Free Republic

Will Americans rule themselves or be ruled by others — this is to be a great question of the 21st century. An opening scene is currently being played out in the U.S. Senate concerning international courts and supranational institutions. The Bush administration and the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are pushing ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS or LOST). The U.N. convention established a transnational institution, the International Seabed Authority, to regulate maritime activities for over 70 percent of the earth’s surface. Supporters contend that it is in America’s interests to...

Our DOS has blog up titled: Does The un Effectively Fulfill its Mission? It's an official DOS blog. I've managed to post on it a couple of times and if anyone knows my opinion of the un, I don't have anything nice to say about that corrupt organization. The support of the un mission is overwhelmingly pro-un. One poster brought up the charter of the un. I responded right after I read that post in detail just who co-authored that charter - Alger Hiss - a soviet spy who also worked in the SD.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed Thursday a rise in the U.N. budget for the next two years, seeking extra funding to head off conflicts and promote human rights amid new demands on the world body. Ban told the U.N. General Assembly's budget committee he wanted $4.2 billion for 2008-09, which he said represented real growth of just half a percentage point, or $23 million, over the previous period covering the past two years. "That is not much, considering the demands upon us," he said. "Never has the world so needed a strong United Nations. Yet never have...

Last week, La Presse reported quite breathlessly that the federal government, which owns the Port of Montreal and much of the land along its waterfront, has been lobbying the United Nations to move its headquarters from New York to Montreal. The rationale, apparently, is that the UN’s current headquarters, housed in an iconic complex built in 1949 along the East River, needs nearly $2 billion worth of renovations over the next couple of decades. It would cost a lot less to simply pack up and move to Montreal, where a state-of-the-art new headquarters would be waiting on the site of...

Can the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty not only be delayed but defeated outright in the Senate? That's the question that conservatives are delightfully pondering as a remarkable series of events has put the pact, supported by the Bush Administration and the liberal leadership in the Senate, in serious jeopardy. Perhaps the most significant development is the announcement by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell that he will oppose the White House and vote against the treaty. As opponents of the treaty make their case in advertisements and on cable TV and talk radio, Republican senators are increasingly hearing from...

As overpaid and under worked United Nations bureaucrats quaff champagne and feast on canapés and shrimp in Turtle Bay to celebrate U.N. Day, it is important for the world to remember those who have been failed by the organization, or have suffered at its hands. They include: the one million Tutsis slaughtered by Hutus in the Rwanda genocide of 1994 while U.N. peacekeepers looked on; the 10,000 Bosnian Muslims massacred at Srebrenica by the Serbs while under the protection of Dutch troops in a U.N. “safe haven”; the more than 200,000 villagers in Darfur killed by Sudanese-backed Janjaweed militias while...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 (United Nations) India's Siddarth Chatterjee, son-in-law of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, has been appointed to a key United Nations post in Iraq. Chatterjee, a senior UNICEF official posted in Somalia, has been appointed as the chief of staff to Staffan de Mistura, the new Special Representative for Iraq. The news was first reported by The Washington Post columnist Al Kamen on October 18. Siddarth Chatterjee's appointment to this key UN post in Iraq was confirmed by the Secretary General's spokesman Michael Montas, in response to a question at the routine press briefing at the...

(October 23) Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed to invoke cloture on S. 2205, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) new stand-alone DREAM Act amnesty bill. The cloture vote, for which 60 YES votes are necessary to prevent a filibuster on the measure, is set for Wednesday, October 24. Reid is attempting to bring this nightmarish amnesty bill to the floor under Senate Rule XIV without it ever having been debated in committee. Click here for more background on the DREAM Act. It is imperative that NumbersUSA members call their senators today to ask them to vote...

[snip]Here are 14 good reasons to oppose the revised ENDA, H.R. 3685: 1. ENDA and H.R. 3685 would create federally-protected “rights” based on immoral, unhealthy and changeable homosexual/bisexual behavior — masquerading as “orientation” – setting a dangerous legal, moral and spiritual precedent. Homosexuality is not a “civil right”; it is a human wrong — one that is redeemable as proven by thousands of contented former homosexuals and ex-lesbians. Our Founding Fathers, infused with a Biblical view of fallen man, created limited government that sought to restrain the sinful outworking of men’s hearts (including the lust for power, hence our system...

