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The United States withdraws from UNESCO

state.gov

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Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#421

Post by it_citizen »

paulvnickerson wrote: post #315
hersko wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, politics always drives clicks. That is not OPs point though.

Agreed. If I want to see doom and gloom announcements about the current administration I'll go read Huffington Post or NY Times, thank you very much.

It is not a opinion article about the current admin. It is the direct statement from the state department on a topic that doesn’t belong less here than many other general interest topics found on hacker news. A few post below, there is a petition against pesticides in France.

UNESCO stands for international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. That seems well within what HN can cover in my opinion.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#422

Post by zakum1 »

guywithahat wrote: post #121

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.

Corruption in the USA is pretty bad. People here just excuse it away easily.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#423

Post by vitalredundancy »

glitchc wrote: post #347
notahacker wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you really liken the recent US approach to international relations to a peloton? Seems rather more like the race leader stopping his bike, chucking it off a cliff whilst hurling insults at all the contestants a lap or two behind, including the teammates offering him an alternative bike Thoughtful, conservative isolationists don't mix up their questions about how important soft power is really with threats to an…

Throughout much of its history, the US has been conservative and isolationist. The post-WW2 era was an aberration, not the status quo. I see these actions as the US returning to its roots. Whether the US annexes Canada is up to the US and Canada. Other parties only get an opinion when either of those two decides to involve them. And the Tour de France is not a Peleton. You are being disingenuous.

> Throughout much of its history, the US has been conservative and isolationist

Even if this were true - and Commodore Perry, Manifest Destiny, and our zealous pursuit of trade among other skeletons of history fly in the face of this - why would we want to return to a status quo when we are so far removed from it now? The global landscape has changed, and we were the primary motivator of that change. After decades of assassinations of political leaders abroad and shock doctrine economic policies, we are to pack up our bloody toys and go home? The moral objections aside, this is a foolish and shortsighted policy that leaves only chaos. We will not preserve anything about our way of life, because it's been spliced with the genes of a globalized, post ww2 administrative world we created.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#424

Post by micromacrofoot »

3cats-in-a-coat wrote: post #133
micromacrofoot wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're probably smart, but also assholes. Being kind to others and being smart aren't mutually exclusive.

Being an asshole is one thing. But thinking you can be an asshole by proxy by becoming an asshole's victim, is something else entirely.

They're not assholes by proxy, they're also assholes. They were before, and they will continue to be after.

They're seeking maximum asshole alignment and some recognize that while supporting the primary asshole may be causing them pain, it's lesser than the pain of the people they've always wanted to hurt.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#425

Post by spiderice »

eapressoandcats wrote: post #405
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.

This was less true before Trump’s return. It’s frustrating that people said they wouldn’t support Biden/Harris over this and now instead we get essentially full-throated endorsement of genocide instead. Like there were always practical limits to how much the US could constrain Israel, especially due to its relative popularity until recently. A bunch of activists didn’t recognize that and tacitly endorsed letting Trum…

[flagged]

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#426

Post by ethbr1 »

tehjoker wrote: post #366
ethbr1 wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a bit incomplete to bring up Security Council vetoing without mentioning Russia (currently at war with a sovereign nation) and China (intent on war with a sovereign nation). The UNSC isn’t an arbitrator of good, but an alignment of hard UN outcomes with the first countries to have nukes (and therefore the ability to force the issue militarily if they disagreed with the UN).

> China (intent on war with a sovereign nation). This is not proven. Why would China want to wreck Taiwan? Official US, Taiwanese, and Mainland China policy is that there is one China. Taiwan is like Texas being a breakaway republic run by confederates in the USA, though the culture has evolved in a more progressive direction (more progressive than USA) since the original breakup. > It’s a bit incomplete to bring up…

> Why would China want to wreck Taiwan?

For the same reasons most wars have been fought: belief (primacy of CCP), resources (uncontested access to the Pacific), and the economy (don’t worry about that, ra ra flag).

> [Russia and Ukraine] not a genocide

One of the definitions of genocide is forced relocation of children and eradication of culture, both of which Russia is doing in the Ukrainian territories it occupies.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#427

Post by nobody9999 »

hersko wrote: post #288
Jtsummers wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Successful soft power requires you have a seat at the table. When you leave and stop participating, you reduce your soft power.

Sure, but if you are the only one holding up (funding) the table then the whole thing falls apart when you leave.

>Sure, but if you are the only one holding up (funding) the table then the whole thing falls apart when you leave.

Since the US accounts for ~13%[0] of UNESCO funding, you're making GP's point for them. the US is giving up its seat at the table and UNESCO retains 87% of its funding.

[0] https://core.unesco.org/en/sources-of-funding

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#428

Post by rtkwe »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #84
rtkwe wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are clearly pockets that want to but I'm not sure there's enough support in important areas to actually have a coup like that succeed. Kind of have to wait and see how things develop.

It's not a coup if you stay in power illegally, it's a self-coup. 2020 was a coup attempt because Trump gave up power and then tried to give it back. He's not going to make that same mistake again. He'll just attempt to stay in power via self-coup. Unlike coup's which are distinct events, self-coup's are usually shades of grey. They happen through democratic backsliding, which usually consists of a large number of sm…

You'd have to overthrow parts of the US government to keep power for a 3rd term I'd still call that a coup even if it's coming from inside the house. Coups rarely come from entirely external forces, the military basically always has a major role in deciding if a coup is successful even if it's just staying neutral and seeing where the chips fall.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#429

Post by dijit »

DSingularity wrote: post #397
dijit wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pull…

[flagged]

It’s really not my fight, I’m Swedish - not American.

You’ll always be disappointed if you continue with this mindset though, the world will not bend to you because of your moral outrage, the best you can hope for is to open peoples eyes with understanding - not by calling everyone inhumane, disgusting or laying expectations at their feet.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#430

Post by DSingularity »

Veen wrote: post #399
Maken wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say it very clearly: acknowledgeing Palestinians exist.

You can acknowledge Palestinians exist without giving the terrorist Palestinian state equal status with other members of the community of nations.

The Israeli state was literally founded by terrorists. The leaders of those terrorist organizations were the first leaders of Israeli prime ministers and secretaries of war and so on.
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