A New America, A New UN? (Globe & Mail, CANADA)

Will Barack Obama put the UN back on the rails?

At her confirmation hearing before the U.S. Congress earlier this month, Susan Rice, the newly appointed American ambassador to the United Nations, described it as "an indispensable, if imperfect, institution for advancing our security and well-being in the 21st century." That kind of language has not been heard coming out of Washington for quite some time.

George W. Bush was not a great fan of the UN, to put it mildly. His administration believed that nothing could be allowed to stand in the way of America's sovereign right to defend its interests as it saw fit. At best, the UN was seen as a convenient tool for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the management of conflict of secondary importance. The Iraq episode reinforced the neo-cons' conviction that the UN was a hostile entity not to be trusted under any circumstances.

The organization is emerging battered and bruised from the Bush era.

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