Lee Feinstein
- : Lee Feinstein is senior fellow for foreign policy and international law at the Council on Foreign Relations. He was senior advisor for peacekeeping and peace enforcement policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1994-1995. He served as member and associate director of the Policy Planning Staff under Secretary of State Warren Christopher and as principal deputy director of policy planning under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Feinstein served as a human rights advisor on the 2005 congressional task force on the United Nations, and was a principal drafter of the report. He directed the independent task force on Enhancing U.S. Relations with the United Nations, co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and Freedom House. Feinstein serves on the board of directors of the private Arms Control Association, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is admitted to the practice of law in New York and Washington, DC.
China and Sudan
As the one-year anniversary of the failed Darfur Peace Agreement approaches, a key question is whether China will continue to offer strong support to the government of Sudan, despite its role in the four-year old conflict. Or, will China increase...more »
Posted on April 24, 2007 1:04 PM
Kofi Annan and the Bush Administration
Today is Kofi Annan’s last day on the job. The legacy stories about his ten years as UN Secretary General have focused on the parting shots he delivered to the Bush administration earlier this month. But a more accurate description...more »
Posted on December 31, 2006 10:31 AM
Iran and the UN
My friend Bruce Jentleson says he is "taken a little back" by "some of [his] pro UN-colleagues backing off UN sanctions against Iran." Bruce is one of the best writers on multilateralism, as readers of America Abroad have come to...more »
Posted on December 13, 2006 11:26 AM
Hard Thinking on Iran -- II
Taking up Rachel's challenge to think hard about about Iran, our America Abroad colleague Michael Levi and I have recently described the present dilemma. Talks are a long shot, but really the only chance to put the brakes on Iran's...more »
Posted on December 9, 2006 3:53 AM
The Road to Victory Is Not a Detour
What does the Democratic party stand for? On President Bush's proposal yesterday about how the United States of America should prosecute and treat military detainees, apparently, not much. The Republican leadership, including Lindsay Graham, John McCain, and John Warner, have...more »
Posted on September 8, 2006 4:07 AM
Courting Failure in Lebanon
It is as if France and the United States are deliberately trying to undermine any chance of success for the peacekeeping deal they brokered on southern Lebanon....more »
Posted on August 18, 2006 6:10 PM
Avoiding a Peacekeeping Debacle in Lebanon
Having shown disdain for peacekeeping and peacekeepers until now, the Bush administration is now pinning its hopes on a UN force to stabilize southern Lebanon....more »
Posted on August 9, 2006 1:58 PM
A Real Deal on Iran?
President Bush today thoroughly repudiated his administration's Iran policy. Unlike past admissions of error, however, this u-turn is not simply atmospheric. The administration's Iran proposal is the real thing....more »
Posted on May 31, 2006 8:26 PM
Freedom House Says Rights Council "Unsatisfactory"
Freedom House, the esteemed human rights organization, ordered out of Uzbekistan yesterday by the Karimov government for its democracy work, yesterday expressed its "disappointment" with the General Assembly's compromise proposal for a Human Rights Council. The organization's announcement falls short...more »
Posted on March 7, 2006 6:08 PM
Next Move on Human Rights Commission
Steve Clemons has endorsed a UN compromise to create a Human Rights Council that is marginally better than the discredited institution it would replace. The main reason Clemons seems to support this alternative is because John Bolton appears to...more »
Posted on March 6, 2006 7:31 PM
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Lee Feinstein
Posted at September 8, 2006 5:45 AM in response to The Road to Victory Is Not a Detour
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Lee Feinstein
All, I appreciate the comments. First, I did not say the United States should put boots on the ground. What I said is the United States should provide military assistance, just as the UK is. The United States and France proposed this mission. They have a responsibility to make it work, and there are many ways they can do that. As to the United States setting up France, the French are very capable of taking care of themselves. The United States and others on this blog and I (in an op-ed in the Financial Times a week ago Monday) argued, correctly, that the force needed to be under Chapter VII authority and commanded by a militarily capable nation, like France. To say that the United Nations isn't up to this job is not to disparage the UN, whose peacekeepers have performed admirably in such places as El Salvador, Eastern Slavonia, and Macedonia. UN peacekeepers operate effectively in relative peace and quiet. This is not an operation the UN sought, and it is not an operation they relish, and it is not an operation they should be responsible for. As to the role of the United States in recruiting troops. Yes, America's reputation is at a low point thanks to the self-defeating, misguided, and failed policies of the Bush administration. That complicates but does not change the fact that the United States is in a position to rally others to join this force. It is the height of irresponsibility to leave this to the staff of the UN. I leave it to others to rise to Jacques Chirac's defense. But, suffice to say, if Washington pulled this kind of stunt, all of us would denounce it, and with good reason.Posted at August 19, 2006 10:44 AM in response to Courting Failure in Lebanon
