News stories by Ian Williams

NEW YORK, May 25 (IPS) - AS THE WORLD HURTLES TO HELL (albeit in a SpaceX rather than a hand basket), it might seem of only academic interest which cipher vegetates on the 38th floor of the U.N. Headquarters. However, the choice is due by the end of the year, unless, as has happened in the past, the Security Council is veto-bound and asks António Guterres to stay on as interim Secretary General.

NEW YORK, Jul 14 (IPS) - President Erdogan's "reconversion" of the Hagia Sophia, into a mosque is a very Trumpian move, making a populist gestures to his base evoking shared misconceptions of history, reckless of its actual diplomatic and economic cost.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 (IPS) - An old adage passed on by veteran U.N. staff to younger recruits is, "Do nothing whenever possible. It's safer." For a junior officer that might indeed be career-enhancing. 

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 27 (IPS) - Ian Williams is a former President of the UN Correspondents' Association (UNCA) and author of UNtold: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War.

Looking at the deserved outpouring of eulogies over Kofi Annan I could not help remembering the advice of the old Latin saying, "Say nothing about the dead unless it's good."  

NEW YORK, Apr 05 (IPS) - Ian Williams is a senior analyst who has written for newspapers and magazines around the world, including the Australian, The Independent, New York Observer, The Financial Times and The Guardian. He is the author of UNtold: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War*.President Trump's nomination of John Bolton as his National Security Advisor highlights the deep irrationality of this White House's global agenda. Apparently, the world has hitherto been spared Bolton's robust sabotage only because the President has an eccentric visceral antipathy to his mustache, but so far could not find another, clean-shaven, candidate in the rapidly draining pool of applicants for White House jobs.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 23 (IPS) - Will Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council be frustrated by its Foreign Ministry's undiplomatic and uncalled for attack on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon?

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 03 (IPS) - A little overshadowed by the Olympics, the Yeosu 2012 Expo is, in its own way, doing more than the London Games to promote global harmony - and without stirring up the waters the way the British did when they posted the ROK flag for the DPRK women’s soccer team.