IN THE NEWS: McCain, Obama Differ Starkly on UN

WASHINGTON, Jun 19 (OneWorld) - The next U.S. president must work with -- not around -- the United Nations if international stability is to be maintained, says Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS) in its latest analysis of the likely policy prescriptions of presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

CGS analyst Josh Rovenger looked at the candidates' policy statements and record to determine how each could be expected to engage the world body. While acknowledging that "both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain represent a strict departure from the current unilateralism" that characterizes U.S.-UN relations, Rovenger asserts that "examining each candidate’s record on the United Nations makes it apparent that Obama reflects a better chance for a revived, sustained relationship."

Rovenger believes McCain's vision "would virtually sidestep the United Nations." McCain's institutional grand vision involves, in the candidate's words, "linking democratic nations in one common organization: a worldwide league of democracies." The Republican candidate hopes such an organization could handle major global problems that other institutions could not, explains Rovenger.

According to CGS, McCain tries to mitigate the appearance that his policies would undermine the United Nations by saying, "As president, I will seek the widest possible circle of allies through the league of democracies, NATO, the UN, and the Organization of American States." McCain's policy, then, would involve creating new coalitions, as opposed to utilizing existing ones, the Washington, DC-based think tank argues.

Obama, in contrast, "contend[s] that 'the United States should play a leading role in the United Nations.'" Part of this responsibility includes fulfilling the United States' financial responsibilities to the world body, notes Rovenger. Says Obama, "I will insist that Congress provides funds to pay our dues on time, in full, and without improper conditions."

Both presumptive nominees differ not just in the grand vision of U.S.-UN relations, but on specific issues, such as how the United States should engage with other nations to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and promote freedom through the UN's Human Rights Council.

According to Rovenger, "Obama has generally been supportive of the idea of the Council, yet he has questioned its execution.

In Obama's words: "The new Human Rights Council has passed eight resolutions condemning Israel, a democracy with higher standards of human rights than its accusers, yet only with difficulty adopted resolutions pressing Sudan and Myanmar."

"McCain, however, has not been as open on this issue," says the CGS analyst. "He voted to withhold funding for the Council in 2007, and has claimed that the Council suffers from the same problems that plagued the Human Rights Commission that it replaced."

Rovenger concludes by noting that the next president must "reestablish relations with the rest of the international community via the United Nations. He cannot simply take the current administration’s approach and bypass the organization to achieve his own goals."

Click here for more analysis of Obama and McCain's positions on global issues from Citizens for Global Solutions.

A opinion poll published this week demonstrates that Rovenger's high regard for the efforts of the world body are shared widely by regular people across the globe.

The poll measures international confidence in national leaders, comparing such figures as Russia's President Vladimir Putin, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and current U.S. President George W. Bush. Majorities in only 2 of 18 countries surveyed considered Bush to be a "trustworthy leader," placing the U.S. president next-to-last on the list of eight prominent world leaders, above only Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf.

For Citizens for Global Solutions, the most interesting piece of news was that "the only international leader in play to elicit more confidence than distrust regarding global affairs is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon."

CGS says that the study, which indicates that far more people across the globe trust the UN leader than the U.S. leader, offers a lesson for the top two U.S. politicians: "With the November elections emerging, the next president of the United States has an opportunity to regain international trust regarding global affairs, hopefully alongside UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon."

Click here for more on the poll results from Citizens for Global Solutions.