07 Jan The UN’s Time has Come…and Gone
Here’s hoping Senator Ted Cruz and others will follow through on legislation to defund America’s financial support of the UN. The immediate impetus for Cruz’ actions was of course the Obama administration’s betrayal of Israel, but the case for abandoning the UN has been as plain as day for decades.
Just about every American who emerged from the public education system (and private schools, for that matter) has been taught to believe the UN represents an idealistic assembly of people of goodwill, searching earnestly for peaceful ways to resolve human conflict. High school learning exercises under a ‘mock UN’ format are ubiquitous.
The problem has never been with the ideals; who doesn’t want to find peaceful ways to resolve human conflict? And to say the time has come to dismantle the UN and start over is not to say the UN has never contributed anything positive to the world. But the world today is in a struggle over the survival of the very western civilization that gave birth to the UN—while far too many current member states of the UN are on the side of destroying that civilization.
The UN’s record regarding human rights, by itself, tells the tale. The UN Human Rights Council elected Saudi Arabia as its Chair (later replaced by Egypt). Saudi Arabia is the Muslim country where women are not allowed to leave their homes without a male guardian; where the state kills atheists, homosexuals, and dissidents with public executions. No Christian churches are allowed. This is the UN’s lead worldwide investigator of human rights abuses (and the one that finds Israel–a vibrant democracy–the biggest offender)?
The UN’s record of anti-Semitism would take pages to fully document (and will likely be a subject of future postings), and is another more-than-sufficient reason to defund the UN. But really, just the idea that Saudi Arabia could be chosen to lead the UN’s efforts to police human rights abuses encapsulates about all anyone needs to know to support the dismantling of the UN. It has become a farce; it is an unserious institution in serious times.
The moral bankruptcy that elevates perverted anti-western civilization notions of human rights deserves to face the financial bankruptcy that would follow if the United States of America would finally say ‘enough is enough’, and pull the plug on its financial support.
A forced move of the UN away from Manhattan would also be helpful. We’re not sure about the wisdom of everything the Tweeter-elect puts out into the world, but Trump was right when he tweeted a message to the effect that the UN has become mostly a place for socializing and expense account excesses for privileged appointees of political elites. Nothing substantive or good is happening there anymore.
There is always a certain amount of hand-wringing among secular elites whenever the subject of dismantling the UN arises. It’s not necessary or justified. Dismantling the UN does not mean ending international diplomacy or international gatherings; it does not signal an end to humanity’s desire for peace. It does not mean there could never be a replacement for the UN. It just means the curtain has been pulled on the current state of the UN; the corruption and moral bankruptcy is evident for all to see, and is not believably remediable; and it is time to act on the obvious solution: defund and dismantle it.
Paul Gable