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© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.UNESCO suspends new programs after U.S. funding cut
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SuperLib
France voted for Palestinian entry. Why not ask them to make up the difference?
rys2sense
The US is such a baby cutting funding because of Israeli interest in Washington. Israel has been kick out of and suspended from UNESCO twice over violations. But of course the country building racial colonies called settlements into palestinain lands after bulldozing down any homes or farmlands that were in the way gets the full support of the US government because AIPAC openly lobbies the congress to do its bidding. Israel wonders why people fire rockets at them, gee probably its because of the ongoing brutal military occupation and ethnic cleansing sponsored by the Israeli state, just a guess.
Fadamor
The US is doing what they had to by law. Previous Presidents signed laws that basically said "If Palestine is admitted to the U.N., then the U.S. will no longer fund the U.N." A follow-on law stated a similar situation would happen if an entity that was not a recognized country was allowed to join the U.N. Both were targeted at the Palestines and were probably instigated by Israel. This showdown was bound to happen eventually as long as those laws existed. The U.N. decided they couldn't wait any longer and now are trying to make up the loss of the U.S. funds. I wonder if the U.N. will move their headquarters out of New York now?
wolfbiscuits
Meanwhile, back in reality...
The move is founded on U.S. laws dating from the 1990s that mandate that Washington avoid financing any UN agency that admits Palestine as a member state before a negotiated peace settlement with Israel.
Once again...
" Second, by accepting the Palestinians as a member state, UNESCO undermined its legitimacy and organizational viability. Accepting "Palestine" represents a breach of the organization's charter. The charter stipulates that only states can be accepted as members.
Moreover, it represents a repudiation of the goals of UNESCO as laid out in its charter. Those goals involve among other things promoting cooperation in education and advancing the rule of law. As a recent report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) showed, PA textbooks remain imbued with Jew-hatred at all education levels.
By enabling this breach of the UNESCO charter, the Europeans made a mockery of UN rules and so weakened not just UNESCO but the UN system as a whole."
lostrune2
People can do whatever they want with their own money. If other countries want Palestine in, that's fine. Just put their money where their mouths are. It's easy to do stuff with other people's money; it's harder when you have to spend your own.
notasap
UNESCO is beyond stupid on this issue. They thought that it would be wise to play chicken with set US policy. There was no other outcome than what occured. Why did UNESCO put the good of the one before the good of the many?
notasap
The move by UNESCO to accept Palistine and then be shocked by the loss of US funding is akin to intentionally going negative in your bank account just to see if the bank would assess you an overdraft fee. Then getting shocked when indeed the bank assessed you an overdraft fee. It is beyond the pale how poorly UNESCO has acted. This failure is the very essence of bad international governance and seems counter to the ideas of what the UN is supposed to be about.