Colum Lynch

Colum Lynch was a staff writer at Foreign Policy between 2010 and 2022.

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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks on visa travel at the US Customs and Border Protection Press Room in the Reagan Building on March 6, 2017 in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump signed a revised ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority nations Monday -- one with a reduced scope so Iraqis and permanent US residents are exempt. The White House said Trump signed the order -- which temporarily freezes new visas for Syrians, Iranians, Libyans, Somalis, Yemenis and Sudanese citizens -- behind closed doors "this morning". / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks on visa travel at the US Customs and Border Protection Press Room in the Reagan Building on March 6, 2017 in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump signed a revised ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority nations Monday -- one with a reduced scope so Iraqis and permanent US residents are exempt. The White House said Trump signed the order -- which temporarily freezes new visas for Syrians, Iranians, Libyans, Somalis, Yemenis and Sudanese citizens -- behind closed doors "this morning". / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Tillerson To U.N. Rights Council: Reform or We’re Leaving

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Colum Lynch, John Hudson
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the 69th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters on September 24, 2014 in New York City. The annual event brings political leaders from around the globe together to report on issues meet and look for solutions. This year's General Assembly has highlighted the problem of global warming and how countries need to strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the 69th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters on September 24, 2014 in New York City. The annual event brings political leaders from around the globe together to report on issues meet and look for solutions. This year's General Assembly has highlighted the problem of global warming and how countries need to strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations

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Colum Lynch
TOPSHOT - A photo taken on January 14, 2016 shows a placard reading "Stop terrorism we are the world" and flowers lying in tribute to victims at the site of the January 12 deadly attack in the Istanbul's tourist hub of Sultanahmet. Turkey has arrested a total of seven suspects over a suicide bombing blamed on the Islamic State (IS) group that killed 10 German tourists in Istanbul, the Turkish interior minister said on January 14, 2016. / AFP / OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)
TOPSHOT - A photo taken on January 14, 2016 shows a placard reading "Stop terrorism we are the world" and flowers lying in tribute to victims at the site of the January 12 deadly attack in the Istanbul's tourist hub of Sultanahmet. Turkey has arrested a total of seven suspects over a suicide bombing blamed on the Islamic State (IS) group that killed 10 German tourists in Istanbul, the Turkish interior minister said on January 14, 2016. / AFP / OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

U.N. Seeks More Than $100 Million to Tackle Violent Extremism

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Colum Lynch
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson boards his plane at Cologne Bonn Airport, western Germany, as he leaves after a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the G20 leading and developing economies on February 17, 2017. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson boards his plane at Cologne Bonn Airport, western Germany, as he leaves after a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the G20 leading and developing economies on February 17, 2017. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Tillerson Has Little Time for the United Nations

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Colum Lynch
This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 23, 2016 shows a test launch of the surface-to-surface medium long-range strategic ballistic missile Hwasong-10 at an undisclosed location in North Korea. The Musudan -- also known as the Hwasong-10 -- has a theoretical range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres (1,550 to 2,500 miles). / AFP / KCNA VIA KNS / KCNA / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. / (Photo credit should read KCNA/AFP/Getty Images)
This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 23, 2016 shows a test launch of the surface-to-surface medium long-range strategic ballistic missile Hwasong-10 at an undisclosed location in North Korea. The Musudan -- also known as the Hwasong-10 -- has a theoretical range of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres (1,550 to 2,500 miles). / AFP / KCNA VIA KNS / KCNA / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. / (Photo credit should read KCNA/AFP/Getty Images)

Confidential U.N. Report Details North Korea’s Front Companies in China

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Colum Lynch
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN Volunteers put on gas masks during a class on how to respond to a chemical attack, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 15, 2013. For two months, Mohammad Zayed, an Aleppo University student, has been training a group of 26 civilians in the hope they can respond to a chemical attack. AFP PHOTO / JM LOPEZ (Photo credit should read JM LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN Volunteers put on gas masks during a class on how to respond to a chemical attack, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on September 15, 2013. For two months, Mohammad Zayed, an Aleppo University student, has been training a group of 26 civilians in the hope they can respond to a chemical attack. AFP PHOTO / JM LOPEZ (Photo credit should read JM LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump Administration Poised to Collide With Russia Over Syrian Chemical Weapons

