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President Dedicates New U.S. Mission to UN

In the midst of a busy Manhattan political fundraising schedule, President Barack Obama visited the UN's Eastside neighborhood to officially open the new United States Mission to the UN, a modernistic multi- million dollar edifice.

During the dedication of the Ronald Brown building, named in honor of the Secretary of Commerrce killed in an plane crash while on service, Obama was joined by former President Bill Clinton and current American Ambassador Susan Rice.

The new offices for the US Mission have been operating for a few months, and were rebuilt on the site of the former Mission which stood at First Avenue across from the United Nations.

The former Mission was the diplomatic headquarters of such reknown American Ambassadors as Warren Austin, Adlai Stevenson, George Bush, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Vernon Walters, John Negroponte, among others.

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Begone Winter....


















HAPPY SPRING!!!!!!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!



Bagpipes swirled, drums boomed, and dancers skipped as thousands of marchers and millions of onlookers celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in New York with a Wearin’ of the Green in this celebration of Irish culture and tradition.

Under beautiful skies and with warm temperatures, the 250th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade made its way down the Queen of Avenues under the patronage of Grand Marshall Mary Higgins Clark, a prolific mystery author, and graduate of Fordham University.

Politicians and celebrities abounded as this is the day when Everybody is Irish.

Starting at the City’s majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the parade route followed the customary Green Line down Fifth Avenue outlined the parade route which was by tradition led by the Fighting 69th Regiment of the New York National Guard. Pipe bands of the Emerald Society of the New York City Police Department, the New York City Fire Department, and scores of schools, Universities, and Irish County associations were among the marchers. Besides Irish groups, some marchers and bands came from Spain for the event.

The parade honors St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland. The first such St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in New York before the American Revolution.

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Above/Libya's UN Mission--Petro-Dollar Pride in Midtown


Toppling Libya's Tyrant--France Weighs In


While sea-saw military battles continue across Libya aimed at toppling longtime dictator Col Muammar Gadaffi, the diplomatic stuggle continues apace both in Arab and European capitals as well as the UN.

Importantly France has recognized the rebels.

Over the past few weeks senior Libyan diplomatic officials have defected from the regime and joined the opposition in places from Cairo, to Geneva, and Lisbon. Key Libyan figures have switched sides to the rebels at the United Nations too.

Libya's huge UN Mission on East 48th Street has seen a spate of defections. The twenty plus story building now flies the flag of the monarchy which was toppled in 1969 by Gadaffi's coup d'etat. This is the flag carried into battle by the rebels. The Green Flag of Gadaffi's quaintly titled Libyan Arab Jamahirah still flies at UN complex however.