Stories by Ian Williams
Ian Williams writes on the United Nations for AlterNet. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy in Focus, the Nation and Salon. He is also the author of Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776.
Does Obama want to build on the good work he started in Turkey and Egypt and send a signal to Israel? Or is he prepared to let unprincipled lobbyists hijack his foreign policy?
Posted on Sep 28, 2009, Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
If Obama wants to be a real friend to Israel, he has to let the Israeli government know its actions are not consequence-free.
Posted on Jan 15, 2009, Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
It's a whale of a tale: Japan's claim that the whaling industry serves a scientific purpose is hypocritical and ridiculous.
Posted on Feb 16, 2008, Source: Comment Is Free
The UN scandal pimps and an overzealous investigative office are going after another target.
Posted on Oct 22, 2007, Source: Comment Is Free
When you see one person and nation being demonised, you have to assume that it is for a purpose.
Posted on Sep 25, 2007, Source: Comment Is Free
Telling the truth about Washington's policy towards Cuba can be dangerous -- but it may pay off for Barack Obama next year.
Posted on Sep 1, 2007, Source: Comment Is Free
Secretary of State Condoleezza's Rice's declaration, several hundred mangled children ago, that it was "premature" for a cease-fire in Lebanon will haunt the Bush administration for the rest of its term.
Posted on Aug 14, 2006, Source: TheNation.com
Israel must either dig itself deeper into the hole it has made or look for a face-saving multinational force.
Posted on Aug 2, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Israel's recent bombing of a U.N. observation post in Lebanon is eerily similar to one 10 years ago.
Posted on Jul 27, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Was it oil? Empire? Human rights? The Israel Lobby? Three years later, there's no clear reason why we invaded Iraq, much less any idea how we'll get out.
Posted on Apr 27, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Although Slobodan Milosevic died before he could be sentenced for his crimes, he serves as an example that international law is a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Posted on Mar 18, 2006, Source: AlterNet
Despite the fact that rum has been widely important to the history of the U.S., it has been demonized by ignorance and hypocrisy.
Posted on Dec 2, 2005, Source: AlterNet
A new U.N. declaration grants the world community the right to intervene and prevent governments from committing massive crimes against their own citizens.
Posted on Sep 19, 2005, Source: AlterNet
The current debate over enlarging the U.N. Security Council distracts from more important reforms Kofi Annan has proposed.
Posted on Jul 26, 2005, Source: AlterNet
In voting against the EU constitution, the French left allowed its hatred of Jacques Chirac to trump good sense.
Posted on Jun 1, 2005, Source: AlterNet
Despite the British prime minister's troubled track record, the British electorate will almost certainly re-elect the Labour Party -- and they will be right to do so.
Posted on May 4, 2005, Source: AlterNet
Now that the Volcker inquiry has exonerated U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, it's time to root out the real culprits in the Oil-for-Food scandal.
Posted on Apr 1, 2005, Source: AlterNet
A one-way ticket to Canada? Seceding from the Bible Belt? The outcome of the 2004 elections contain happier and more likely possibilities for the future.
Posted on Nov 3, 2004, Source: AlterNet
Bush has failed the military on almost every level – marking the difference between being militaristic and pro-military.
Posted on Oct 27, 2004, Source: In These Times
John Kerry responded with strong words to the attacks from the RNC podium last week. But was anyone listening?
Posted on Sep 7, 2004, Source: AlterNet
The success of the Swift Boat Vet campaign against John Kerry reveals just how easy it is to rewrite history in current media climate.
Posted on Aug 25, 2004, Source: MediaChannel.org
If most Americans have forgotten about Osama bin Laden, the fault lies squarely with the U.S. mainstream media.
Posted on Aug 10, 2004, Source: MediaChannel.org
According to Robert Kane Pappas's new documentary, 'Orwell Rolls in His Grave,' it's 1984 all over again.
Posted on Aug 2, 2004, Source: AlterNet
The people of Sudan are paying a high price for the Iraq War, which blurred the line between humanitarian intervention and moral crusade.
Posted on Jul 29, 2004, Source: AlterNet
A third of George Bush's public speeches have been in a military venue, often in uniform. There is nothing this draft-dodging, Ivy League jock loves as much as playing commander-in-chief.
Posted on Jun 28, 2004, Source: AlterNet
An increasingly desperate Bush administration is losing its might and therefore its ability to decide what is right for Iraq. Proof: the new UN draft resolution.
Posted on Jun 3, 2004, Source: AlterNet
After two years of heaping scorn on the United Nations, the Bush administration is now banking on the UN to help bail him out of the quagmire that is Iraq.
Posted on Apr 14, 2004, Source: AlterNet
A scandal brewing over spying at the UN last year reveals how the U.S. government uses its 'special relationship' with Britain to violate both international and domestic laws.
Posted on Feb 22, 2004, Source: AlterNet
The lifelong critic of budget deficits has been mysteriously silent on the Bush administration's fiscal policies. Guess whose term runs out this year.
Posted on Feb 3, 2004, Source: AlterNet
There's a good case to be made that primary elections are responsible for much of the evil in modern American politics, from apathy to the power of money.
Posted on Jan 27, 2004, Source: AlterNet
Thanks to the enormous trade and budget deficits run up by the Bush administration, the U.S. economy is dangerously dependent on foreign investors, especially China.
Posted on Jan 13, 2004, Source: AlterNet
George Bush's visit did little to comfort either the suspicious British public or his good friend Tony Blair.
Posted on Nov 21, 2003, Source: AlterNet
Here's what happens to your hard-earned money when it enters the giant money-skimming machine we call the stock market.
Posted on Nov 13, 2003, Source: AlterNet
Nations at the Madrid donor conference agreed to contribute money for the reconstruction of Iraq, but not to the U.S.-controlled Iraqi fund.
Posted on Oct 29, 2003, Source: AlterNet
The unanimous passage of the U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution is a diplomatic triumph -- but in form rather than in substance.
Posted on Oct 17, 2003, Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
The Bush administration's support of the Israeli attacks on Syria spells the end to any pretense of a balanced U.S. Middle East policy.
Posted on Oct 7, 2003, Source: AlterNet
While Bush's speech was filled with empty rhetoric and bluster, Kofi Annan delivered a powerful indictment of U.S. foreign policy.
Posted on Sep 23, 2003, Source: AlterNet
While the UN summit in Geneva did not produce an agreement, both the Bush administration and its critics seem to have recognized the importance of compromise.
Posted on Sep 16, 2003, Source: AlterNet
While the Pentagon may stubbornly resist handing over military control, there is no reason why the United Nations cannot take over the civil administration of Iraq.
Posted on Aug 28, 2003, Source: Foreign Policy in Focus
Ian Williams argues that progressives should not allow Bush's misappropriation of humanitarian intervention to force them to abandon a principle that is both moral and urgently required.
John R. MacArthur counters that liberals have long been lobbying for interventions that would override international law.
Posted on Aug 4, 2003, Source: In These Times
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