| September 20th, 2011 UPDATE: UN General Assembly Meeting Now Dear Friend,
Right now the world's leaders are meeting in New York City at the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Citizens for Global Solutions is paying close attention to what's happening on the world stage, and importantly what the United States' role will be in advancing global solutions to solve global problems. A lot is going to be happening - from President Obama addressing the delegates to the vote on Palestine statehood to discussions on strengthening nuclear safety - it promises to be an exciting two weeks. Here are some of the highlights we'll be following: President Obama Addresses the Assembly On Wednesday, September 21st President Obama will take center stage as he lays out a vision for American foreign policy. The address is his chance to make a persuasive case for the solutions his Administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have long advocated and championed. The creation of a new state in South Sudan and the democratic uprisings throughout the Middle East have demonstrated that the world is quickly changing and that American foreign policy and the United Nations must quickly adapt in order to stay relevant. Watch for live updates on the CGS Twitter feed for the entirety of the President's speech: www.twitter.com/CGS_DC. Palestine Applies for Full Voting Membership Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, announced he would apply for full voting membership of the United Nations on Friday. Much controversy has been made over the Palestinian bid for statehood, with both President Obama and Secretary Clinton saying that the United States will veto the bid in the Security Council. Although the Palestinian bid will most likely fail to achieve full voting membership, many in the international community believe that Palestine will make a successfull appeal for a non-voting observer state (a status currently only held by the Vatican), which needs only U.N. General Assembly approval. (Click here for more information.) High-level Meeting on Nuclear Safety and Security The conference was called for by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who announced his plans to host the meeting at the 25th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine. The special session comes as a result of increased concern over the safety and security of nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011. Participants expected to attend include Heads of States or Government of Brazil, France, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Ukraine, United States and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. (For more information click here.) Anti-U.N. Bill Introduced in the House As the United Nations and the United States are meeting on the world stage to advance international cooperation and responsibility, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has introduced H.R. 2829 an extreme bill that would hold U.N. funding as well as U.S. leadership, prestige, and influence at the U.N. hostage, unless Ros-Lehtinen’s outrageous demands are met. Ros-Lehtinen would sacrifice the benefits of U.S. leadership at the U.N. at a time when the U.S. is successfully promoting its national security and foreign policy priorities on the world stage. Click here to read more and stay tuned for more information on how you can take action against this terrible legislation. Don't forget to follow our live updates from the President's Speech tomorrow starting at 10:00am Eastern by clicking here.
Thanks for all you do, Anu .JPG) Anu Joshi
Director of Outreach
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