Obama just took a parting shot at Israel — and Trump — at the UN

[waz]

He can call it what he wants the fact remains the organisation is older than him and will outlive him. It has bought together nations, it may not be perfect, but that's a start.

 

[Bharat Muslim]

He can call it what he wants the fact remains the organisation is older than him and will outlive him. It has bought together nations, it may not be perfect, but that's a start.

Yeah it's better than League of Nations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations

 

[Penguin]

Well this time trump is right!

Would you care to explain why you think that is the case? That way, there is room for discussion, rather than successive blurting out of one-liner comments from all directions.

Well he is not wrong.

Would you care to explain why you think that is the case? That way, there is room for discussion, rather than successive blurting out of one-liner comments from all directions.

It is said that the United States owes a lot of UN membership fees

http://www.un.org/en/ga/about/art19.shtml

Four Member States are currently in arrears under the terms of Article 19 of the Charter (see A/71/381). On 3 October 2016, the General Assembly decided that these four Member States shall be permitted to vote in the General Assembly until the end of the current session (See A/RES/71/2):

1. Comoros
2. Guinea-Bissau
3. Sao Tome and Principe
4. Somalia

Note Art 19
A Member of the United Nations which is in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions to the Organization shall have no vote in the General Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years. The General Assembly may, nevertheless, permit such a Member to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member. (Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations)
http://www.un.org/en/ga/contributions/

Nevertheless
2014:

Member states also owed about $2.6bn to the separate UN peacekeeping budget, Takasu said. France owed the most – $356m – followed by the US, which must pay $337m, and Italy owed about $250m.

An official at the US mission to the UN said those numbers were distorted because the UN’s fiscal year began on 1 January and the American fiscal year on 1 October. The US paid its regular budget assessment at the end of the calendar year in which it was due, the official said.

The official said this discrepancy accounts for $621m of the outstanding dues to the regular budget reported by the UN.

The remaining amounts in the regular and peacekeeping budget are attributable to arrears that date back more than a decade and a half, the official said.

French diplomats said the debt was not unusual as there was always a technical delay of a few months between the time the French government received assessments for UN contributions and the time the funds were made available to pay them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/10/un-member-states-owe-debt

 

[ashok321]

Trump is as naive on UNO as he is on Muslims of the world.
Experience is the best teacher.
I let this flower bloom.

 

[Solomon2]

Trump said in nine words what it takes me pages to write.

 

[Musafir117]

Donald Trump has questioned the effectiveness of the United Nations, saying it's just a club for people to “have a good time”.

The statement came days after the UN Security Council voted to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The president-elect wrote Monday on Twitter that the UN has “such great potential,” but it has become “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!”

On Friday, Trump warned, “As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20th,” referring to the day he takes office.

The decision by the Obama administration to abstain from Friday's UN vote brushed aside Trump's demands that the US exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations with Israel's leadership.

Trump told The Associated Press last December that he wanted to be “very neutral” on Israel-Palestinian issues. But his tone became decidedly more pro-Israel as the presidential campaign progressed. He has spoken disparagingly of Palestinians, saying they have been “taken over” by or are condoning militant groups.

Trump's tweet Monday about the UN ignores much of the work that goes on in the 193-member global organisation.

This year the UN Security Council has approved over 70 legally binding resolutions, including new sanctions on North Korea and measures tackling conflicts and authorising the UN's far-flung peacekeeping operations around the world.

The General Assembly has also approved dozens of resolutions on issues, like the role of diamonds in fuelling conflicts; condemned human rights abuses in Iran and North Korea; and authorised an investigation of alleged war crimes in Syria.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1304787/trump-says-un-just-a-club-for-people-to-have-a-good-time

 

[Muhammad Omar]

Agree with him at this Matter....

 

[Penguin]

INDEED: Trump's tweet Monday about the UN ignores much of the work that goes on in the 193-member global organisation.

Source: https://defence.pk/threads/trump-sa...ple-to-have-a-good-time.469086/#ixzz4U41b8OPQ
UN Objectives:

• Peacekeeping and security
  • The UN, after approval by the Security Council, sends peacekeepers to regions where armed conflict has recently ceased or paused to enforce the terms of peace agreements and to discourage combatants from resuming hostilities. Since the UN does not maintain its own military, peacekeeping forces are voluntarily provided by member states.
• Human rights
  • One of the UN's primary purposes is "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion", and member states pledge to undertake "joint and separate action" to protect these rights
• Economic development and humanitarian assistance
  • Another primary purpose of the UN is "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character". Numerous bodies have been created to work towards this goal, primarily under the authority of the General Assembly and ECOSOC

The UN is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from member states. Special UN programmes not included in the regular budget, such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme, are financed by voluntary contributions from member governments, corporations, and private individuals.

