If there’s one thing that’s become readily apparent in global politics, it’s that the United Nations is a dysfunctional and practically useless organization. While the US disproportionately funds it and gives it credibility simply by being a member and trying to abide by its rules, it seems more often than not the group is aligned against the US.
Anti-US sentiment is very strong the world over, especially now that Trump is in office. On Monday at the UN, this was made clear once again, as our European allies, most notably Britain, made it clear that they didn’t support the president’s recent decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
As reported at the New York Post, the Israel/Palestine problem has long been a major issue at the UN, with the organization usually siding against the Israelis and demanding a two-state solution. On Monday, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley vetoed an Arab-proposed Security Council resolution Monday that rebuked President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The other 14 Security Council members supported the anti-American resolution.
These kind of resolutions are how the UN expresses its anger at the US and Israel, by all agreeing to “rebuke” and make it known they don’t support certain policies. So, essentially a tantrum.
During the ridiculous stunt, Haley berated UN member states for their transparent hypocrisy. She pointed out how they complained that Trump’s decision “prejudges” final-status issues. Yet at the same time, they rely on the United Nations, despite being “disproportionally hostile” to Israel, to weigh in on all kinds of issues regarding Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Proving her point was the clownish British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, who tried to have his cake and eat it too in his statement supporting the resolution criticizing Trump: “The status of Jerusalem should be determined through a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.” Yes, it should. This is a completely reasonable statement. But it’s what Rycroft argued next that was so head-scratching.
Rather than stopping while he was ahead, Rycroft then declared that Jerusalem must “ultimately be the shared capital” of Palestine and Israel, followed by a host of other UN-imposed preconditions for what ultimate peace should entail.
So which is Mr. Rycroft: Should the Jews and Arabs craft a deal among themselves or should you and the UN force a deal upon them? How can an ambassador so smugly and blatantly contradict himself in the same breath and get away with it?
With the outcome of the vote known long before it was taken, Rycroft and other envoys from American-allied countries colluded behind the scenes to make sure the United States would stand alone in opposition. They watered down the language, weeded out explicit anti-American statements and anchored the text in past council resolutions.
Haley wasn’t buying it. “Buried in diplomatic jargon, some presume to tell America where to put our embassy,” she said, reminding council members the US contributes more to Palestinian causes than they do.
The Security Council should be “embarrassed,” she said. When the American people see Turtle Bay uniting against them, they “lose their patience” with the UN, she noted, adding the vote was “an insult that will not be forgotten.”
It’s been apparent for a long time that the Brits have no desire to actually be a “leader” on the world stage. Instead, they want to be able to pay lip service to the idea while the US does all the heavy lifting they’re completely incapable of doing themselves.
Essentially, have their cake and eat it too, all the benefits of being a “world power” without any real responsibility. This is basically the European mindset in a nutshell. It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t constantly trashing the US and acting like it’s a disappointment, conveniently ignoring the fact that they’re already crumbling welfare states wouldn’t be possible without America’s military protecting them and allowing them to barely spend a dime to defend themselves.
That’s what makes the constant trash talk from Europe so enraging. How they conveniently forget history and how they’ve pathetically outsourced their own security to another nation they leach off of in a host of ways. They can cry all they want, but the US will and should do whatever it likes whenever it likes.
Source: New York Post