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23 Sep 2018, 2:04 am
Quote:
In medieval English folklore, the lord of misrule was an anarchic, half-crazed clown who presided over an annual Feast of Fools. This week the UN security council, that most august and sober of international bodies, looks set to revive the tradition with its own riotous diplomatic banquet. In the chair and wielding the gavel for the first time: none other than Donald Trump, 45th US president, former reality TV host, and modern-day lord of misrule...
Iran will again top the agenda – because the country whose turn it is to chair the council, in this case the US, chooses what it debates. Trump is expected to try to browbeat members into backing swingeing new US sanctions on Tehran.
And that’s when the trouble could start. All the other permanent members of the council – China, Russia, the UK and France – have deplored Trump’s decision to withdraw from the UN-endorsed, multilateral nuclear pact with Iran. The EU and others are working to minimise the impact of sanctions. They all believe it is better to engage with Iran rather than ostracise it, and despite denials, they all suspect Trump’s ultimate aim is regime change. US officials, fearing a major embarrassment, have already broadened the council’s agenda to encompass nuclear proliferation in general. But if Trump resorts to the disrespectful language, blatant untruths and bullying that have come to characterise his presidency, he may provoke a powerful backlash...
Trump’s willingness to exploit the UN platform for his own ends, while simultaneously denigrating and undermining it, contrasts unhappily with the historical US approach to an organisation Franklin Roosevelt was instrumental in creating in 1945. Under Trump, the US has withdrawn from the UN’s human rights council and Unesco, its education and cultural agency; cut funding for peacekeeping operations, the UN population fund and Palestinian relief agency; and boycotted the UN’s Paris climate change accord, the Iran deal, and the global migration pact.
Earlier this month, John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, set out plans to destroy the UN-mandated International Criminal Court, the criminal justice system’s global flagship for prosecuting genocide and war crimes. Trump, meanwhile, continues his predecessors’ practice of failing to fully pay America’s UN dues. Although the US remains the biggest contributor, its budget arrears are estimated at $1.3bn.
Trump’s contemptuous treatment of the UN sets a demoralising example for less powerful countries that value it for the voice it gives them in world affairs. It is also exacerbating a negative trend among leaders of the great powers: a tendency to bypass an often deadlocked UN over the big geopolitical questions of the day (such as Iraq and Syria). The leaders of China, Russia and India will not be in New York this week. While Trump acts out and plays the fool, they will be busy taking responsibility for global leadership off America’s hands.
Iran will again top the agenda – because the country whose turn it is to chair the council, in this case the US, chooses what it debates. Trump is expected to try to browbeat members into backing swingeing new US sanctions on Tehran.
And that’s when the trouble could start. All the other permanent members of the council – China, Russia, the UK and France – have deplored Trump’s decision to withdraw from the UN-endorsed, multilateral nuclear pact with Iran. The EU and others are working to minimise the impact of sanctions. They all believe it is better to engage with Iran rather than ostracise it, and despite denials, they all suspect Trump’s ultimate aim is regime change. US officials, fearing a major embarrassment, have already broadened the council’s agenda to encompass nuclear proliferation in general. But if Trump resorts to the disrespectful language, blatant untruths and bullying that have come to characterise his presidency, he may provoke a powerful backlash...
Trump’s willingness to exploit the UN platform for his own ends, while simultaneously denigrating and undermining it, contrasts unhappily with the historical US approach to an organisation Franklin Roosevelt was instrumental in creating in 1945. Under Trump, the US has withdrawn from the UN’s human rights council and Unesco, its education and cultural agency; cut funding for peacekeeping operations, the UN population fund and Palestinian relief agency; and boycotted the UN’s Paris climate change accord, the Iran deal, and the global migration pact.
Earlier this month, John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, set out plans to destroy the UN-mandated International Criminal Court, the criminal justice system’s global flagship for prosecuting genocide and war crimes. Trump, meanwhile, continues his predecessors’ practice of failing to fully pay America’s UN dues. Although the US remains the biggest contributor, its budget arrears are estimated at $1.3bn.
Trump’s contemptuous treatment of the UN sets a demoralising example for less powerful countries that value it for the voice it gives them in world affairs. It is also exacerbating a negative trend among leaders of the great powers: a tendency to bypass an often deadlocked UN over the big geopolitical questions of the day (such as Iraq and Syria). The leaders of China, Russia and India will not be in New York this week. While Trump acts out and plays the fool, they will be busy taking responsibility for global leadership off America’s hands.
Lord of Misrule
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