The two-year [regular] budget for 2012–13 was $5.512 billion in total

Top 17 contributors to the [regular] UN budget for 2016
Member state Contribution (% of UN budget)

1. United States 22.000
2. Japan 9.680
3. China 7.921
4. Germany 6.389
5. France 4.859
6. United Kingdom 4.463
7. Brazil 3.823
8. Italy 3.748
9. Russia 3.088
10. Canada 2.921
11. Spain 2.443
12. Australia 2.337
13. South Korea 2.039
14. Netherlands 1.482
15. Mexico 1.435
16. Saudi Arabia 1.146
17. Switzerland 1.140
18. Other member states 19.086

[note: Germany + France + UK + Italy + Spain + Netherlands = 23.384 "EU" > US]

A large share of the UN's expenditure addresses its core mission of peace and security, and this budget is assessed separately from the main organizational budget. UN peace operations are funded by assessments, using a formula derived from the regular funding scale that includes a weighted surcharge for the five permanent Security Council members, who must approve all peacekeeping operations. This surcharge serves to offset discounted peacekeeping assessment rates for less developed countries.

The peacekeeping budget for the 2015–16 fiscal year was $8.27 billion, supporting 82,318 troops deployed in 15 missions around the world. In 2013, the top 10 providers of assessed financial contributions to United Nations peacekeeping operations were

1. the United States (28.38%),
2. Japan (10.83%),
3. France (7.22%),
4. Germany (7.14%),
5. the United Kingdom (6.68%),
6. China (6.64%),
7. Italy (4.45%),
8. the Russian Federation (3.15%),
9. Canada (2.98%), and
10. Spain (2.97%).

[note: France+Germany+UK+Italy+Spain=28.46% "EU" > US]

 

[Solomon2]

...Trump's tweet Monday about the UN ignores much of the work that goes on in the 193-member global organisation -

Not really. The U.N.'s purpose is to maintain the status quo of its members so they can continue to party with minimum effort and conflict between themselves. Peacekeeping ops are part of that. So is scapegoating Israel - a magician's hat trick, a target to focus populations' hatreds so the ruling class can continue to prosper with less scrutiny than otherwise.

 

[Penguin]

Not really. The U.N.'s purpose is to maintain the status quo of its members so they can continue to party with minimum effort and conflict between themselves. Peacekeeping ops are part of that. So is scapegoating Israel - a magician's hat trick, a target to focus populations' hatreds so the ruling class can continue to prosper with less scrutiny than otherwise.

You are entitled to your opinion. However, you too ignore the many things UN does around the world. And, if you are truely convinced of your opinion, why are you not active pressing your government to leave the UN (you carry 2 US flags here), rather than wining about it here.

 

[Solomon2]

You are entitled to your opinion. However, you too ignore the many things UN does around the world.

Most U.N.-affiliated organizations have been infected with the disease of anti-semiitism, and thus their effectiveness and accountability have been reduced.

And, if you are truely convinced of your opinion, why are you not active pressing your government to leave the UN (you carry 2 US flags here), rather than wining about it here.

Hmm, that's a very interesting suggestion, thanks.

 

[Penguin]

Most U.N.-affiliated organizations have been infected with the disease of anti-semiitism, and thus their effectiveness and accountability have been reduced.

... as evidenced by what? Again, your opinion.

Hmm, that's a very interesting suggestion, thanks.

Seriously, you should.

 

[hussain0216]

The U.N is the best forum we have for world states to gather

whats better?

its as useful as its component nations want it to be

It needs reform to its security council however

Trumps zionist masters were given a slap in the face and Trump is reacting

Reality is the U.S is the biggest user and abuser of the U.N and will be worse without it but once again the needs of the apartheid jew state are held above U.S interests

 

[Solomon2]

... as evidenced by what? Again, your opinion.

A fair question. Article discussing report: link

 

[Penguin]

Nice media article, but what evidence does the report by Human Rights Voices and the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust actually contain?

Just so we all know what Breitbart news is:

Breitbart News Network (known commonly as Breitbart News, Breitbart or Breitbart.com) is a right-wing or far-right. American news, opinion and commentary website founded in 2007 by conservative commentator and entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart during a visit to Israel in summer 2007, with the aim of founding a site "that would be unapologetically pro-freedom and pro-Israel". Breitbart later aligned with the European populist right and American alt-right under the management of former executive chairman Steven K. Bannon's management. The New York Times describes Breitbart News as an organization with "ideologically driven journalists", that is a source of controversy "over material that has been called misogynist, xenophobic and racist".

Interesting to compare Human Rights Voices and the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust

HRV staff
ANNE BAYEFSKY, Senior Editor
DAVID LITMAN, Research Fellow
SARAH WILLIG, Research Fellow
Board of Governors:
Anne Bayefsky
Robert Immerman
Lawrence Kadish
http://www.humanrightsvoices.org/site/about/who/

Touro Institute staff
Professor Anne Bayefsky, Director
Dr. Alan Kadish, M.D., president and CEO
Dr. Sara Nachama, Director Touro College Holocaust Institute in Berlin
http://legacy.touro.edu/ihrh/about_us.asp

So, these are not two independent organizations. Nor does their mission allow them to be 'neutral' in doing research
http://www.humanrightsvoices.org/site/about/
http://legacy.touro.edu/ihrh/human_rights_advocacy.asp

So, IMHO, you need to come up with something more convincing.

Mind you, I'm not blind to the shortcomings of the UN, I just taking an IMHO more 'rational' or 'objective' approach.