Coverage of UN General Assembly and Security Council meetings
Iran:
'Some intelligence agencies and Israel’s Mr Netanyahu were warning in the 1990s that Iran was close to getting the bomb. Some Iran watchers believe the dangers are still being exaggerated. World leaders have to decide who is right. Mistakes would be very costly.'
Jeremy Bowen, BBC News at Ten
‘Negotiations should continue, but for the sake of a few more slippery promises of nuclear restraint the US and Europe must not do anything that would give a jot more legitimacy to a fraudulently elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who celebrated last week's "Jerusalem Day" by saying that "the pretext" for the creation of Israel – that is, the Holocaust – "is false ... It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim."’
Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian
‘The situation in Iran today is, if anything, even worse than when Dr Ebadi won the Nobel prize six years ago, thanks to the fraudulent election in June, the violent crackdown on protesters that followed and Mr Ahmadinejad’s continuing rants predicting Israel’s demise and claiming that the Nazi Holocaust never happened.’
‘Estimates vary, but some experts believe Iran has enough enriched uranium at its Natanz plant to manufacture at least one nuclear warhead and has reportedly resumed work on how to load ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. That is deeply alarming, and the 3+3 powers — Britain, the US, France, Germany, Russia and China — are right to confront Iran’s evasions on the issue on October 1.’
‘Estimates vary, but some experts believe Iran has enough enriched uranium at its Natanz plant to manufacture at least one nuclear warhead and has reportedly resumed work on how to load ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. That is deeply alarming, and the 3+3 powers — Britain, the US, France, Germany, Russia and China — are right to confront Iran’s evasions on the issue on October 1.’
Editorial, The Times
Israeli-Palestinian peace process
‘Mr Obama's hope had been that by now conditions would have been set for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, which this summit could have launched. One of those conditions was an Israeli freeze on settlements. The terms of that freeze have not been agreed.’
‘The section on the Middle East was the most interesting. A speech like this [Obama at the UN] always has many authors – different branches of the government competing to get this or that problem mentioned, this or that phrase stricken. It will not pass unnoticed, in America and in the region, that his language against Israeli settlements was a tick stronger than his language urging the Palestinians to end incitement.’
‘They applauded when he said it did no one any good to pretend Israel did not bear some responsibility for that conflict. And they did likewise when he chastised Palestinians for erring "when they choose vitriolic attacks against Israel".’
‘Mr Obama's hope had been that by now conditions would have been set for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, which this summit could have launched. One of those conditions was an Israeli freeze on settlements. The terms of that freeze have not been agreed.’
Paul Reynolds, BBC Online
‘The section on the Middle East was the most interesting. A speech like this [Obama at the UN] always has many authors – different branches of the government competing to get this or that problem mentioned, this or that phrase stricken. It will not pass unnoticed, in America and in the region, that his language against Israeli settlements was a tick stronger than his language urging the Palestinians to end incitement.’
Michael Tomasky, The Guardian
‘They applauded when he said it did no one any good to pretend Israel did not bear some responsibility for that conflict. And they did likewise when he chastised Palestinians for erring "when they choose vitriolic attacks against Israel".’
David Usborne, The Independent