Article & Web Alert (May/June 2009) - New Delhi

current need for changing and improving the United Nations hasbeen driven mainly by the controversies like corruption of the IraqOil-For-Food Program, allegations of sexual abuse by U.N.peacekeepers, and instances of waste, fraud and abuse by U.N. staff.The United States Congress has maintained a significant interest inthe overall effectiveness of the United Nations. In the past, Congressenacted legislation that linked U.S. funding of the United Nations tospecific U.N. reform benchmarks. The 111th Congress is likely tocontinue to focus on U.N. reform as it considers appropriate levelsof U.S. funding to the UN and monitors the progress and implementationof ongoing and previously-approved reform measures.BUSINESS & ECONOMICS17. FARM FUTURES: BRINGING AGRICULTURE BACK TO U.S. FOREIGN POLICYBy Catherine Bertini and Dan Glickman. Foreign Affairs, v. 88, no. 3, May/June 2009,pp. 93-105.The U.S. should make agricultural development its top foreign aidpriority and get other international donors to do the same, sayBertini, a former head of the United Nations World Food Program,and Glickman, a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. They saychronic hunger, which now affects nearly 1 billion people around theworld, is a national security threat. Terrorists are using free food tolure hungry students into organizations that teach extremism.Diseases related to hunger are the world's leading health threat,claiming more lives than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.But, the authors write, the traditional approach to foreign aid hasbeen defensive, such as the U.S. putting more than $2 billion intofood aid in 2008 to cope with a global food crisis. The focus,instead, should be on helping rural communities, especially in Africaand Asia, become more self-sufficient in food production. Theauthors call for the U.S. Congress to pass the Lugar-Casey GlobalFood Security Act to boost funds for agricultural research andeducation.18. THE QUIET COUPBy Simon Johnson. The Atlantic, May 2009, pp. 46-56.http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-adviceThe Obama administration is unlikely to reform the U.S. financialsystem because his top economic advisers have been recruited from19 ARTICLE & WEB ALERT