Yesterday, when the US used its Security Council veto to scupper a General Assembly resolution condemning Israel moving its capitol to Jerusalem, Ambassador Haley – the best UN ambassador since Jeanne Kirkpatrick – told the General Assembly that the US was going to start “taking names” of those who piddled on our shoes, especially come budget time.
The multilateralists who infest the media, academy and commentariat huffed and puffed.
Let them, I say. We‘re the ones who’ll blow the house down:
But there are two things wrong with the liberal huffing and puffing. The first is that the administration’s threats are bound to be immensely popular even among Americans who aren’t Trump fans. The second is that it is high time that someone reminded the inhabitants of the U.N. that while the U.S. may be considered the dull child in the classroom in their realm, the balance of power in the real world is very different, even on issues where Trump has supposedly isolated the U.S., such as Jerusalem and the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Those Who Know Better – the think-tankers who infest most of the United Nations – roundly condemned us (and, perforce, Israel).
But Haley isn’t taking the attempt to isolate the U.S. lying down. As she did in her eloquent defense of the American position before the Security Council, the ambassador said not only that Trump had done the right thing when recognizing Israel’s rights in Jerusalem, but also that other nations had no business telling the U.S. where to put any of its embassies.
“But! But! War in the Middle East!”
…the main players in the Sunni Muslim world, such as the Egyptians and especially the Saudis, have made it clear to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas that they are uninterested in backing him on the issue outside of purely symbolic U.N. theater. Reportedly, Abbas was summoned to Riyadh to be told to accept a peace deal that Trump may propose giving the Palestinians far less, especially in terms of Jerusalem, than past offers they’ve received — and rejected — from Israel.
So while the double-breasted suits who party their careers away in New York have the official vapours about Trump’s policies in re Israel and the UN, it’d seem that on the ground, Trump’s “intransigence” may be showing some actual, possible, maybe, sorta, results?
And if either is the case – movement on the Palestinian situation and on neutering and perhaps ditching the UN – happen to come to pass, I, a non-fan of Trump, will be pretty darn impressed.
Just a thought… How about a rumor that says Trump will soon NOT recognize NYC as the “capitol” of the UN? Great fun.
We’ve had generations of policy that offer the Palestinians every manner of sugar cube, to which they turn up their noses .
With his choices of ambassador to Israel and to the U.N., Trump has shown more of a carrot and stick approach. I say “more of” because here is the stick. As for the carrot, well, that is now negotiable.
For people who are convinced that they know the future of human society, libs are shitty at predicting events.
The smarter one realize that their ability to predict what will happen is entirely dependent on their power to shape events, e.g., “progressivism” is really about power, not about progress, and certainly not about morality.
In my opinion we’ve made too much of the UN and have paid way too much of the bills. I’d be pleased if we cut off ALL funding to the feckless bastards. It would please me to no end if they’d relocate elsewhere….maybe the Hague, or better still Mogadishu.
So is Trump still Hitler?
You know Scott, you’re really on to something there.
Why do UN ambassadors live in sumptuous apartments in the highest rent area of the world, their limos racking up parking tickets they’ll never pay? Especially when, as you point out, the US foots so much of the tab their specious arm waving generates?
Let em work where the work is. Mogadishu; Mosul; Aden; Myanmar. Think they might get serious about little Rocket Man, if they and their families were living in Seoul? Let their wives and daughters enjoy the hospitality of Tehran for awhile.
Mitch, they didn’t vote to condemn Israel moving it’s capital, they voted to condemn Trump’s recognition of it. Why does that matter?
Well, a couple of reasons – first, Israel can do what it likes and the UN perhaps can condemn it, but it doesn’t change anything. The capital will be (and in fact, WAS) moved.
What hadn’t happened, was that the US hadn’t recognized it as such. THAT matters because the move by Israel was provocative (at best). Tel Aviv is both safer and has generally better infrastructure to BE the capital. The move to Jerusalem was done to thumb Israel’s collective nose at the Palestinians and to a degree, the world.
While you can claim it doesn’t matter that we side with them and tell the world to “screw off” about it, that is of course, not true. We are being replaced as the world’s superpower by China. Acting like we can go it alone in the world, as well, only shows how ignorant we can be. We are an island nation, deeply dependent on trade, Our military power is impotent because we cannot really use it, and we are a debtor nation – Trump has done nothing to remedy that (along with so many other things he’s not come close to even trying to fix, though he promised he would). When we do things which our long-time allies, like Britain, Canada, Australia, and France, oppose, it is time for us to re-think whether we are doing the right thing. When we don’t, we wind up in stupid wars, (like in Iraq). We need our friends in this world to stand with us when important matters come along, so we shouldn’t ask them to stand with us about petty things like supporting Israel’s petulance.
Trump recognized the move to Jerusalem solely because Obama DIDN’T, he’s a petty child, and while it may feel good to give the finger to the world, the fact is, it’s also cheap, easy, and stupid.
Merry Christmas, Mitch, By the Way. I hope you and yours have a wonderful day.
Mann,
I predicted the Iraq war would be a disaster because of our callous treatment of the civilians.
I predicted the economy would not really recover after 2008 because wages would not recover – but profits would.
