Robert McMahon

Also by Robert McMahon

• September 15, 2005

  Lukashenka Criticizes U.S. 'Unipolar' World Dominance

  Lukashenka speaking at UN United Nations, 15 September 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has blamed the United States for causing global instability and manipulating the United Nations. Lukashenka told the UN summit that Washington is using a campaign on democracy and human rights to try to dominate other states.

• September 15, 2005

  UN: Organization Opens 60th Anniversary Summit Looking At Reforms

  Secretary-General Kofi Annan (file photo) The UN's 60th anniversary summit has opened with appeals to restore the organization's credibility. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged more than 150 top leaders to follow through on new pledges to fight poverty, strengthen human rights, and oppose genocide. U.S. President George W. Bush highlighted the establishment of a UN democracy fund and U.S. efforts to curb poverty, both of which he said were essential in defeating terrorism.

• September 15, 2005

  UN: Security Council Summit Adopts Measure Against Terror Incitement

  Romanian President Basescu spoke to RFE/RL after his UN speech (file photo) The first day yesterday of the UN's 60th anniversary summit included a rare gathering of heads of state in the Security Council chamber to debate a tough new counterterror measure. Council representatives -- including the presidents of the United States, China, Russia, and the premiers of Britain and France -- approved a resolution urging states to take action against those who "incite" terrorism. It calls for any new legislation to comply with international human-rights law but rights watchdogs worried that it will trigger abuses by some states.

• September 15, 2005

  Iran: In First UN Speech, President Ahmadinejad Aims Criticism At U.S.

  Ahmadinejad (file photo) Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad did not mention the country's nuclear dispute with Western powers in his first address to the UN General Assembly. But in veiled references to the United States, Ahmadinejad spoke out against states which he said abuse their power, engage in intimidation, and threaten preemption as a security measure.

• September 14, 2005

  UN: Summit Begins Amid Shrinking Expectations For Reform

  The world’s largest gathering of heads of state and government begins today at UN headquarters in New York and is dominated by questions of reforming the organization. Member states agreed at the last minute to a reform document that softens commitments to improving UN effectiveness on issues ranging from human rights to nonproliferation. Some officials stressed that reform priorities are not dead but deferred to the General Assembly. They hope that leaders of more than 170 states can energize the process.

• September 13, 2005

  U.S./Georgia: Washington Signs $300 Million Aid Pact With Tbilisi

  Presidents Bush, Saakashvili in Tbilisi in May Top U.S. and Georgian officials have signed an agreement aimed at bringing nearly $300 million worth of development aid to some of Georgia’s poorest areas. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lauded Georgia’s commitment to reforms, which she said will enable the Millennium Challenge grant to affect hundreds of thousands of Georgians. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said the five-year compact would be a key part of the country’s reconstruction effort.

• September 12, 2005

  UN: Still Haunted By Iraq, UN Hosts Summit On Reform

  Heads of state and government from more than 170 countries will gather in New York on 14-16 September with the aim of reviving the United Nations. The summit on UN reform is an opportunity for leaders to affirm an agenda to fight global poverty, as well as to restore ties damaged by the war in Iraq. Fallout from the UN's handling of the Iraq oil-for-food program was echoing through UN headquarters just days before the summit's start. And differences over issues ranging from weapons proliferation to human rights were clouding a key document.

• September 07, 2005

  Volcker Cites Broad UN Lapses In Oil-For-Food Probe

  Paul Volcker (file photo) Washington, 7 September 2005 (RFE/RL) -- An independent panel says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and a broad range of UN bodies must share the blame for widespread abuses of the oil-for-food program in Iraq.

• August 29, 2005

  U.S.: Bush Seeks To Counter Iraq War Frustrations At Home

  George W. Bush (file photo) Recent opinion surveys of the American public show President George W. Bush has some of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency. Outside his own summer residence, the president faces a high-profile antiwar campaign led by the mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. Legislators from both major U.S. parties continue to question the president's strategy in Iraq. Bush has responded with a series of speeches aiming to underscore the importance of a stabilized Iraq to U.S. security.

