Damning UN consensus building on North Korean rights abuses

Damning UN consensus building on North Korean rights abuses

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — A growing global wave of criticism, concern and consternation continues as both the UN General Assembly and now the Security Council have firmly condemned North Korea’s communist regime for human rights abuses to its own population. The moves come amid widening, and overdue, international attention […]

Throwing a Christmas bone to Communist tyrannies: 1978 and 2014

Throwing a Christmas bone to Communist tyrannies: 1978 and 2014

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — One of the last legacies of the Cold War has ended with Washington reestablishing diplomatic ties with Cuba after a fifty-three year break in relations. Yet another enduring legacy of that era continues; the unchallenged rule by the Castro family dictatorship, which has outlasted eleven […]

No season of peace and joy for a record-breaking 57 million war victims

No season of peace and joy for a record-breaking 57 million war victims

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Set to the backdrop of regional wars and simmering ethnic conflicts, the UN relief agencies made an unprecedented appeal for wider funding to address the current chaos in a score of countries. Valerie Amos, the UN’s emergency aid chief, stated candidly that the number of […]

Holiday cheer here, but gloom in Russia, as fuel prices dip and Obamacare Grinch lurks

Holiday cheer here, but gloom in Russia, as fuel prices dip and Obamacare Grinch lurks

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The precipitous fall in petroleum prices has brought an unexpected holiday season bonus to oil and gasoline consumers throughout North America. And it’s not a moment too soon that the high fuel prices of the past few years finally take a dip. But while cheaper […]

Opium: Tragic tie that binds Afghanistan’s government, Taliban, warlords and people

Opium: Tragic tie that binds Afghanistan’s government, Taliban, warlords and people

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The clock is ticking as American and NATO forces begin the countdown to military withdrawal from Afghanistan by year’s end. But as Taliban militants watch the clock and the calendar, eagerly awaiting the foreign troop pullouts, thus hoping to topple the country’s still teetering government, […]

UN committee resolution could refer North Korea rulers to International Criminal Court

UN committee resolution could refer North Korea rulers to International Criminal Court

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — It’s one of the tougher warnings the world community has sent to the neo-Stalinist regime in North Korea; a detailed condemnation of widespread human rights abuses in the reclusive communist country and, as significantly, a call that the Case and the regime leadership be eventually […]

25 years ago, Joshua’s trumpet sounded and the Berlin Wall fell

25 years ago, Joshua’s trumpet sounded and the Berlin Wall fell

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — A quarter century ago, the Joshua trumpet of freedom sounded and the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. Naturally, this allegory was slightly more complicated as the epic political events which led to the fall of the Wall on Nov. 9, 1989 were long in coming […]

Iran’s horrific rights record: 852 executions in past year included juveniles

Iran’s horrific rights record: 852 executions in past year included juveniles

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Despite what many observers see as a politically reformist presidency of Hassan Rouhani, the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran remains dire. A recently released UN report paints a grim picture of widespread executions, a tarnished judicial system, systematic religious persecution, and […]

It could even happen in Canada, and now it has

It could even happen in Canada, and now it has

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Canada has been given a reality jolt. Twice within three days, “lone wolf” terrorists have killed Canadian soldiers on Canadian soil; one outside Montreal and another at the symbolic National War Memorial in Ottawa. The Ottawa incident also saw the lone gunmen rush into the […]

Game of musical chairs in Security Council vote did not favor U.S. interests

Game of musical chairs in Security Council vote did not favor U.S. interests

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — In its annual round of diplomatic musical chairs, the General Assembly chose five new members for the coveted seats on the Security Council, the UN’s most prestigious body. The new members, Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela begin their two year terms starting in […]

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