United Nations Germany

After a crucial push from the United States, the U.N. is about to tackle the tough issue of expanding the 15-member Security Council, the most powerful single agency in the world body. If the changes go through, Germany, Japan and three or more nations from the developing world will join the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia as permanent members of the council.

After a crucial push from the United States, the U.N. is about to tackle the tough issue of expanding the 15-member Security Council, the most powerful single agency in the world body. If the changes go through, Germany, Japan and three or more nations from the developing world will join the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia as permanent members of the council.

In a session that dragged into the night, the U.N. Security Council late Saturday tentatively agreed on a resolution that would send an advance party of 10 United Nations observers to Yugoslavia. The action came as the U.N. secretary general and Germany fought a war of words over German plans to recognize the independence of Croatia and Slovenia.

Germany on Wednesday sought a permanent seat on the Security Council and offered to contribute troops to U.N. peacekeeping forces, in a speech reflecting the country's shedding of its post-Nazi era reticence in foreign policy. In his debut appearance at the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel noted that debate on reforming the 15-nation Security Council is now under way.

The dust had barely settled over the Persian Gulf War battlefields when Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government began laying the groundwork for constitutional changes that would permit German forces to play a future role in such United Nations-approved military operations.

Germany on Wednesday sought a permanent seat on the Security Council and offered to contribute troops to U.N. peacekeeping forces, in a speech reflecting the country's shedding of its post-Nazi era reticence in foreign policy. In his debut appearance at the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel noted that debate on reforming the 15-nation Security Council is now under way.

When Yoshio Hatano, Japan's ambassador to the United Nations, talks to groups of Americans, he likes to echo a slogan from the Revolutionary War. "I always tell them," the ambassador recalled recently, "that there's an old American saying on democracy: No taxation without representation." Hatano applies the slogan deftly to his country. Japan pays more dues to the United Nations than any other member except the United States.

YANGON, Myanmar - It was a subtle, but effective, way for critics to rankle the brutal generals running the country during the darkest days of global isolation: Call the nation Burma rather than Myanmar. The message: We don't believe your rule is legitimate. Over the years, that tug of words became highly politicized. "Everyone gets confused with the terminology," said Tin May Thein, executive director of Asia21 MJ Co., a Yangon consultancy. "It can make you go a bit crazy. " Now that Myanmar is opening up to the world, easing media restrictions and freeing more political prisoners, the linguistic and political battle lines are blurring.

On Monday, NATO aircraft are scheduled to begin enforcing the U.N.-ordered "no-fly zone" over Bosnia, an action prompted by hundreds of Serbian violations of Bosnian airspace since last fall. Patrols, flown by U.S., Dutch and French fighters, will be supported by AWACS surveillance planes, about 30% of whose crews will be German. History will be made as German uniformed personnel for the first time since World War II become involved outside of Germany in a situation of potential combat.

The question still roils the Jewish community: Is reconciliation with Germany possible or even desirable after the slaughter of 6 million? Some believe relations were poisoned forever by the Nazis' campaign to wipe out Europe's Jews. To them, "Never forget" means refusing to buy German products, travel to Germany or having anything to do with Germans. But more than five decades after the war, political realities are challenging unbending attitudes.

In a session that dragged into the night, the U.N. Security Council late Saturday tentatively agreed on a resolution that would send an advance party of 10 United Nations observers to Yugoslavia. The action came as the U.N. secretary general and Germany fought a war of words over German plans to recognize the independence of Croatia and Slovenia.

When Yoshio Hatano, Japan's ambassador to the United Nations, talks to groups of Americans, he likes to echo a slogan from the Revolutionary War. "I always tell them," the ambassador recalled recently, "that there's an old American saying on democracy: No taxation without representation." Hatano applies the slogan deftly to his country. Japan pays more dues to the United Nations than any other member except the United States.

The dust had barely settled over the Persian Gulf War battlefields when Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government began laying the groundwork for constitutional changes that would permit German forces to play a future role in such United Nations-approved military operations.

Gal Luft's terrifying March 30 commentary "Do You Shoot When the Enemy Is a 12-Year-Old?" is a sad, true and moral dilemma for those of us who value the lives of children. The use of human shields and putting kids on the front lines to morally shock Western soldiers is something only those who have no value for human life can do. The fact that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have not made this a front-page issue shows you whose side they are on. Any organization or country that reverts to such tactics is performing the highest level of child abuse ever.