In 1990, as part of a wave of "reform," the United Nations offered to buy out the contracts of staff who wanted to leave. I volunteered, and my bosses accepted with alacrity. In the emerging post-Cold War dispensation at the UN, my propensity to present the viewpoint of developing countries at staff meetings had become increasingly irksome.

For nearly a decade after quitting as a staff member, I put out a weekly newsletter on UN affairs, the International Documents Review. An eight pager turned out at a copy shop near the UN, and sold for $200 a year, it soon won a following. But the number of subscribers remained low because of widespread piracy. So, in 1999 I gave up on the newsletter and began publishing UNDIPLOMATIC TIMES. With a controlled circulation to all diplomatic missions, Secretariat offices, journalists and representatives of non-governmental organizations at the UN, it is beyond piracy.

As the pun in its name implies, the paper did not beat around the bush. The mix of straightforward reporting, commentary and analysis provided a unique perspective, often dramatically different from that found in mainstream media.
In keeping with the tradition set by IDR, UNDIPLOMATIC TIMES made little money. Paid editorial inserts and advertising usually covered costs, but it was essentially a labor of love.  Since 2007 the paper has existed only as a blog (http://undiplomatictimes.blogspot.com)  and on this web site. 

The United Nations is trapped in international power politics. Governments have demonstrated a staggering lack of vision in the way they have used the Organization, and that failure has been kept from public view by mass media that cover multilateral affairs as if it were a football game: who wins, who loses, how many goals are scored. In reality, everyone has been on the losing side, for there's only one team: all of us, regardless of where we live, whether we are rich or poor, or what faith we profess. (Indeed, we have to include all life as part of that team. As my forbears in ancient India put it, vasudaiva kutumbakam: all creation is one family.)

The three decades I have spent thinking and writing about international affairs have led to the firm conviction that if we want a peaceful world, it cannot be left to governments. Every individual has a responsibility to understand the basic unity of the world and to act in its defense. This web site is my bit to encourage such action. It seeks to demystify international issues and the United Nations System, to give readers information largely unavailable in corporate mass media.


Bhaskar Menon