They're Back! Claudia Rosett Previews the New UN Session and It's Going to Be Ugly

By Barry Rubin

One of the cornerstones of Obama Administration foreign policy is respect for the UN and viewing it as a useful and productive forum for getting things done. But Claudia Rosett has worked tirelessly (an understatement) to understand just what a mess the UN is and why this strategy is not going to work very well.


Here’s her preview of the upcoming session in September.

A couple of beyond-belief highlights:

--One of erratic Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi’s right-hand flunkies, his former foreign minister Ali Abdessalam Treki, will be president of the UN General Assembly during the 2009-2010 session

--Speakers for the first day, September 23, including President Barack Obama, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Qadhafi himself.

And that’s just the start. For a full round-up of UN scandals and the overwhelming power there of radical, human-rights’ abusing regimes, see Rosett’s analysis.