Thursday, December 21, 2017

Canada Abstains - Naturally


Another proud day for Canada at the UN General Assembly.

The majority of the world's nations shrugged off the Mango Mussolini's threats of retaliation to support a resolution to reject Trump's move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.


Despite the warning, 128 members voted in favour of the resolution in support of the long-standing international consensus that the status of Jerusalem – which is claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians as a capital – can only be settled as an agreed final issue in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Only nine states – including the United States and Israel voting against the resolution.

There were 35 abstentions, including Canada – which Palestinian officials had expected would support the US position. Ambassadors from several abstaining countries, including Mexico, used their time on the podium to criticise Trump’s unilateral move.

While support for the resolution was somewhat less than Palestinian officials had hoped, the meagre tally of just nine votes in support of the US and Israeli position was a serious diplomatic blow for Trump.

Trump's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, repeated the threat that those who defied the Great Bloat will pay.


"The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very right of exercising our right as a sovereign nation," she said.


6 comments:

rumleyfips said...

On Raw Story the word is that Canada changed from voting against the resolution to abstention to show disapproval of Trump's threats.

Anonymous said...

"… a serious diplomatic blow for Trump."

It doesn't hurt Donny among his base of deplorables. They eat this shit up, morning, noon, and night.

rww said...

Diplomatic blows don't count for Trump. To get his attention you would have to drop a bomb on Trump Tower.

The Mound of Sound said...


It's true enough but the Gullibillies don't constitute the diplomatic community that Trump continues to alienate. The risk in doing that is the loss of allies, particularly the least engaged, and their possible defection to the new ascendant hegemons. Asia is a fine example of this. VietNam counted on US support for it to stand up to China. The same goes for the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. There are signs of those states drifting toward China. Trump still behaves as if we were in the immediate post-Soviet era. That chapter is closed and the bluster that might have been forced on lesser nations in the unipolar world can now rebound.

Trump does not do well on the world stage. He's self-limited by a very parochial outlook and a dangerously simplistic lack of curiosity. This is apparent in the way he's gutted America's diplomatic corps. He cannot appreciate their critical function. That's hardly a good position to be in when you're the world's largest debtor nation being quietly muscled out of vital regions abroad such as the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Africa and now even South and Latin America. America still has all of its fleet carrier battle groups but it's someone else bankrolling the development of the emerging economies.

Overplaying your hand with pointless threats isn't very smart when someone else is winning the support of those you threaten.

Anonymous said...

I heard Canada's ambassador to the UN on CBC radio tonight blathering on about how Canada couldn't support the UNGA motion because "it was too one-sided." He must think we're all morans. The motion condemns the US, not the sides in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The US is the only country to move its embassy to Jerusalem. How could the motion possibly be anything but one-sided?!

Cap

Northern PoV said...

That is a 'western' perspective, Mound.

"Trump does not do well on the world stage."

based on my reading of the (English language) Asian media, and speaking with many Asians on a recent trip, tRump is seen very differently there, if noticed at all.
He is very much at home with his fellow despots and they with him.