Last Friday the President of the Cote d'Ivoire, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies here in DC.  His speech, much like his smile, was full of hope and promise for a peaceful and prosperous future for the Cote d'Ivoire.

This week, it was announced that a United Nations draft resolution on Syria--written by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Portugal and supported by the U.S.--was backing off from demanding immediate sanctions on the Assad regime.  Instead, it would threaten to impose sanctions only if the Syrian government does not cease its violence toward protesters.  This change apparently comes as the sponsoring nations seek to gain the support of Russia and China, both permanent U.N. Security Council members, who oppose sanctioning Assad's government.  Meanwhile, Russia is floating a resolution of its own which would condemn the violence in Syria but include no sanctions at all.

On the plus side, the France-UK-Germany-Portugal resolution "demands an immediate end to all violence", and states that the Security Council "expresses its determination, in the event that Syria has not complied with this resolution, to adopt targeted measures, including sanctions."

On Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY12 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill. The vote brought funding for the U.N.’s regular budget and funding for 15 peacekeeping missions very close to what President Obama originally requested from Congress. Citizens for Global Solutions would like to thank the Senate for understanding the importance of funding international organizations like the U.N., unlike their friends in the House who aimed to slash this vital aid that affects our ability to accomplish our foreign policy goals and national security interests.

In July, when the House took up funding for international organizations and peacekeeping, it dramatically cut these budgets by 20%. This figure may not seem outrageous, but consider this: the entire foreign aid budget makes up less than 1% of the overall budget. As many advocates for the U.N. and international funding have pointed out before, the International Affairs Budget is not an efficient place to make a dramatic effect on the deficit.  This move is unwise because it does not yield any meaningful economic savings, and also has substantial costs to United States leadership, prestige, and influence.

Think about it: Would any organization respect and give leadership roles to a board member who rarely paid their dues on time?

President Obama took to the podium today at the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and spoke to that body-and the world--about the progress that's been made since last year's UNGA and the multitude of challenges that lie ahead. This was a speech more focused on lofty goals than concrete proposals or policy commitments, but nevertheless it was powerful and touched on many key issues at the heart of Citizens for Global Solutions' mission. 

The key theme of Obama's speech?  "Peace is hard."  But it's also worth the effort.

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