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Colum Lynch
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin speaks at the UN Security Council on a Russian-Turkish peace plan for Syria, on December 31, 2016, at UN Headquarters in New York. The Security Council unanimously approved the resolution. / AFP / KENA BETANCUR (Photo credit should read KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin speaks at the UN Security Council on a Russian-Turkish peace plan for Syria, on December 31, 2016, at UN Headquarters in New York. The Security Council unanimously approved the resolution. / AFP / KENA BETANCUR (Photo credit should read KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Putin’s U.N. Ambassador, America’s ‘Formidable Adversary’, Dead at 64

The Cable
Colum Lynch
GRAND JUNCTION, CO - OCTOBER 18: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) jokes with retired Gen. Michael Flynn as they speak at a rally at Grand Junction Regional Airport on October 18, 2016 in Grand Junction Colorado. Trump is on his way to Las Vegas for the third and final presidential debate against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
GRAND JUNCTION, CO - OCTOBER 18: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) jokes with retired Gen. Michael Flynn as they speak at a rally at Grand Junction Regional Airport on October 18, 2016 in Grand Junction Colorado. Trump is on his way to Las Vegas for the third and final presidential debate against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

Flynn Pressured U.N. on Israel Vote Before Taking Office

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Colum Lynch
António Guterres attends a press conference presenting the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre report in Geneva on May 14, 2014. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
António Guterres attends a press conference presenting the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre report in Geneva on May 14, 2014. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Big Powers Clip U.N. Secretary-General’s Wings

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Colum Lynch
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley testifies during her confirmation hearing for US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) before the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 18, 2017. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley testifies during her confirmation hearing for US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) before the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 18, 2017. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Diplomats: Nikki Haley Greenlighted U.N.’s Hiring of Salam Fayyad Before She Blocked It

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Colum Lynch
A doctor carries a young wounded boy at a hospital in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, who was injured when a shell, released by regime forces, hit his house on August 24, 2012. Syrian forces blitzed areas in and around the Aleppo , activists said, as Western powers sought to tighten the screws on embattled President Bashar al-Assad. AFP PHOTO / ARIS MESSINIS (Photo credit should read ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/GettyImages)
A doctor carries a young wounded boy at a hospital in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, who was injured when a shell, released by regime forces, hit his house on August 24, 2012. Syrian forces blitzed areas in and around the Aleppo , activists said, as Western powers sought to tighten the screws on embattled President Bashar al-Assad. AFP PHOTO / ARIS MESSINIS (Photo credit should read ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/GettyImages)

Trump Travel Ban Threatens to Silence Voices on Atrocities at U.N.

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Colum Lynch
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 27: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) participate in a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Prime Minister May is on a visit to the White House and had a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 27: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) participate in a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Prime Minister May is on a visit to the White House and had a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Inside Britain’s Tortured Embrace of Donald Trump

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Colum Lynch, John Hudson

U.N. Chief Rebukes Trump Over Travel Ban

The Cable
Colum Lynch
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 25: (AFP-OUT) Nikki Haley raises her right hand while being sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations January 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Haley was formerly the Governor of South Carolina. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 25: (AFP-OUT) Nikki Haley raises her right hand while being sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations January 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Haley was formerly the Governor of South Carolina. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

White House Hobbles Nikki Haley Before Her First Day at the U.N.

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Colum Lynch
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley testifies during her confirmation hearing for US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) before the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 18, 2017. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley testifies during her confirmation hearing for US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) before the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 18, 2017. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Can Nikki Haley Change Trump’s Mind About Russia and Putin?

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Colum Lynch
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