Many of the GOP House members and a few of the GOP Senators are no friend to the United Nations. The reasons for this are myriad and range anywhere from the unconscionable amount of money that the United States contributes to the overall UN budget of $8B a year to its clearly anti-Semitic views and actions. But make no mistake: there are many supporters in our government, both high-ranking Democrats and Republicans, who would rather push back against any and all cuts to the 193-nation body headquartered in New York City.
The sickening facts surrounding the United Nations’ ability to play up to a very compliant Leftist media when it comes to funding are almost too much to bear without losing your dinner. Business Insider, an avid and constant cheerleader for the United Nations, was keen to note that the all of the funding that the United States provides is actually a really good deal!
But when it comes to UN programs — UN peacekeeping in particular — the US already gets a pretty good deal.
US funding for the UN and its agencies adds up to a little over $4.5 billion a year — the cost of about two B-1 bombers — according to an analysis by the Center for Global Development.
US government estimates have also found that relying on UN peacekeepers is beneficial to the American taxpayer.
In Haiti in 2004, a coup prompted the US to deploy military forces to avert a potential refugee crisis. After the initial intervention, the Bush administration convinced the UN to field peacekeepers.
“We estimate that it would cost the United States about twice as much as the United Nations (UN) to conduct a peacekeeping operation similar to the current UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti,” which was called Minustah, the Government Accountability Office wrote in a 2006 report.
Yes, but what else did those “savings” to the U.S. budget get us? Or rather, what did they get Haiti?
Glad you asked!
UN aid workers from Nepal were identified as the source of a cholera outbreak which killed over 10,000 Haitians and sickened hundreds of thousands more. Yet the UN claimed diplomatic immunity and refused to provide compensation.
Wow! Now that’s the kind of quality that money just can’t buy! And in this case, it didn’t!
And now, the United Nations Chief is threatening the United States with the forfeiture of its vote in the General Assembly if it cuts its funding to a point where it is detrimental to the body. Read more about the White House reply to the UN over its threats on the following page.
The veiled threats have begun and it isn’t even a done deal! The United Nations Chief Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has taken an opportunity to further impugn the Trump administration for its proposals of steep budget cuts to the UN in response to the mandated 22% dues under which the United States is obligated. The U.S. is on the hook to the United Nations annually to the tune of more than $2B! That is contributed to the total budget of more than $8B by all nations. When broken down into separate percentages, the numbers are shocking.
Out of the 193 nations that contribute to the UN budget, the United States contribution is greater than the sum total of 85 nations combined! The United States is the single greatest contributor to the UN (28.57%). The second closest neighbor in regards to contribution amounts is China (10.29%). However, when you consider that China has over four times the population of the United States, you begin to see the great disparity. The other six nations bringing up the next highest levels of contribution are Japan (9.68%), Germany (6.39%), France (6.31%), United Kingdom (5.80%), Russian Federation (4.01%) and Italy (3.75%).
In dispute right now is the fact that the Trump administration has put forward an austerity budget that would essentially strip at least half of the contribution money to the UN, particularly in a few questionable or objectionable programs that have been flagged by the administration and the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. All of the $326M set aside for the International Organizations and Programs budget is being completely 86’d. An addition $70M will be axed from the UN Development Programme. Also on tap to be cut was a 40% share of the budget at the State Department for the UN Peacekeeping Forces. There is the United Nations Population Fund that opponents say actually feeds into an opinion that fewer people is better and advocates on behalf of de-population of the 155 countries it services. In April this UNPF program was cut by $32.5M, but when listening to the spokesman for Guterres, you would think that every baby now born in the world might as well now be put to the sword because of the cutting of these funds. One thing to keep in mind is that these funds are only being pulled by the U.S. Other nations are continuing to fund the program. So the entire premise that all these women and children are now at risk is ludicrous, but serves the purpose of pulling on the heartstrings of Liberal politicians and Republicans who are too afraid of the media name-calling to protest. These and other programs being cut is the main complaint by the UN Chief and he is not shy about his threatening rhetoric.
