To the Point

Nations United in Discontent: Can the UN Reform Itself?

At the UN-s 58th annual session this year, global climate change, AIDS and the Middle East are all on the agenda. But with this year-s open division in the Security Council, it-s clearer than ever that all is not well at the United Nations itself. Reform has been called for by no less a figure than the Secretary General. Kofi Annan has called UN debates -repetitive- sterile,- and meaningless to most of the world-s people. Is the Security Council an antiquated relic of the Cold War? As the President goes back to seek UN help in Iraq, we hear about efforts to reform the world body from a senior advisor to Secretary General Annan, UN ambassadors from Mexico and Singapore, and human rights advocate from the inside and outside the United Nations. Making News: Bush to Acknowledge No Errors in Judgment to the UN Last year, President Bush warned the UN it was becoming irrelevant, and invaded Iraq even without the world body-s approval. Tomorrow, the President will address the General Assembly again, with an audience that will range -from the skeptical to the angry.- That, according to today-s report from the White House by New York Times correspondent David Sanger. Reporter's Notebook: With Reed in, Grasso out, Is Corporate Governance Back? The former boss of the New York Stock Exchange was being paid $140 million this year, so much that Richard Grasso finally resigned in the midst of controversy. His interim replacement is former Citicorp CEO John Reed, who will be getting just $1 a year. Juli Niemann, senior vice president and analyst at T.R. Jones Capital Equities, looks at what the change will mean for corporate governance and investor confidence.