It always amazed me how quickly the UN became a mechanism for corruption. Growing up in the US it's easy to forget political corruption is the norm in most of the world, and the UN is just one of the vehicles.
The United States withdraws from UNESCO
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Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#122And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.
And it’s wild to think that less than 2/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life don't support this admin. These are seemingly smart people.
Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#123The United States voluntarily gives up yet another piece of soft power. Coming up next: The United States wonders why it doesn't have allies anymore and why the rest of the world starts working around them.
isn't this more of an example of employing soft power?
Successful soft power requires you have a seat at the table. When you leave and stop participating, you reduce your soft power.
Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#124And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.
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Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#125Imagine losing control of a puppet state so badly that you end up losing a large amount of global relevance and credibility.
I know that's written kind of lazily and off the cuff but it really hits home how deep the various agencies must be in needing them as a conduit for their actions.
Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#126This administration has zero ability to build or bring people together, able only to destroy what others have made. On the bright side, it isn't effective until December 31, 2026 so there is plenty of time to chicken out.
> This administration has zero ability to build or bring people together […]
Someone observed a lot of stuff that Trump is doing is through Executive Orders because he really can't do deals. Of course when (some of) his desires overlap with (some of) others', we get:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Big_Beautiful_Bill_Act
which is mostly about implementing:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025
> […] so there is plenty of time to chicken out.
TACO:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Always_Chickens_Out
* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/02/dona...
(Being reliant on TACO may backfire at some point.)
Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#127the wording of that page is so blatantly propaganda that it's embarrassing to read. It's pathetic.
At least it's transparent, like all the other things coming from the executive branch lately. And maybe that makes the damage more lasting, because people can see that US is so mired in populism that it cannot grasp how the SDGs of reducing poverty, accessing sanitation, equality, and -- dare I say -- dealing with climate change are things that ultimately help global security and thus benefit the US.
This is a false dilemma- believe it or not, it is possible for the US to provide support outside of UNESCO
Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#128And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.
Intelligence is not general. It can be. But rarely is. Most people contextualize their knowledge and skills, they divide to conquer, as generalizing is hard. Especially hard in a fragmented, divided world.
Those seemingly smart people are likely all smart. But they have no idea how to take their skills from one area and apply them to another. So they fall for really stupid BS outside their area of specialization.
Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#129And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.
I think it’s a symptom of how bad the democrats are. They can’t create a compelling message that people really care about. “I am a little better” just doesn’t cut it anymore
Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO
#130> UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy. Ummm...what? This is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to leave this country.
> This is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to leave this country. So go, if you're not going to fight it.
Every bit of resistance counts. If you feel the lat-lon-alt suit your tastes, stick around, speak your mind, and don't let the nationalists tell you to get out. :)