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has warned that many of these peacekeeping missions have become obsolete and require a thorough reckoning on paper.
In New York, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is planning to host an April 6 meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss an ongoing U.S. review of the U.N.’s 16 peacekeeping missions.
Haley, who will serve as the council’s president for the month of April, will make the point that some of the U.N. missions may have outlived their usefulness and may need to be shuttered, reconfigured or shrunk, according to a confidential U.S. concept paper.
Combatting the bad press that surrounds budget cuts to the United Nations seems to be a huge problem. When half of your own Republican Party is working feverishly against you in order to spend more and cut less, the idea that Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan will be limiting their powers is really the crux of the matter.
Just this May, the Omnibus passage by both the House and the Senate increased spending by billions, cut almost nothing as the Republicans heralded the “newly-discovered hidden funds in the former Obama DOJ,” and largely ignored nearly 100% of Trump’s budget cut proposals. Many of these same Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader McConnell and Lindsay Graham have trumpeted that the proposed UN cuts by the Trump administration are “dead on arrival.”
Add to that the corrupt Leftist media and its horribly one-sided debate on the “angelic benefits” of the United Nations programs and Trump has truly got his hands full. Just check out this opening salvo in Foreign Policy Magazine in March:
The White House is seeking to cut $1 billion in funding for U.N. peacekeeping operations and to eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars for other U.N. programs that care for needy children and seek to lift the world’s poorest out of a life of grinding poverty, according to two diplomatic sources briefed on the plan.
The proposal is certain to face strong pushback from Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, who warned that President Donald Trump’s budget will never be passed. But it reflected the White House’s clear desire to jettison America’s traditional role as the champion of the downtrodden and embrace that of a military powerhouse to be feared.
Understand, now that the above online publication is not presented as an opinion piece. In fact, the author, Colum Lynch, is a long-time Leftist whose bio appears as thus:
He now devotes his reporting chops to documenting President Donald Trump’s efforts to reorder the international system. Born in Los Angeles, Colum received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1985 and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1987. Before moving to FP, Colum reported on diplomacy and national security for the Washington Post for more than a decade. He has appeared frequently on national news programs, including the Lehrer NewsHour, as well as on MSNBC, NPR, and the BBC.
This should tell you everything you need to know about Lynch and why it is that he’s so thoroughly devoted to the United Nations, the massive expenditure of the American taxpayer’s money, and to the notion that any cuts (now matter how benign) are comparable to the complete and utter destruction of the United Nations.
Let’s also not forget that the 193 diplomats and their alternates/proxies are paid a handsome $70.6K a year, plus healthcare, meal stipend, travel, entertainment/leisure and, most importantly, immunity. Having grown up in New York City, I was not a stranger to the habits of UN Diplomats flaunting their immunity in cases of DWIs, Hit & Runs, Prostitution, Parking Violations, and Battery/Assault and getting away scot-free with the charges. Of course, there is the army of interpreters and translators, staff members, secretaries and clerks, cooks and barbers, tailors and servers. How much of that $8B budget is eaten up by homes, vehicles, hotels, energy bills, leases, travel, healthcare, licenses, food, alcohol, general overhead, maintenance, tens of thousands of workers abroad, uniforms, weapons, ammo, etc., etc., etc.?
So, for the Leftists to act as if this top-heavy, gargantuan enterprise is a lean, mean, legislating machine, is a flat-out lie.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Trump administration on Tuesday that if the United States disengages from many issues confronting the international community it will be replaced — and that won’t be good for America or for the world.
Guterres made clear to reporters at his first press conference here since taking the reins of the United Nations on Jan. 1 that proposed cuts in U.S. funding for the U.N. would be disastrous and create “an unsolvable problem to the management of the U.N.”
