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!

New diplomatic push for Security Council reform

By the Gstaad Project

“The beginning of the 21st century needs a global governance system that is efficient, inclusive and representative – a governance system that combines, in a coherent manner, legitimacy, leadership and expertise. Time was needed for reflection, but now we have to move to action.” This is how Joseph Deiss, President of the United Nations General Assembly, opened yesterday’s Rome Conference on Global Governance and Security Council Reform, sponsored by the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini and the Uniting for Consensus movement.

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.

New website to track $30 billion in climate aid

Source: Reuters | by Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

A website launched on Friday will help track whether rich countries are keeping a pledge to come up with $30 billion in climate aid for the poor, seen by the U.N. as a “golden key” to progress in talks on global warming.

U.N. talks on climate change wrap up in Bonn

Source: United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe

The latest round of United Nations talks aimed at reaching an ambitious new treaty on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions wrapped up today in Bonn, Germany, having achieved what the world body’s top climate change official called “important” progress.

US and China kill British proposal for UN Security Council reform

Source: The Washington Post | By Colum Lynch

Having invited the foreign ministers of the four other permanent Security Council nations to London to discuss enlarging the 15-nation council, Britain on Monday called off the Wednesday meeting after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and China’s foreign minister declined to attend, according to key U.N. members.

Talks on Security Council expansion to begin in earnest

Source: United Nations

On-going work on reshaping the size and membership of the Security Council and making the vital organ of the world body more democratic is finally heading for serious negotiations, the Ambassador to the United Nations for Afghanistan, Zahir Tanin, told the press on Monday.