosts a simulation of events and procedures of several of the committes in the United Nations. This simulation shows high school and college students about the importance of the United Nations and the process of diplomacy. This is the 40th year of the AMUN's existence at the University of Ariozna in association with the Department of Political Science.
Founded in January 1963 by Dr. Clifton Wilson of the Department of Government (now the department of Political Science) at the University of Arizona, the first AMUN session was experimental and only 10 Tucson area schools paricipated. Since that time the scope of the conference has expanded to include schools from throughout the Southwestern United States and Mexico.
The Arizona Model United Nations provides an exciting simulation of events and procedures of the United Nations and is an educational tool of unsurpassed excellence.
By simulating the structure and operation of the UN, a Model United Nations seeks to give it participants the opportunity to experience the frustrations and rewards that diplomats themselves experience.
Yes we are... Maybe "masochistic" is a better adjective.
By David Usborne in New York and Paul Waugh 29 October 2002
France suggested yesterday that the UN Security Council could meet foreign ministers, attending in place of ambassadors, as a way of resolving the six-week diplomatic deadlock over Iraq.
The proposal came as Washington again voiced frustration with the Security Council's failure to adopt a resolution on weapons inspections. "The United Nations has debated this long enough. The time has come for people to raise their hands and cast their vote," Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said.
But France and Russia remain opposed to a US-UK draft that includes a threat of military action if Iraq fails to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. Paris wants a two-stage approach that would first give inspections a chance and leave consideration of war until later if Baghdad is obstructive.
President George Bush, who first called on the UN to pass a resolution on Iraq in a speech before the General Assembly on 12 September, also put pressure on the Security Council last night. "Either the UN will do its duty to disarm Saddam Hussein. Or Saddam Hussein will disarm himself. In either case, if they refuse to act ... the US will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein," he said.
Washington has been signalling with decreasing subtlety in recent days that it will soon give up on the UN and plan for military action alone, with support from Britain. Such an outcome, however, would embarrass the UN and could undermine its authority for many years.
Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, made British and US fears about a two-stage process explicit for the first time yesterday. "You could end up in a situation where the future integrity of the whole of the international system of law is at stake, military action is necessary and palpably obvious and yet one or other members of the Security Council decides to veto it," he said. Mr Straw told the Commons that the UK shared Mr Bush's impatience with the UN.
Sources at the UN said the notion of a meeting of the Security Council at foreign ministers' level had not been ruled out. "It could be a useful tool for moving us forward," one diplomat said. But it seemed unlikely that a summit could be arranged before next week.
Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, urged the Security Council to settle its differences. After meeting with ambassadors, accompanied by Mohammed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Agency, he said he had stressed the "importance of having agreement and broad unity in the council".
Moscow and Paris circulated their own draft proposals at the end of last week. Raising the possibility of a Security Council session with foreign ministers, France's Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, told Le Figaro newspaper: "Our objective is now twofold; reaching a conclusion quickly, and doing so on the basis of as large a consensus as possible".
....just like any other useless-to-the-United States, parasitical, private, for profit corporation.
I disagree with you - France's 6.494% is merely unwashed, hoity-toity, and highly inbred!!!
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