But the U.N. chief stressed that he is not afraid to stand up to President Donald Trump, citing his vocal opposition to the U.S. leader’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. He said the mobilization of U.S. business and civil society in support or the climate deal is “a signal of hope that we very much encourage.”
Well, it’s true that he’s standing up to Donald Trump, but that part about him “not afraid” is a crock. He is absolutely terrified right now. To imagine for a moment that the huge and treasure-laden U.S. gravy train just got chopped in half is the stuff of nightmares to a Leftist! And knowing that there are cracks in the armor of the press right now, what with CNN being a permanent resident of Scandal Town and the Washington Post on its hourly “Russia-Watch,” there’s no certainty that Trump will be defeated.
The climate change hoax being debunked and rejected by nearly 100% of the public is yet another path to gold that has been essentially shut down and the United Nations has invested a good deal of its street cred in that endeavor. I cannot even begin to imagine the outright panic that Guterres must have experienced when Trump pulled out of the Paris Accord!
Looking at the array of global crises, Guterres expressed concern that there could be a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Syria and urged a de-escalation of the dispute between Washington and Moscow over the U.S. downing of a Syrian jet.
This is very important, he said, “because these kind of incidents can be very dangerous in a conflict situation in which there are so many actors, and in which the situation is so complex on the ground.”
“So, indeed, I am concerned, and I hope that this will not lead to any escalation of the conflict that is already as dramatic as it is,” Guterres said.
And here’s yet another aspect of the “apocalyptic view” of the world sans the United Nations being there every step of the way to mediate and calm the nerves of the big players. This whole Russia-U.S. kerfuffle regarding the downed Syrian regime jet was a lot of necessary saber-rattling to save face on the part of the Russians. They were threatening the “tracking” of U.S. fighter jets, but stopped short of saying they were going to be firing upon them. This Pit-bull-without-teeth method of diplomacy was the only real way for the Russian Defence Minister to show solidarity with the Syrian leader Assad. Anything short of that would have been a thorn in the side of the Russians, and anything more would have been an international incident with the United States.
The secretary-general, who served as U.N. high commissioner for refugees for 10 years, chose World Refugee Day for the press conference and appealed to all U.N. member states not to refuse entry to those seeking asylum and deserving protection.
He also urged rich countries to do much more to support the 80 percent of the world’s refugees living in the developing world — and to increase the number of refugees they will give new homes to.
The United States is “by far the largest resettlement country in the world” with a “very generous and positive policy,” Guterres said.
But Trump is moving to significantly reduce the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States, even as his bid to temporarily suspend admissions is stalled in the courts. His budget proposal calls for a 25 percent cut in funds for resettling refugees on American soil.
Guterres said he has strongly encouraged the United States “to come back to the levels of resettlement that we witnessed until two or three years ago.”
Finally, as you can see, this was a direct dig at the Trump administration and his stringent policy toward refugees. The United States is a sovereign nation with many different types of people who regard this country as a safe haven and a place where they can express themselves in a variety of ways and still manage to make a good living for themselves. That being said, its immigration policies are a hell-of-a-lot less restrictive than so many other industrialized nations and yet you wouldn’t know it listening to the Progressives. Their vision of a Trump America is one where vigilantism is rampant, illegals are deported in mass numbers (regardless of their actual status) and the Border Wall is being built with the blood money of those of whom we have exploited. The Left literally believes that Trump policies are more restrictive than almost every other nation when, in fact, it is the very Leftist policies themselves that have created the illegal mess in the first place! For Guterres to suggest that we are not holding up our end of the bargain, when that bargain was negotiated under a different president, in a different time, and under the guise that this nation was a racist nation and this was reparations for such behavior, is reprehensible and, frankly, rude.
If the simple act of cutting budgets is inconceivable to the United Nations, it might have nothing to do with the programs at all. In fact, knowing what a Leftist body it is, the likely answer is that it has everything to do with money.
http://www.truthandaction.org/un-chief-threatens-trump-promising-expulsion/2/