The zero to 60 beginning of the Trump administration defies logic to many Washington veterans. So many issues addressed in just eight short days. Trump has done more in those eight days than Obama did in eight years it seems.
One issue that didn’t take the abrasive and determined leader long to review was America’s role in the United Nations. The U.S. is essentially reviewing what and why we are involved so heavily in both money and manpower in a world organization that has a majority of members that do not like us.
This week Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina, a non-Trump supporter in her state’s primary last year, was sworn in as the new ambassador for the U.S.
Even before she stepped into her new role, the new administration was preparing executive orders to drastically reduce the U.S. role in the United Nations and other international organizations, according to The New York Times on Wednesday.
Leaked reports from the Times indicate the order will begin de-funding of organizations that give full membership to the Palestinian Authority or Palestine Liberation Organization. A far cry from the treatment the Obama administration gave to Israel, that organization’s sworn enemy. Any question about Trump’s support for Israel was erased the first day of his term in a one hour conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The order will also defund support of programs that fund abortion or any activity circumventing sanctions against Iran or North Korea. That immediately raised the ire of the Iranians who are cognizant of what a Trump administration’s policies will be toward the terrorist state compared to what they would have been under a President Hillary Cllinton.
The draft order that would have never been possible before the stunning victory of Trump also calls for terminating funding for any organization “controlled or substantially influenced by any state that sponsors terrorism.” or conducts persecutions or violates human rights, the Times reported.
Donald Trump was enraged about the UN’s criticism of Israeli settlements last month and what he perceived as an outrageous abstention vote by the Obama administration that was viewed by him as a direct slap at our closest ally in the Middle East. Thirty-five days later now as president, the Trump administration will call for a review of all treaties with multiple countries.
That will in turn provide a determination of which ones to exit.
It should be noted that presently the United States provides about a quarter of all funding to UN peacekeeping operations in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia. Like a provider of a household who has been ignored and used for years, suddenly the provider has awakened and taken a second look at what the choices are.
