we should have withdrawn and kicked them out years ago- we provide most of the funding and it is run by dictators and despots Senator Mike Lee Introduces Legislation to Withdraw US From United Nations
Should we have withdrawn first, then kicked them out? Or maybe kicked them out and then withdrawn? Also, who's them?
From the DOD website. “For 75 years, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been a force for peace that stared down the Soviet Union, prevented a larger war in the Balkans, joined in the fight against international terrorism and even now stands ready to defend all NATO territory from Russian aggression.” U.S. Officials Agree NATO's Worth is Unquestionable > U.S. Department of Defense > Defense Department News. Apparently you agree with Trump that we should instead align ourselves with communist and dictatorial countries.
Would you bet your mortgage or retirement account on Trump honoring article 5 if a NATO member is attacked? They can't count on us any more. Our word and our treaty obligations don't mean squat. Well done gop. All Trump has to do if an attack happens is NOTHING. Who is going to force his hand? He will fire anyone who opposes him on this. Some of the feckless, spineless gop stooges in congress may bark, but at the end of the day they won't do a damn thing about it. High fives in the Kremlin. Btw the one time article 5 was invoked was when nato came to our aid after 9/11.
Of course he wouldn’t. Trump has shown Putin that he’s a weak surrender monkey with the manliness of a cuckolded husband forced to wear high heels and a garter. Trump makes Neville Chamberlain look like a blood thirsty war monger by comparison. The fact that someone as weak as Trump has that much control over other republicans doesn’t say much for those republicans.
If you can piss off everyone in a month, were they ever really your friends and family? Perhaps all these leaders and people that are our friends and allies should be more forward looking than 4 years.
I think they are being forward looking, because the 'best' case is that US will flip flop on its commitments every 4-8 years because of its chaotic and unpredictable politics. The worse case is they will be entirely consistent in abandoning historical alliances when convenient or that dont have monetary/transactional value in the eyes of American billionaires (i.e. the people who control the American government). Anyways, the US abandoning the UN would be a good way for China or Europe to generate some easy PR victories as the guarantors of world order and peace as we continue to blow up all our arms of soft power.
Look at Trumps actions and behavior. He admires how China and Russia acts globally and is trying to copy them. Not sure why he supporters eat this shit up.
I miss the old Obama/Clinton days when we could count on a new thread every week or so complaining that the UN was taking our guns or going to levy sales tax in the US or make us stop eating meat. Now we have to settle for condoms in Gaza.
America is only important if it has influence. Having the UN in NYC and tied to funding is influence. $18B is small for that.
totally disagree the UN has ZERO authority over anything the US decides to do, yet we fund them almost exclusively
Looks like we pay around a quarter of the UN budget, and that is indeed high compared to other countries. (Looks like China is number 2 and pays about 15% and further down the line, Russia and Spain each pay about 2%, for examples). I doubt we do this solely out of the goodness of our hearts. Money is part of the sticks and carrots we use to influence other nations. We also have more assets scattered abroad than anybody - not the least of which is about 750 military bases.
Nature abhors a vacuum. We isolate and retreat, those who despise us will be overjoyed to fill the void we leave behind. Apparently many are taking our freedom and safety for granted. We do so at our peril.
I don't think we should pull out of the UN but our contribution to the UN budget is out of proportion to everyone else.
The willingness to abducate our ability to project any power in the world is truly beyond comprehension. Make me understand. How does neutering our position in the world make America great?
Essentially they hear the word "soft power" and think its for wusses. The only kind of power projection they seem to understand is domination and threats. They like their power "hard," like two day old shit.
That's obviously a very real and sad possibility. Even more sad is that it's the least depressing option.
