19 Jan 2017

Outspoken: United Nations

From Outspoken, 5:12 pm on 19 January 2017

New Zealand has just finished a two year term on the security council of the United Nations it ended with a bang but perhaps there was also a bit of whimpering earlier on as New Zealand found – as other small countries had – that it could easily outclassed in the blink of an eye by any one of the big five – the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France.

Prime Minister John Key has delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly ahead of the Security Council meeting on Syria he will chair tomorrow.

John Key delivers a speech to the UN. Photo: United Nations

So how well did it really go? And was it really worth the fuss that was made about it and the high level lobbying that was needed to get New Zealand into that council?

To discuss New Zealand’s record, RNZ’s Eric Frykberg is joined by Dr Robert Patman from the department of politics at the University of Otago, Dr Robert Aysan from Victoria University and Labour Party foreign affairs spokesman David Parker.

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