From Der Spiegel, settling for second best: In global institutions, mediocrity is the way to the top. From TNR, meet Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, the Sandinista who runs the United Nations. You can't spell unproductive without the letters "U" and "N": David Rothkopf on the United Nations (and a response). New World Playpen: A look at the United Nations’ parental power grab. Gideon Rachman on why the world needs a United Nations army. The crisis where: Why some world trouble spots get all the attention? Long conflict can wreck a country, leaving behind poverty and chaos — but what's the right way to help war-torn countries rebuild? A review of Defending Humanity: When Force is Justified and Why by George Fletcher and Jens David Ohlin (and more on peacekeepers and peacebuilders). The blanket militarization of humanitarian aid: The U.S. military has performed successful aid missions in war zones, but that doesn't mean it will work everywhere. An idea whose time has come and gone: An idealistic effort to establish a new humanitarian principle is coming under attack at the United Nations (and more and more by Noam Chomsky; and more by Jean Bricmont). The end of interventionism: The world has lost its appetite for confrontation, and rogue regimes have gotten smarter.