I predicted Trump would cut taxes for the rich, in fact that would be the sole drive of the GOP, because that’s always been their fundamental goal.
I’ll further predict they’re trying to sabotage Social Security and Medicare by underfunding the government and tying taxes to chained CPI, a way to stealth undercut the government’s revenues.
I’ll also predict that Trump will seek to undermine the justice department’s credibility to deflect any indictment of either his family or himself.
These aren’t hard things to predict Mann, the reason is that actions speak louder than words, and the actions of the rich and powerful have been to use the GOP to undermine the New Deal, to push back on the strength of the middle-class, to undermine the ability of the government to stop them from wielding power in whatever way they desired to in order to gain both more power and more money. In short, the powerful (nearly always and since we’re talking about a group it’s applicable as a mean) seek power, and they seek to undercut any restraint, including attacking the truth, attacking rules, attacking laws, which get in their way. That’s not hard, Mann, what’s funny is that you, and the ‘licans, can’t see you’re pawns.
Mitch, Israel’s capital IS Jerusalem. It is not moving anywhere.
And right on cue, US just cut its UN budget. Talk about a Christmas present! Now we need to get it down to our fair share and watch it collapse. Also, working at UN is a job like any other and should be treated as such with no superfluous perks. Strip all turtle bay rats of diplomatic immunity and now we are talking progress.
JPA is right.
I didn’t know they had internet access in the long-term memory care unit, Penigma. Nice to know.
To refresh your obviously failing recollection, the United States formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 1995 by an Act of Congress called The Jerusalem Embassy Act. It required our embassy to be moved there by 1999, unless the President certified in writing, every six months, that failing to do so was necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States.
Every President for the last 20 years has signed the certification, hoping the Arabs will agree to peace. Trump is the first President to call bull***t. Moving the embassy doesn’t threaten our national security so he’s not going to lie by saying it does. Appeasement has never worked and we’re not doing it anymore.
Article II, Section 4, requires the President to ” . . . take care that the laws be faithfully executed . . . .” That doesn’t mean the laws he agrees with, or the laws he wishes would have been passed. Trump is the first guy in a long time who’s actually doing his job the way it was intended to be done.
Trump has done nothing to remedy that (along with so many other things he’s not come close to even trying to fix, though he promised he would)
Just a bit impatient, aren’t we? He’s got 7 years left to work on this stuff.
Oh. Yes. He. Does.
Penigma:
Why does inflation exist? Can it actually be measured?
Why do some people’s Social Security get taxed? Taxes on taxes. Is that actually wealth taxation? Are you ***taking*** part of an annuity they were ***forced*** to buy?
Why are there 40 trillion in unfunded liabilities—minimum. How do you pay for 40 trillion in unfunded liabilities?
Why do you eat K Mart corndogs?
Why do we need the government to give the middle class strength? How does this work? What are the dynamics?
Why is effectively every government actuarial system a disaster?
Does voting on central planning work?
Is this the ***FOURTH TIME***
…you fali to respond to my inquiries?
I have a long post that needs moderation for reasons that are only clear to the borg-nine that “controls” this crap.
“TheFedSucks” is now “CentralBankingIsTyranny” for a bunch of complicated reasons.
Also, Penigma eats K Mart corndogs.
Why is effectively every government actuarial system a disaster?
In my world, we say that if you ask a mathematician what 2 + 2 equals, he will say “4”. If you ask an accountant, she’ll say, “It depends.” If you ask an actuary, he’ll say, “What do you want it to equal?” I imagine government actuaries are even more so.
I’m here to say that when I read any of the Penigma comments I’m left thinking…..drop the “P” and all your left with is ENIGMA.
ENIGMA as in a cryptography device. You can never tell what it says, nor why it says it, yet once you have the key, all is revealed.
“Mann,
I predicted…”
You poor, ignorant twaat. You can’t even keep the here and now straight. It’s “Mamm” uthus.
“the Iraq war would be a disaster because of our callous treatment of the civilians.”
No, fool. It was a disaster because Obama pulled out our troops, and left piles of munitions for muzzy terrorists to.pick up.
“I predicted the economy would not really recover after 2008 because wages would not recover – but profits would.”
Who did you share that insight with, asswipe… your neighbor, Paul Krugman?
Cause no one here ever saw it
“I predicted Trump would cut taxes for the rich”
Well, you fucked that up, dimwit. Trump cut Hillary’s throat and Obama’s nut sack, but Congress cut taxes.
Pffft. This is too easy.
Penigma, regarding your comments about the eternal capital of Israel, apparently you’ve missed what Scripture says about it. Yes, not all Israelis are religious–I’m told it’s actually a minority–but getting past millenia of tradition is going to be tough even for the most jaded secular Jews. Nobody says “Next Year in Tel Aviv”, after all.
So congratulations on yet another ignorant comment. Reality is that recognizing the capital of Israel as its capital simply recognizes reality–first that Jerusalem is the capital, and second that the PLO/Hamas/etc. really have no intention of any peace that does not push Jews into the sea–well, at least those they’d choose to allow to remain alive.
Really, I could excuse your naivete if you were saying it, say, in 1979, but shouldn’t the past 38 years count for something in our understanding?