United Nations News

[John Fedup]

Given the current amount of unpleasant geopolitical stuff going on at the moment, a discussion on the UN seems relevant. Can't really think there is going to be much good news about this dysfunctional organisation. Attached is an article suggesting Canada should leave. Considering the lack of value for money, the money saved could at least be applied to our appalling annual deficits.

FIRST READING: The case for Canada leaving the UN (msn.com)

 

[Big_Zucchini]

Has the UN reached its League of Nations moment?
I believe so.
Jessica Berlin here says this in relation to her Russia-Ukraine war activism, but I have preached this for many years, with other geopolitical events and factors in mind.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1750267603589714253

A few points to consider:
1. Many agencies in it are teethless, and therefore of little consequence.
2. Powerful ones like UNSC are often also nullified by veto powers given based on geopolitical circumstances that no longer exist.
3. UN serves as a moral authority for many yet its morality-related bodies are hijacked by the world's most horrible regimes.
4. Members pay membership and special fees, yet the UN's corruption is so blatant - it's like they're taking pride in it. There is no overseer, no mechanism to root it out.
5. UN's core function as a mediator is nullified as more and more conflicts are resolved or handled by individual 3rd party nations that are geopolitically positioned for the case.

Point #5 is the longstanding argument to keep the UN alive. Many assert that other parts of the UN are just decoration but they do cause significant harm to humanity, and it this argument is now also pretty much null.
The end result is that the west disregards the UN, while the east shows utter contempt for it.

As global conflicts seem to ignite at an alarming rate, a dyafunctional, objectively harmful UN is something we should strive to replace urgently.
Here are some parameters I propose for a New UN (NUN):
1. Shall initially consist of a core that is the world's established true democracies. Examples - US, Canada, UK, most of EU, Israel, South Korea, Japan, Australia, NZ.
2. The core shall be periodically reevaluated so that emerging liberal democracies may enter and degrading democracies may be expelled.
3. The core shall set up a committee to modify the NUN structure and activities at the petition of individual members of the core.
4. The NUN shall have a self investigative body subordinated to a forum of the core.
5. The NUN shall invite all nations.
6. The NUN shall be a conduit for economical, military, technological, humanitarian, and medical engagement with its members.
7. Councils with executive powers shall exist for the above mentioned topics, each with a system of tiered influence. For example more technologically advanced nations will have more influence regarding tech investments and aid.
8. The NUN shall set up a mechanism of incentives for members to comply with NUN policies.
9. Each council and agency shall have provisions to counter politicization attempts.

These examples could permit the function of a revitalized UN that would actually be of use to its members.

 

[Big_Zucchini]

ICJ announces provisional order against Israel, in a major blow to the UN, and ICJ in particular.

Livestream of the South Africa vs Israel case:

THE HAGUE – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its Order in the case South Africa v. Israel

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its Order in the case South Africa v. Israel

webtv.un.org

The rationale is that, "prima facie", Israel may have risked violating some of the rights of the Palestinians as a protected group. In other words, the court does not have sufficient evidence to rule either way, and therefore reiterates the steps that Israel must do to comply with the order.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1750863399653711888

The court does not seem to be properly equipped to handle the dynamic nature of wars, particularly a dynamic in which one side must handle the other side's intentional sacrifice of its own population.

The sentiment among followers of the court decision may be summarized as:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1750859769928155630

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1750860783276236962

Indeed, if the ICJ adopts a ruling which orders nations to surrender their right to self defense, said nations will simply ignore it in the future, therefore nullifying the ICJ's mandate.
Under international law and norms, Israel also does not have the right to end the war, putting it in an impossible position that a court must be able to solve.

 

[John Fedup]

Well there's a two word expression with seven letters which should be Israel's response to the ICJ.

 

[Big_Zucchini]

Well there's a two word expression with seven letters which should be Israel's response to the ICJ.

We tried that approach once. Results weren't stellar - we were just automatically accused of everything the world's dictatorships wanted to accuse us of, and the western media gladly accepted it.

On another topic - UNRWA currently sees much of its funding being cut following the revelation about the extent of its involvement in the 7/10 massacre.
The largest donors - USA and Germany, have together cut about $546 million, or 46% of the total budget. Smaller yet substantial donors have also withdrawn funding and it is likely that more will follow suit.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1751339886425047079

Trump was first, as I recall, to cut funding to UNRWA (as well as PA). This decision was later reversed by Biden. At the time, there were reports that Israel requested the US to reinstate funding to the Palestinians to prevent a humanitarian and government collapse. In hindsight this was a poor decision as it was part of a concept of containment. I believe that generally Biden's middle eastern policies are misguided, but that is a separate discussion. Aid to the Palestinians cannot exist in a vacuum, because everyone who receives aid - does so under certain conditions.
Generally aid is likely to continue, but I believe it will occur under some conditions, and UNRWA itself may eventually be dismantled in the process.

 

[Big_Zucchini]

Increasing calls to fire Francesca Albanese (actually Italian) after these remarks (and also a long history of the most unhinged antisemitism):

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1756351236909965591

This behavior has enabled her to gain the (largely symbolic) role of UN's special rapporteur for Palestine. However, her recent remarks may be too deranged even by UN standards.
It is also particularly troubling that a special rapporteur of the UN cannot even travel to the locations she should be reporting from, further highlighting the issue of her apparent lack of professionalism.

https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/francesca-albenza

 

[Big_Zucchini]

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, was interviewed, I assume in response to the defunding of UNRWA and/or Hamas's pleas to halt military ops in Rafah.

UNRWA's main argument is that it has a vetting process and I assume Mr Griffiths tried to explain UNRWA did not fail to filter out Hamas operatives because Hamas are legitimate, thus raising the ire of the many good nations that consider aiding terrorists to be a criminal activity.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1758136110012829868

He says "I have worked with many terrorists and insurgent groups"


and that Hamas are just a political group. I honestly wonder what kind of terrorists he used to work with that weren't "political groups" and how they were designated as such. Perhaps those that didn't have many Jews around them to kill to begin with.

Needless to say, this line of arguments immediately backfired and it's very unlikely for top donors to resume donations at least for the forseeable future.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1758210187603624292