United Nations Association Greater Seattle Chapter

We launched the Global Citizen’s Gathering events back in April with well received participation.

And now, our next event is finally scheduled!  It will be held on August 30, 2012 at 7:00 (doors at 6:45) at the New Holly Gathering Hall, located at 7221 38^th Ave. S., Seattle 98118.

I think that a lot of us felt a kernel of something really special at the last event (please see a few photos here). We are trying to build on that and create a program for more frequent gatherings.

The purpose of our August gathering will be to build on the concepts of global citizenship, and to go in the direction where the most energy and feedback has been received from community members.  At this event, the core issue that we want to focus on isGlobal Citizenship v. Globalization—in other words, what are the rights and roles of corporations and citizens at the global level?   How do these rights and roles relate to key issues such as the environment, global culture, local control, and institutions of global citizenship?  In addition, we want to devote some time to discussing how global citizens groups such as ours can “go viral” and be widely replicated in our region and beyond.

We are hoping that you will join us – along with some of your friends, especially those people with lots of enthusiasm and issue in global issues.  We have capacity for 80 people, and we want to continue expanding the circle.  As before, the gathering is designed to maximize participation of all who attend, and it will be a fantastic opportunity to talk with and meet other people interested in the concept and in world affairs generally.

There will be delicious light food and drink. The suggested donation amount is $15 or $5 student/reduced income.  Space is very limited, so please RSVP to info@unaseattle.org if you would like to attend.

Hope to see you there!

Matthew

Vice President, UNA Greater Seattle

United Nations Association – Greater Seattle Chapter recently hosted activist Bruce Gagnon for an inspiring talk at the University Temple United Methodist Church.  Thank you so much to all that attended! For additional information on the work that Mr. Gagnon is doing, see article and video included here.

Missile Defense:  Is it Working? By Bruce Gagnon

One of the biggest questions in the space technology world today is will “missile defense” (MD) really work?  Recently we’ve seen articles making a case that it does not work and never will.  I would suggest that depending on where you are standing, a strong case could be made that MD is working quite well.  It’s all a matter of perception and definition. When looked at from the point of view of the Russians or Chinese one might consider that they view it very differently than some of the critics.  Critics see scripted Missile Defense Agency tests while Russia and China see a hyperactive deployment program, which is directly connected to a larger U.S./NATO military expansion ultimately leading to their encirclement. Critics might see the MD system today largely as a corporate boondoggle while the Russians and Chinese are looking toward 2020 and beyond when new generations of a well funded research and development program (now committed to by NATO’s 28 members) has delivered faster, more accurate and longer range interceptor missiles. Critics in a sense can help demobilize opposition to the program. Some peace activists think it would be a waste of their valuable time and meager organizing resources to spend energy working against a program that has been labeled by experts as unworkable and an exaggeration.  But viewed from a wider perspective, that includes U.S. and NATO military encirclement of Russia as well as the Obama administration’s “pivot” of military operations into the Asia-Pacific, one may see an entirely different picture.

See the rest of the talk at: http://www.space4peace.org/bmd/md_is_it_working.htm
Find a report on the conference on my blog at: http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2012/05/are-space-treaties-no-longer-necessary.html

Interview performed by Mike McCormick of KEXP’s Mind Over Matters:

Tuesday 29 May is the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. Today we honour the memory of the UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives in the cause of peace, and pay tribute to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in UN peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism, dedication and courage.

For more information on UN Peacekeeping operations, visit:
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/pkday.shtml

We recently launched our Thursday Discussion Series.  This program invites incredible, knowledgeable speakers to share their background in an intimate setting.

We have kicked off with a couple wonderful sessions:

March 2nd: “Trafficking Women”

The inaugural discussion in the series complemented UNA-USA’s commemoration of International Women’s Day with a documentary film highlighting the catastrophe and drama of the abduction of young girls for the global sex trade, as well as a short talk led by UNA Seattle chapter president Trevor M Tate

Full length article by Trevor Tate on Human Trafficking (abbreviated version).

April 19: “A War in Waiting with the Islamic Republic of Iran”

Session led by Dick Blakney UNA Seattle board member and organizer for Network Promoting Peace with Iran (NPPI), and Richard Silverstein blogger for Seattle site Tikun Olam (Make the World Better) http://www.richardsilverstein.com.

For those who would like to see more, the website is below for Envisioning a Deal With Iran, by William H. Luers and Thomas R. Pickering. (Note: Bill Luers, a career diplomat, served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Venezuela and president of UNA-USA for ten years, while Tom Pickering was undersecretary of state and ambassador to the U.N. and several countries.)  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/opinion/envisioning-a-deal-with-iran.html

For additional reading on Iran:

• A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy with Iran, Trita Parsi, 2012
• The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, John J Measheimer and Stephen M Walt, 2008
• Bitter Friends, Iran, The U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation, Barbara Slavin, 2007
• All the Shah’s Men – An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, Stephen Kinzer, 2008
• The Iran Agenda – The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis, Reese Erlich, 2007
• Targeting Iran, David Barsamian, 2007
• National Iranian American Council – www.niacouncil.org
• Network Promoting Peace with Iran – www.nppi.us
• Just Foreign Policy – www.justforeignpolicy.org
• James Morris – america-hijacked.com
• InsideIRAN – www.insideIRAN.org
• Friends Committee on National Legislation – fcnl.org
• Fellowship of Reconciliation – www.forusa.org

Professor Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, will speak on “The Economic, Legal and Moral Costs of War: A Forum on Israel-Palestine and the United States”on Friday, June 8, at University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd St., Seattle, at 7:00 p.m.  His one-hour talk will be followed by a question-and-answer session. As the UN’s Special Rapporteur, Falk has first-hand knowledge of the human rights situation facing nearly 4 million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories of East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank.

Falk is the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., where he taught for more than 40 years. He is also Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Falk is the author or co-author of more than 20 books on international law. The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed him Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Occupied Territories in 2008. Falk is also a member of the editorial boards of The Nation and The Progressive magazines. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He has long been associated with efforts to align United States foreign policy with the human rights movement and international humanitarian law.

The talk is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, the National Lawyers Guild, the World Affairs Council and the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, among others.