Still far from a real UN Security Council reform?

Here’s a great analysis on the current situation surrounding the UN Security Council reform process. As the writer points, the two main factions are still far from a two-third majority vote required to reshape the Council’s membership… And much needs to be discussed on veto power!

How close is India to a Security Council seat?

Here is the analysis of Tom Wright on the pages of the Wall Street Journal:

India and Russia on Tuesday signed a number of economic and defense agreements, as Moscow moved to shore up its relationship with New Delhi, an old ally that also has been courted in recent months by the U.S., U.K., France and China. President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in India for two days of talks, making him the fifth and final leader from a nation with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council to visit the South Asian country in 2010.

New momentum for UN Security Council reform?

Source: Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) | by Stewart M. Patrick

U.S. President Barack Obama’s surprise announcement of support for India’s permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a bold foreign policy stroke. Beyond deepening the U.S.-India strategic partnership launched by the Bush administration, it may help break the logjam that has kept the UNSC’s permanent membership mired in the world of 1945.

Washington Post interviews former UN climate chief

Source: Washington Post | by Juliet Eilperin

Until this month, Yvo de Boer served as executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the body that oversees international climate negotiations. After supervising the Copenhagen climate talks last year, a process he has called frustrating, de Boer suddenly announced in February that he would be stepping down. After nearly four years on the U.N. job (he describes it as “three years and 11 months,” but who’s counting?), he just started work as an adviser on climate change and sustainability at KPMG International in London. The Washington Post’s national environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin spoke with de Boer last week about leaving the United Nations, why he never kept Al Gore out in the cold and how President Obama has his brain in the right place.

A global China policy

Source: European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)

China, emboldened by the impact of the economic crisis on the West, is becoming a huge test for Europe’s foreign policy. If it doesn’t rethink its strategy, the EU will lose its already limited influence over Beijing. If it does, on issues ranging from climate change to the Dalai Lama, Europe can build coalitions with others affected by China’s rise, and take advantage of the few areas where it has real leverage.

World leaders welcome the Copenhagen Accord

Source: COP-15 Copenhagen | by Rie Jerichow

Despite its lack of targets to curb emissions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders agree to defend the new climate deal.

Backgrounder: U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

Today began the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The United Nations Office in Washington DC has prepared a background note to understand what the conference is and its importance in the negotiations towards a new international treaty to fight global warming.

Climate change: UN Chief in Washington to lobby US Congress

Source: United Nations

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the United States to take a leading role in forging a new international pact to combat global warming, warning that the consequences of failure outweigh the cost of tackling climate change.