BAGHDAD -- Party leaders in the Iraqi parliament said today that they were setting up a committee to examine the continuing U.S. military presence in Iraq with an eye toward possibly restricting American activities, as the backlash continued over a U.S. raid Sunday in which the Iraqi government said 13 civilians were killed. Before the end of the year, the United Nations is expected to take up its annual review of a Security Council resolution that authorizes the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

BRUSSELS, Oct 17 (Reuters) - International forces are unlikely to win their battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, risking a regional conflict that could match the magnitude of previous world wars, a former top U.N. envoy said on Wednesday. Lord Paddy Ashdown -- former United Nations high representative and European Union special representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina -- said failure by the NATO-led force would have far wider repercussions than any losses in Iraq. He called for the appointment of a high-level coordinator to lead the foreign mission in Afghanistan. "I think we are losing in Afghanistan now, we have...

The dramatic case, Sam-Thambiah against the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, involves allegations of sexual harassment and pornography. One side charges "distortions and fabrications." The other side alleges "mismanagement and irregularities." What makes this case unique is that it involves the shadowy world of a U.N.-affiliated agency that the U.S. Senate is poised to provide with millions of dollars through ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In addition to the explosive corruption case, taken before a United Nations Administrative Tribunal for adjudication, a confidential source in the United Nations has come forward...

WASHINGTON--Embedding electronic tags in containers of food and supplies--and even in workers' identification documents--will "revolutionize" the way the United Nations doles out relief in the aftermath of the next tsunami, civil war or disease outbreak, a senior organization official said Wednesday. When U.N. workers descend on distressed locales, they often encounter logjams at airport tarmacs and confusion over what exactly is in this or that box, said David Nabarro, who's chiefly in charge of coordinating responses to bird and human influenza for the U.N. Development Group. Nabarro said he envisions his organization one day going the way of the military...

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<p>The U.S. Supreme Court's hearing of the case, Medellin v. Texas, has reminded the American people of President Bush's terrible tendency to put the foreign interests of Mexico above those of the United States. But the case, being heard on October 10, is significant for another reason. It demonstrates the dangers of passing global treaties and getting involved with international courts and tribunals. The Senate should remember this lesson as it ponders ratification of the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty, which creates an International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and various "dispute resolution panels" that will inevitably rule and act against the U.S. The Senate could vote on this treaty shortly and the odds are that it will pass unless the American people voice their objections immediately and vociferously.</p>

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Former U.N. military commanders, pressure groups and diplomats urged the United Nations on Tuesday to pass more stringent controls on the global arms trade. At a news conference organized by aid group Oxfam International, they called for a framework to prevent arms transfers in cases where they are likely to be used in violation of international law, to fuel conflict or undermine development. There is no international regulatory framework currently in place that regulates the sale of arms, and national and regional controls that do exist vary widely, said Anna MacDonald, a campaign manager for Oxfam....

Vicente Fox confirms long-term deal worked out with President BushFormer Mexican President Vicente Fox confirmed the existence of a plan conceived with President Bush to create a new regional currency in the Americas, in an interview last night on CNN's "Larry King Live." It possibly was the first time a leader of Mexico, Canada or the U.S. openly confirmed a plan for a regional currency. Fox explained the current regional trade agreement that encompasses the Western Hemisphere is intended to evolve into other previously hidden aspects of integration. According to a transcript published by CNN, King, near the end of...

Do you think our "adversary press" is on the lookout for government lies? Consider the false testimony (web site) before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on behalf of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This is a treaty that our media want passed by the Senate. So they are letting his lies go completely unchallenged. One of the most audacious lies was that, despite the fact that the treaty carries the name "United Nations" in its title, it is not a U.N. treaty. Negroponte's testimony included several "myths"...

[snip]The case might be the ultimate test of states' rights versus the power of the federal government. Indeed, 28 states have signed on in support of Texas. But it also indicates the extent to which states are bound by international law and the United States' treaty obligations. The government of Mexico forced the U.S. stance. After Medellin was convicted, Mexico brought suit in the International Court of Justice, the judicial body of the United Nations, charging that the U.S. had violated the Vienna Convention. That treaty requires that foreign nationals arrested in a signatory country be allowed to meet with...

NEW YORK. Frustrated by high dues and a coalition of anti-American interests, the United States today announced that it would resign from the United Nations and instead align itself with the International House of Pancakes, a competing organization. Khalilzad: “I didn’t order any grilled cheese.” “We just got the bill for the third quarter, and it’s outrageous,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the current U.S. ambassador to the UN. “There’s an assessment for renovations to the indoor pool, and charges for three grilled cheese sandwiches that I know I didn’t order.”