U.S. Allies at the U.N. PoA: More Needed

On Firearms, the U.S. Needs Allies at the U.N., National Review Online, June 19, 2014. "The topic has shifted at this week’s meeting of the U.N.’s Programme of Action on Small Arms (PoA). The focus on Wednesday was on the provision of foreign aid — undoubtedly a major reason why many nations are in the room. As the discussion unfolds, it’s hard to ignore just how isolated the U.S. is at the U.N. on firearms issues, and, on a related issue, just how little most of the other national delegations know about the subject."

UN ATT Conference, Day Four: Venezuela Wins!

Day Four: As ATT Conference Work Begins, Venezuela Wins the Crazy Prize, Heritage Foundation Foundry, July 6, 2012. "In previous sessions, Cuba, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia had all put in strong showings with speeches that were unprincipled and autocrat-friendly, but when it came to crazy, Venezuela lapped the field with a speech that will be tough to beat. In a lengthy rant attacking the “maturity” of the assembled nations, it denounced the “imperial powers” for arming the Libyan rebels who overthrew Muammar Qadhafi, demanded that the world look seriously at controlling the “imperialists” (i.e., the U.S.) who had nuclear weapons, condemned foreign aid providers for insisting on the “downsizing” of governments, and stated that it needed arms to deal with internal threats (i.e., to continue to oppress its own population."

Kirkpatrick, Now More Than Ever

Go Read Kirkpatrick. Again, Contentions, February 1, 2011. "Now more than ever, Jeane Kirkpatrick’s “Dictatorships & Double Standards” essay deserves to be read and pondered. If this isn’t the greatest essay COMMENTARY has ever published, it’s certainly the most influential."

Example #3: Why the U.N.'s Arms Trade Treaty Is a Bad Idea

Why the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty Won’t Work, September 18, 2009. "The U.N. wants to negotiate an Arms Trade Treaty. The Heritage Foundation recently published a lengthy study of this proposal. It found that the Treaty, if brought into being as currently projected, will be used not to restrict the access that dictators and terrorists have to conventional arms, but to reduce the ability of democracies like Israel to defend their people against terrorism. This week brought further evidence of the U.N.’s impending failure."

First Venezuela, Then Honduras

The Honduran Re-Run, Contentions, July 7, 2009. "Jamie Kirchick, Rich Richman, and J.G. Thayer have offered persuasive comments on the Honduran crisis, which is rapidly turning into a kind of political Rorschach test. If you are the Christian Science Monitor, you sigh that “The fact a military coup occurred apparently against U.S. wishes suggests how American dominance in the region has waned,” a verdict that nicely condemns Zelaya’s ouster as a coup, insinuates that the U.S. may secretly have been involved in it, and uses the occasion to applaud the decline and fall of the American empire. If, like the Obama Administration, you want to ‘engage’ America’s enemies into placidity, Honduras offers an opportunity to stand alongside Hugo Chavez and the Castros in defense of what is implausibly called democracy."