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The United States withdraws from UNESCO

state.gov

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Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#441

Post by rafram »

cooper_ganglia wrote: post #387
pkilgore wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Sure, it was a Democrat president enforcing laws passed by a Democrat-controlled House and Senate in 1990 and 1994, under at least one Democrat president. There are no real "sides" when it comes to the U.S. and Israel. Every party bends the knee and kisses the wall. It’s one big club, and we’re not in it.

> It’s one big club, and we’re not in it.

I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply here, but like it or not, most Americans do support Israel.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#442

Post by landl0rd »

runako wrote: post #356
pacoWebConsult wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

- nobody was endorsing the OBBBA or saying that it’s good.

- some spending is objectively more necessary than other spending. Funding UNESCO is not that important. I detailed why we shouldn’t do so even were we running a $1T budget in another comment.

- UNESCO is not responsible for “defus[ing] conflict without war.” The vast majority of the UN is not.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#443

Post by monero-xmr »

Sharlin wrote: post #256
monero-xmr wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pursue material wealth because it provides for my family, my lifestyle, and allows me to support causes I like. But even if I was poor I would be content because family and friends are truly what matter.

Surprisingly many people who claim to care about "family" don’t seem to have any qualms about leaving their children and grandchildren a considerably worse world.

From my perspective the world is getting better every single day. I wouldn’t want to live in the past

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#444

Post by [deleted] »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #437
dijit wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Every time I search for independent verification I am told it’s too hard to come up with anything conclusive.

What makes it too hard? Is there something stopping researchers and reporters from visiting and freely working in any areas of Palestine?

[deleted]

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#445

Post by DSingularity »

pbiggar wrote: post #393

> UNESCO’s decision to admit the “State of Palestine” as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization. America First continues to be Israel First.

Makes you wonder what was in that dual-citizens (Israel and America) file that made the entire administration flip the script all of a sudden.

Talking about Ep stein.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#446

Post by SadTrombone »

techright75 wrote: post #382
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.

[flagged]

A "mess" of its own creation, considering Netanyahu propped up Hamas to sabotage the Fatah government.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#447

Post by pphysch »

dijit wrote: post #360
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 pull…

> Is it possible that the pulling out of UNESCO is further in-line with Trumps “we want to focus on America” fluff

That would be great (?), except the stated reason for pulling out was "anti-Israel bias". It's about kowtowing to a foreign terror regime, not standing up for America.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#448

Post by eapressoandcats »

ngruhn wrote: post #414
Workaccount2 wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

I’m not sure there is a government that can surrender at this point. Israel may very well have taken out any “leadership” that they view as being able to legitimately speak for a Palestinian state, if they ever thought there was one.

There has always been a question of what Israel’s strategic goal is here because it doesn’t make any sense. An at least rational answer would be “regime change”, but no evidence has come up to indicate this is the plan.

Since Israel isn’t attempting to stand up a legitimate Palestinian government, all that’s left is permanent occupation and/or genocide.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#449

Post by landl0rd »

Angostura wrote: post #225
glitchc wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The online space (Reddit, HN, others) is so deeply embedded with groupthink that people have lost the ability to see other points of view or debate topics of interest. To me it's very clear why the government is leaving UNESCO (and over time the UN at large). The UN is dysfunctional and does not work. It used to be a source of soft power for the States, but hasn't been so for the better part of this century. Meanwhil…

You say “the UN doesn’t work” apparently because “working” means it being a source of soft power for the US. It had several remits, but its most important is probably the one to prevent a world war. It’s designed specifically as a talking shop to help countries find other ways of resolving disputes than kill people - and promote international understanding . It’s far from perfect, but in general it does a pretty good…

American dollars shouldn’t go to things that aren’t sources of soft or hard power for us, and they should be clawed back from things that are sources of soft power for china.
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