The US envoy to the UN touted significant budget cuts and job reductions at the multilateral agency, framing them as efficiency gains. However, this was met with criticism regarding the UN's perceived failures in resolving the Ukraine conflict, stemming the Iran war, and countering China's influence. While defending US President Trump's approach to diplomacy, US officials emphasized a selective approach to UN agency support, prioritizing those deemed effective and deeming others a 'lost cause'. Democrats on a Senate committee expressed support for streamlining UN waste but opposed the Trump administration's 'America alone' foreign policy, with one senator highlighting the negative impact of unilateral tariffs on allies.
took a victory lap in Senate testimony on Wednesday over the US-inspired cuts and efficiency drive at the multilateral agency, even as they slammed its inability to end the conflict in Ukraine, stem the Iran war started by the US and Israel or curb China’s growing clout.
, US ambassador to the UN, touted the US$570 million in UN budget cuts, 3,000 fewer jobs and the US decision to pull out of several UN agencies, even as he defended US President “So there is a mean tweet with a regime that’s genocidal, chants death to America,” Waltz told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “You’re going to talk about some tough language, and the result of it was diplomacy. The result of it was the highest meeting in the history of theWashington would continue to support UN agencies such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the International Telecommunication Union, as well as other standard-setting bodies, while eschewing those it saw as a lost cause, such as the Human Rights Council. “The UN has to stop doing stupid things,” said Jeff Bartos, US ambassador to the UN for Management and Reform, who was spearheading much of the US-led cost-cutting and efficiency drive. “We’re not getting our money’s worth there.” Although Democrats on the committee expressed support for streamlining some of the UN’s cumulative waste and “bloat”, they used the opportunity to push back forcefully against the Trump administration’s version of diplomacy. “Many Americans would agree with ‘America first’. But most people in America would not agree with America alone,” said Senator Tim Kaine, representing Virginia.connected to a Nato ally. They look at a president willy-nilly imposing tariffs on allies, including allies with which we are in trade surplus, like Australia.”The Trump administration, they added, has failed to consult with allies, clearly explain its objectives in attacking Iran or even appeared to anticipate the closure of the“We were not briefed on an imminent threat,” said Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. “We were not presented with information in either a classified setting or an open setting that justified the idea that there was an imminent threat.”China also came under criticism for its long game at the UN, seeding the organisation with interns and junior officers over many years, allowing them to rise to power. Analysts, however, said this is a practice many nations follow. And China, as the second-largest UN contributor, is entitled to significantly more staff positions than it currently has, given its financial support under the system’s “desirable ranges” geographic policy.poses the greatest political threat to the United States over the long term. That threat is global, it is systematic, and it includes a sustained effort by the Communist Party to shape and in many cases dominate international organisations,” said Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas.But Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire, the senior Democrat on the committee, called out the Trump administration for joining China, “The United States is becoming increasingly isolated from our partners in multilateral forums,” she said. “Alliances multiply American power. But unfortunately, instead of working with Nato allies like“As a result, we are now operating without shared burden, political cover or international legitimacy.”. “What we heard consistently is that as the United States pulls back, China is stepping in more aggressively.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POSTOne killed after car swerves into group of people in Melbourne
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