The United Nations is useless.
The United States is pouring more than $12 billion a year of our tax money down the U.N. rathole and squandering a better opportunity.
The dream behind the U.N.’s founding, to provide an international forum for peaceful cooperation and the prevention of war, doesn’t have to be discarded.
America should lead the democratic nations to establish a new forum and junk the U.N. Those two letters have come to stand for Useless Nations, or worse, Unethical Nations.
The U.N. lends legitimacy to ruthless, despotic regimes and even a terrorist organization, Hamas.
The current crisis in Gaza shows the U.N.’s true colors. For years, the U.N. refused to label Hamas what it is — a terrorist organization like ISIS or Al Qaeda. In 2018, then-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley sounded the alarm about Hamas’ plans to attack Israeli communities, even alleging evidence of maps and raid plans. Haley urged the terrorist designation, but the U.N. refused to act.
Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Hamas’ terror attack. But Guterres has also aggressively criticized Israel’s impending invasion of Gaza to rout out Hamas.
That’s no surprise. The U.N. has long been biased against Israel and captive of the world’s most despotic regimes.
What is surprising is how President Joe Biden kowtows to the U.N., as if it merits respect. In 2021, soon after entering the White House, Biden told the U.N. General Assembly the U.S. is “back at the table,” pursuing “relentless diplomacy” and embracing globalist goals.
And he came bearing money. The U.S. provides one-fifth of the international organization’s budget, the largest contributor. Biden restored funding for U.N. agencies cut under President Donald Trump, including more than $600 million a year for the pro-Palestinian U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
UNRWA supports the annihilation of Israel. Haley protested that UNRWA “uses American money to feed Palestinian hatred of the Jewish state.” UNRWA pays for printed school materials that teach Palestinian children to kill Jews. Maps for Palestinian children don’t even show Israel as a country.
Apparently, that’s not a problem for the Biden administration.
In its eagerness to be “back at the table,” Team Biden is making the U.S. into a patsy.
Start with COVID. The U.N.’s own health agency, the World Health Organization, allowed China to wage the biggest cover-up in history. Trump suspended WHO funding, demanding “independence from China.” Biden restored the money on day 1 of his presidency.
For nearly four years, as 7 million people died worldwide, the U.N. watched China block independent researchers from investigating the virus’s origin, almost certainly a leak at the Wuhan lab.
On climate change, the U.N. fleeces wealthy Western countries, while tolerating ever-increasing pollution from China. In March, the U.N. announced wealthier nations — meaning the U.S. — would have to shell out three to six times their current expenditures on global climate action. It’s a heist.
As for human rights, Biden vowed in 2021 that the U.S. rejoin the U.N.’s 47-member Human Rights Council. That’s some aspiration to be in the company of hardened abusers like Cuba and China.
Meanwhile, the powerhouse at the U.N. — the Security Council — is a house of thugs, with Russia and China both holding veto powers. Russia bombs Ukrainian hospitals and kidnaps children with impunity. No wonder Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the U.N. Security Council useless. This is the same council considering a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Haley, now a presidential contender, has long protested the U.N.’s anti-Israel bias and corruption. Hers is a voice of moral clarity. She tweeted, “Hamas is evil & must be eradicated. We must stand with Israel — not just when it is hit, but also when it hits back.”
Ever since the Holocaust, the world has vowed, “Never again.” The U.N. is not up to keeping that promise.
The world needs a new international organization dominated by democratic leaders, instead of thugs and despots. Biden is incapable, but our next president should get it done.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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