Ian Williams is a senior analyst whose work has written for newspapers and magazines around the world such as the Australian, The Independent, New York Observer, The Financial Times and The Guardian.
Ian Williams
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Will Calls for Sharing Responsibility in New UN Report Fall on Deaf Ears?
The “High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change” that Kofi Annan asked to study how the UN copes with the threats of the new century and their report, “A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility,” admirably points out that there is more to reform than simply tinkering with organizational diagrams and flowcharts.
Bolton–No More Mr. Nice Guy
While on one level appointing John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations is the contemporary equivalent of having King Herod as head of UNICEF, there is some comfort to be drawn from it. He will be singularly ineffective in winning friends and support for the White House’s policies.
Security Council Reform Debate Highlights Challenges Facing UN
John Bolton’s first order of business.
Whither the Special Relationship? Bush, Blair, and Britain’s Future
The recent spectacle of President George W. Bush being paraded through the streets of London by Tony Blair to celebrate the “Special Relationship,” provokes the question of what is so special about it.
Threading the Needle: UN Resolution 1511 and the Iraqi Occupation
UN Security Council Resolution 1511 is highly unlikely to secure any goals it was advertised to solve.
A Story of Two Speeches: Kofi Annan and George W. Bush
The sound of silence is often deafening when statesmen speak, but in the case of George. W. Bush it is the deafness that is almost as stunning.
To Occupy or UNoccupy?
It is a measure of how stark the impinging reality is that Washington even considered returning to the UN for yet another new and stronger resolution.
Time for a New Regime Change in Iraq
It is time to reassure the world and the Iraqis with a firm timetable to end the occupation, and to internationalize the transition to independence and democracy.
Blair and Bush Forge a New Special Relationship
Bush and Blair may go up in electoral smoke together in the next year, loyal unto this last.
Real War–Virtual Weapons?
Contemporary leaders, like those of yore, ought to heed warnings to discount heady advice brought by people with their own agendas.
Resolution 1483: Legalizing an Occupation
It had to admit that it was in fact an Occupying power.
Will International Law Shape the Occupation, or the Occupation Shape International Law?
Overall, the resolution does not try to bring the Iraqi occupation into line with international law: It attempts to reshape international law to fit the occupation.
The Law of Unintended Consequences: Will the War in Iraq Spur Proliferation?
The war fought ostensibly to disarm Iraq will almost certainly lead to nuclear proliferation and the armament of the rest of the world. While, for the time being at least, many people in Iraq will indeed rejoice at the overthrow of their tyrant–the rest
Iraq War Unleashes Barbarism
So much for a world united behind the War on Terror.
Scarred and Battered, UN Charts Course in Post-War Iraq
Neither logic nor legality premit the Iraqi “coalition” to enforce UN Security Council decisions. And yet, they feel a need to do just that.
Powell at the UN: Another Step Forward on the Road to Baghdad
Powell argues for a push into Baghdad
Showdown and Compromise at the UN
The U.S. is set to win Security Council support for a resolution on Iraq and is already calling it victory.
Good Cop, Bad Cop at the UN
The latest UN security council resolution does give us some small hope for a more multilateral future.
A New Multilateral Spirit in Washington?
Do UNESCO membership and a shift in attitude toward Iran signal a change of heart for the U.S. government?
Watch Out Kofi Annan: Washington’s New Witch Hunt
Under Bush, it is becoming increasingly evident that the U.S. can cause more damage to multilateral organizations by staying in them and shaping them to its ends.