Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The United States withdraws from UNESCO

state.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 989 posts

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#351

Post by smsm42 »

it_citizen wrote: post #242
paulvnickerson wrote: post #205

[flagged]

It is one of the most 10 upvoted topics on the main page. People seem to want to see it here and comment about it. Personally I am happy to see it discussed here. I have seen interesting comments tempering and contextualizing the headline that I appreciate. There are still a vast majority of articles on other topics. Those ones are easy to ignore if they bother someone.

People also like to eat McDonalds and drink hyper-sugary soda, that doesn't mean those are good for you and should be served at every venue (yes, I know Trump likes McDonalds, please don't bring it up here if you can). There should be places where people at least try to do better. Usually HN tries to be that place. Unfortunately, in topics like this one it is not raising up to the mission. A long discussion of "why people that disagree with me are so stupid and evil" is not why I come to HN. There's enough places where you can get that and then some.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#352

Post by tolerance »

pkilgore wrote: post #323
cooper_ganglia wrote: post #239

Obama withdrew all US funds from UNESCO in 2011 as well, due to Palestine being admitted in. This isn't anything particularly noteworthy, just more capitulating to Israel, which is annoying.

Obama didn't do anything (other than follow the law at the time): https://web.archive.org/web/20141224180231/https://foreignpo...

So would it be fair to say that this is just a reiteration of a 30+ year-long trend.

Edit: 40+ year-long trend?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44648359

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000012506323&seq=...

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#353

Post by wredcoll »

orblivion wrote: post #269
fuzzylightbulb wrote: post #9

This 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.

[flagged]

What is it with people and their blind faith in this kind of dogma?

If you think something is "cruft", then name it.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#354

Post by glitchc »

pinewurst wrote: post #305
glitchc wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Leaving a power vacuum, like dismantling the UN, will just open the door for places like China to step in. You think that country has any amount of give a crap about humanity as a whole? Not even a little, I would argue. If China wants to foot the bill, let them. As I pointed out, the US hasn't been getting anything in return for the last 25 years of footing the bill, basically since 9/11. China cares about its peo…

China especially cares about its Uyghur people, providing them with paternal supervision, excellent vocational camps, and even providing guests to live with families.

That's called whataboutism. China's internal problems are for China to solve. If you have an opinion, why not go over and advise them on what to do?

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#355

Post by hackyhacky »

pkilgore wrote: post #323
cooper_ganglia wrote: post #239

Obama withdrew all US funds from UNESCO in 2011 as well, due to Palestine being admitted in. This isn't anything particularly noteworthy, just more capitulating to Israel, which is annoying.

Obama didn't do anything (other than follow the law at the time): https://web.archive.org/web/20141224180231/https://foreignpo...

The is a good point: the decision was made by Congress, not by Obama. Although I disagree with that decision, that is the correct way to make it. Now, Trump is withdrawing unilaterally, without Congressional approval.

Remember when presidents followed the law?

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#356

Post by runako »

pacoWebConsult wrote: post #336
runako wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when funds are scarce The US budget is ~$7T annually. There is $50B to spend deporting critical parts of our workforce. There is $1T in defense spending to ensure that we spend more than the next 9(!) militaries combined*. Et cetera. The US spends ~$18B supporting UN programs. This is ~0.003% of the federal budget. The point here is funds are not scarce, and in any case to the extent that one is concerned about spe…

The US ran a $1.8T deficit in 2024. That's objectively scarce funds. Even if the UN doesn't drive a significant portion of the spending, they do not serve the people that are going into debt to fund it.

The US just signed a new law that will expand the deficit further. (I'll leave as an exercise to determine whether the increase from the law is > or A government that does not collect sufficient taxes to fund its priorities can somehow always claim that funds are scarce. But that's a) a choice and b) can be rectified any time by shifting priorities (see: military budget, for ex.) or collecting more revenue.

It's fine to say "I don't care that there is a body where nations can defuse conflict without war," but it's disingenuous to pretend there simply is not money for it.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#357

Post by BirAdam »

jacknews wrote: post #246

For sure this guy is going to, already is, ruining the peace and prosperity the world has enjoyed since WW2. I suspect he will make a major war, and invoke military rule or whatever, before the next election, in order to continue in power.

Peace and prosperity since WWII?

I suppose that Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Myanmar, Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan/India/China, Georgia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, and so on just never happened?

Not doubting that war is on the horizon, but the USA is addicted to war, and many other nations had their own issues independently of the USA.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#358

Post by CGMthrowaway »

criddell wrote: post #3

What are UNESCO's "divisive cultural and social causes"?

If I had to guess (putting on a hat I don't usually wear):

Recognition of Palestine as a member state; resolutions referring to certain contested sites (e.g., Jerusalem's Old City, Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif) primarily using their Arabic names; promotion of gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as support for comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programs; emphasis on climate change action, including its designation of World Heritage Sites at risk due to global warming; alignment with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (specifically SDGs related to gender, education, and environmental goals); and advocacy for internet governance initiatives

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#359

Post by offtotheraces »

kennywinker wrote: post #251

The US is complicit in the intentional starvation of gaza’s people by israel. At least 15 people have starved to death in the last 24 hours, including an infant. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-gaza-war-hunger-childre... Ragequitting UNESCO over their recognition of palestine is a small part of the project of supporting the ethnic cleansing of gaza and the west bank.

…says the Hamas-run health ministry.

Nothing to see here, no conflicts of interest.

Let’s trust the people who kidnapped babies and raped and pillaged their way across southern israel.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#360

Post by dijit »

kennywinker wrote: post #251

The US is complicit in the intentional starvation of gaza’s people by israel. At least 15 people have starved to death in the last 24 hours, including an infant. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israel-gaza-war-hunger-childre... Ragequitting UNESCO over their recognition of palestine is a small part of the project of supporting the ethnic cleansing of gaza and the west bank.

Sweden and the US are “kinda cozy” (I would say at least, from an inside perspective on how Sweden seems to lean in to US interests including copyright enforcements and so forth).

However Sweden was the first country to recognise Palestine.

Is it possible that the pulling out of UNESCO is further in-line with Trumps “we want to focus on America” fluff, similar to the threats of pulling out of NATO and the actual pulling out of the Paris Accords.

I’m aware that there has still been some US interference in the middle-east, I’m just not sure I’m drawing the same connections as you.

Also, and I mean this in the best way I can: I don’t really trust anything coming out of Gaza’s health ministry. That doesn’t mean I side with Israel as they are also distorting facts very often.

Post reply on HN