I find it very interesting — no entertaining — that the left is going abjectly apoplectic over the fact that in less than a week, President Trump is doing what he said he would do. It’s as if they were expecting a typical politician who was going to say, “ahh, I was just kidding.” Then again, that is what we’ve come to expect from politicians. You know, Barack Obama talked about no more red states and blue states, just the United States…then he told the GOP, I won get over it, and that they could go to the back of the bus. Oh, how short are the memories of progressive socialists.
Well, there’s another set of executive orders we’ve all been looking forward to happening — and there’s a very important reason why it must.
As reported by the Times of Israel, “President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing two executive orders that would halt US funding to the UN and other bodies that grant full membership to the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The orders would reduce the United States’ role in international bodies, including the United Nations, and start a review process that would seek to potentially withdraw from multilateral treaties, the report said.
Trump has been spending his first days in office signing a series of executive actions, including on abortion, immigration and border control. According to The New York Times, a first draft order, titled “Auditing and Reducing US Funding of International Organizations,” would drastically reduce or terminate funding for UN agencies or other bodies that meet any one of several criteria. Among them: Agencies that “give full membership to the Palestinian Authority or Palestine Liberation Organization,” support abortion programs, or engage in any activity that skirts international sanctions against Iran or North Korea.
Federal law already requires the US to withdraw US funding from UN agencies that “accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.” That statute, enacted in 1990, is what required former president Barack Obama to defund UNESCO, in 2011, after it accepted a Palestinian bid for full membership. Another 1994 law prohibits “voluntary or assessed contribution to any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.” After the UN Security Council voted last month to brand West Bank settlements illegal, and the Obama Administration opted not to veto the move, Trump had promised that “things will be different” once he took office. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade “Palestine” to nonmember observer state status. The new Trump order would also require eliminating all American taxpayer payments to an organization that “is controlled or substantially influenced by any state that sponsors terrorism,” or considered to be engaging in the persecution of minorities or any other form of human rights violation, the Times said.The US government gives the United Nations roughly $8 billion in both mandatory payments and voluntary contributions each year, with at least $3 billion going to its regular and peacekeeping budgets. Those funds make up 22 percent of the UN’s financial resources, more than any other country contributes.”
In assessing this from a purely ROI (return on investment) perspective just ask yourself, what does the United States get back for an $8 billion taxpayer investment? Now some might say with an annual federal budget of $4 trillion — yep, that’s what it is — what’s $8 billion? But not me.
There can be no doubt that the United Nations, founded in October 1945, had a noble purpose. It was to replace the weak League of Nations and sought to bring about global security cooperation. However, today, the United Nations has become nothing more than a collectivist body politic of despots, dictators, and autocrats. The fact that you have “equal” footing in the UN with nations such as Iran is absurd. Going back to Secretary General Kofi Anan we learned about the financial scandal behind the food for oil program. The United States doesn’t need the UN to be a benevolent nation. The UN has no real power and is truly a laughing stock of an organization. I remember when the Serbian forces handcuffed UN peacekeepers to a bridge during the Balkans conflagration. Some might castigate blame towards the UN for mishandling approvals during the Battle of Mogadishu — you remember, “Black Hawk Down?”
And recently we’ve seen very disturbing policy initiatives, which the Obama administration embraced, emanating from the UN. First we have the UN Arms Trade Treaty that was supported by John Kerry and sent to our US Senate for ratification. This would basically subvert our American Second Amendment constitutional right making America subservient to the UN when it comes to even domestic arms activities.
And then there’s UN Resolution 16/18 which would criminalize speech deemed offensive to Muslims, yep, I would probably have been locked up a while ago. And we saw the tricks of the UN, actually Barack Obama and his henchmen, with the Security Council Resolution 2334 — another in the long line of assaults by the UN against Israel. Funny, we never hear the UN coming down hard on Islamic terrorists and jihadists. As a matter of fact, did the UN condemn its own schools that were found out to be weapons caches for Hamas and its rocket and mortar attacks against Israel?
The UN has just become another collective progressive socialist gathering focused on their ideological agenda, like climate change and abortions. We’ve seen what was supposed to be a good concept, like the European Union, overstep its bounds and become a political entity that dismisses national sovereignty. Do we need bilateral or multilateral policy agreements and security cooperation with other nations? Absolutely, but these agreements should be with nations sharing fundamental principles and values. Dare I say, we share nothing with the terrorist group Fatah dressed up nicely calling itself the Palestinian Authority. Yes, NATO is a vital organization that continues to have a valid need and mission. But, if anyone of us were to be asked, what is the mission of the United Nations, what would your response be? Mine would be simple, to screw Israel.
I wholeheartedly support examining the financial viability of supporting the United Nations. It’s been a long time coming. My belief is that Barack Obama wants to be the next UN Secretary General. His ego is in need…and therefore, we need to keep our taxpayer resources well away from him and the UN.
