This has been quite a week for the United States at the United Nations. First, the U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution that basically sought to nullify the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Fourteen ‘yes’ votes and one ‘no’, being cast by the U.S. Like the cheese in the old nursery rhyme, the U.S. stands alone.
Then on December 21, the General Assembly voted on what was, in essence, the same resolution. But in the General Assembly, the U.S. has no veto power.
The outcome of this vote, however, wasn’t surprising: 128 nations voting in favor of justice, human rights and international law, nine voting against, and 35 abstaining. Canada is in the latter group, doing a precarious balancing act in trying not to displease Trump (Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may have now taken the role of the Yankee Poodle, which previously belonged to then British Prime Minister Tony Blair a decade ago), and also not alienating the heads of several Arab nations that could scuttle Canada’s quest to gain a seat on the Security Council. Unconditional support for Israel during the Stephen Harper years prevented Canada from gaining that coveted spot at that time.
But the lack of a veto didn’t mean that the mighty U.S. wouldn’t try everything in its power to prevent passage of the resolution. First, the embarrassing and incompetent U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, sent a letter to Assembly members, saying that…