Does America Now Have A Moral Obligation to Leave the UN?
The questions surrounding our participation in the UN are shifting.
It used to be a question of whether it’s better for our national interests to remain in or to step out. But now, is it still even morally defensible to participate in it?
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) noted:
“When all of our taxpayers are paying roughly 22 percent of the budget, I think they do expect to see a more efficient and an organization that’s more objective and more in keeping with our values,” Portman said on Jan. 18, 2017. “How do you intend to support U.S. national security interests, but also ensure that the U.N. is a more effective body toward promoting a more peaceful and less volatile world?”
The U.N. and U.S. budget documents show Portman’s number is correct, and if peacekeeping is included, the percentage gets even higher.
…All told, the United States provides about $3.3 billion a year to finance U.N. activities. A 40 percent cut would save taxpayers about $1.3 billion out of the current $4.1 trillion U.S. federal budget. The impact on the U.N. would be substantial, although the precise effect would depend on how the cuts are spread around.
Source: Politifact
That was left-leaning Politifact’s agreement that the budget numbers were correct when, a year ago, Trump proposed a 40% cut in America’s share to the UN.
But between the veto powers held by Russia and China and the various positions taken by the UN Assembly, is it now so far gone that to even participate in it is to get our own hands dirty supporting a corrupt system?
Nikki Haley, with the Moxy she’s shown in putting tinpot dictators in their place, has held the mirror to UN, showing them their true nature, warts and all. But they have no interest in changing that nature.
Think about the worst offenders around the world. Violence, abuses, abductions, terrorism. Russian aggression toward Ukraine, Syrian’s gas attacks on civilians. Hamas paying cash to their citizens if they get killed, captured or injured in conflicts with their Jewish neighbors. Maduro attacking his own citizens in Venezuela. Iranian women protesters disappearing. Cameroon arresting journalists. The rising tensions in South Africa with the race-based land seizures. The list goes on and on.
What has the UN been busying itself with? Rapping Israel’s knuckles.
Total of 2018 Condemnations adopted at UN General Assembly:
🇮🇱 Israel 21
🇮🇷 Iran 1
🇸🇾 Syria 1
🇰🇵 North Korea 1
🇷🇺 Russia 1
🇲🇲 Myanmar 1
🇺🇸 US 1
🇩🇿 Algeria 0
🇨🇳 China 0
🏴☠️ Hamas 0
🇮🇶 Iraq 0
🇵🇰 Pakistan 0
🇶🇦 Qatar 0
🇸🇦 Saudi 0
🇸🇴 Somalia 0
🇹🇷 Turkey 0
🇻🇪 Venezuela 0
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe 0— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 26, 2018
Strangely, Venezuela was not on that list. And yet America was.
Condemn the harassment, intimidation, & arbitrary arrests of democratic voices in #Venezuela. The #Maduro regime must immediately release @VenteconOctavio – unjustly detained today – & all political prisoners languishing in prison. Stand with Venezuelan people & call for freedom! https://t.co/2Ejp5QfcQi
— Irwin Cotler (@IrwinCotler) December 30, 2018
That must mean America is infinitely worse than Venezuela, right? Sure, Bernie Sanders may think so… but what about the rest of us?
Why were we condemned? Because of our embargo against Cuba. Was Cuba condemned for their treatment of their own citizens? Condemned for how they enrich their own government class at the expense of the worker? Of course not.
Nope. Cuba’s not on the list, either.
If only we had some clue as to why their values could possibly be so bass-ackward:
UN Human Rights Council members today include:
🇦🇫 Afghanistan
🇧🇮 Burundi
🇨🇳 China
🇨🇺 Cuba
🇨🇩 Congo (DRC)
🇮🇶 Iraq
🇵🇰 Pakistan
🇶🇦 Qatar
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
🇻🇪 Venezuela pic.twitter.com/VeAWOW7Pue— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 26, 2018
China? Aren’t they bulldozing churches and holding hundreds of thousands of Muslims in internment camps?
Cuba is on the human rights council? Does this mean they’ll offer some to their own citizens, now?
Seventy years ago this month, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, these principles are subverted at the UN by the world's worst regimes—with the complicity of many in the West—in ways you would not imagine. Top 10 Worst UN Actions of 2018: https://t.co/y9HWHVywty
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 27, 2018
Today is Nikki Haley's last day as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. History will record that, facing an assembly of dictatorships and their apologists, she stood up for truth, fairness and human rights, and that she did so with courage, eloquence and grace. I will miss her. pic.twitter.com/oAw5Ydh9se
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) December 31, 2018
The UN itself has been busted for corruption — remember the ‘oil-for-food scandals’ in Iraq — or the UN Peacekeepers exploiting Congolese ‘dollar girls’?
And yet we’re still providing the money to fund these corrupt thugs.
The question is: how long can America keep doing so with a clean conscience?