• August 24, 2005

  Afghanistan: UN Envoy Warns Violence Could Disrupt Polls

  The chief of the UN mission in Afghanistan has warned an upsurge in violence could disrupt Afghanistan's parliamentary polls next month. Speaking to the UN Security Council yesterday, UN envoy Jean Arnault pointed to an escalation in attacks in the south and east as posing the most risk to elections. Representatives of neighboring and troop-contributing states vowed to help stabilize the country during the key polls.

• August 23, 2005

  Federalism Still An Obstacle For Iraqi Charter

  Hajim al-Hassani (file photo) Washington, 23 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Iraq's dominant Shi'ite and Kurdish groups presented a draft constitution minutes before deadline, helping the parliament avoid dissolution.

• August 18, 2005

  Kyrgyzstan: Experts Think Country Faces Democracy Test

  President Bakiev at his inauguration on 14 August Kyrgyzstan’s new government and parliament must soon confront a range of tough questions that will show citizens the sincerity of reform pledges and signal where power is centered. Experts from a Washington-based agency involved in Kyrgyz electoral reforms say the relationship between new President Kurmanbek Bakiev and the parliament elected in February will be a key factor affecting institutional changes. They anticipate few foreign policy changes but worry about the impact of unrest in neighboring Uzbekistan.

• August 17, 2005

  Georgia: U.S. Government Agency Approves $300 Million Aid Deal For Tbilisi

  A U.S. government agency has approved a development aid package for Georgia worth nearly $300 million. The board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation approved a five-year compact aimed at rehabilitating roads and an energy pipeline and boosting private-sector development. The corporation expects to sign the compact with Georgia in September.

• August 12, 2005

  Iran: IAEA Board Urges Iran To Halt Nuclear Work, Requests Agency Report

  Workers at the uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan The board of the UN’s nuclear agency has called on Iran to stop the uranium conversion work it resumed earlier this week, expressing “serious concern.” In a new resolution adopted in Vienna, the board also requested a report from the agency’s chief on Iran’s response to the resolution and compliance with Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations. Iran rejected the measure and some nonproliferation experts differed on its usefulness.

• August 05, 2005

  Uzbekistan: U.S. Official Says Washington To Maintain Pressure on Tashkent

  Glyn Davies A senior U.S. human rights official has vowed that Washington will continue to press Uzbek authorities on reforms and its call for an independent inquiry into violence in Andijon in mid-May. The U.S. State Department's assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, Glyn Davies, told RFE/RL's Robert McMahon the United States is not changing policy toward Uzbekistan following the formal call for U.S. forces to vacate a key military base. Davies said Uzbekistan remains strategically important and the country's path to stability lies in comprehensive reforms.

• August 05, 2005

  Central Asia: Uzbek Developments Present U.S. Policy Dilemmas

  Violent demonstrations rocked Andijon in mid-May Nearly three months after the events in Andijon, there are growing calls among experts for changes in U.S. policies toward Uzbekistan and Central Asia. They say Central Asia poses an especially tough challenge to Washington’s twin goals of fighting terrorism and promoting democratization.

• August 05, 2005

  Azerbaijani Minister Says No Discussion Of U.S. Bases

  Will U.S. military jets land in Azerbaijan? Washington, 4 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov says he has not discussed the issue of U.S. military bases in his country during a three-day visit to Washington.

• August 03, 2005

  U.S. Would Regret Russian Move To Bar Journalists

  Shamil Basaev (file photo) Washington, 2 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A U.S. State Department spokesman says Washington would regret any move by Russia to bar journalists from a U.S. broadcast network from operating there.

• August 01, 2005

  U.S.: President Bush Names Bolton UN Ambassador

  John Bolton at his May confirmation hearing U.S. President George W. Bush has named John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, ending an impasse in the U.S. Senate over Bolton's suitability for the post. Senate Democrats had blocked his confirmation, saying Bolton is a divisive figure who will harm U.S. efforts at the United Nations. But Bush insisted Bolton was best qualified for the job. He used his authority to appoint him during a recess of the Senate. Bolton takes office six weeks before a UN summit to be dominated by debate over the most sweeping reforms in the organization's history.

• July 29, 2005

  UN Urges Kyrgyzstan Not To Hand Over Uzbeks

  Uzbek refugees in Kyrgyzstan Washington, 29 July 2005 -- The UN's high commissioner for human rights has appealed to Kyrgyzstan to decline requests by Tashkent to hand over Uzbek refugees.

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