The US “Brexit”: UNexit

Should the US exit the UN?

There have been proposals and demands for the United States (US) to leave the United Nations (UN) ever since it was created in 1945.

But US membership and funding of this international “peacekeeping” organization continues.

Funding?  What funding? The US pays the UN about $3.3 billion annually, about 22% of the total UN budget.  Much of this is to promote UN policies and programs contrary to US interests.

https://www.politifact.com/global-news/statements/2017/feb/01/rob-portman/us-contribution-un-22-percent/

But but but…there are benefits to the US remaining a member.  There have been no new world wars since 1945.  We are on the UN Security Council.  We can veto any proposal or mandate that we don’t agree with.  Our membership reinforces our status among the worlds most powerful nations.  The UN sends peacekeeping forces around the world.  Who knows how many holocausts and wars the UN has prevented?

Who knows, indeed.  How many skirmishes and local wars has the UN perpetuated?  How much UN money goes to illicit tribes and armies fighting against freedom? And of the areas where the UN has “peacekeeping” forces funded significantly by the US, are they in the interests of the US?  Not many know that, either. 

In other words, is the value of US membership in the UN similar to the value of Britain’s former membership in the European Union (EU)?  Asked another way, should the US question if its national interests are best served by remaining in the UN as Britain questioned whether its national interests were best served by remaining in the European Union?  They were not.  So Britain got out.

Sure, there are differences.  Britain’s laws and trade were subsumed by EU laws and trade agreements whereas the US still maintains much greater autonomy as a UN member.  All this means is that Britain’s membership in the EU mandated loss of autonomy and influence while the US membership in the UN results in a voluntary loss of autonomy and influence.

Here is why this is the case: 

How many of the members of the UN share US interests?  How many share similar forms of governance, beliefs, cultures, and values?  The UN has 93 member states.  Among these, fewer than a dozen share US values.  The rest are either majority Islamic nations, communist nations, socialist, or nations teetering between socialism and anarchy.

There are 45 Muslim majority member nations.  And by “majority”, it isn’t 51% or even 80%.  A “majority” Islamic nation is typically high 90+% Muslim.  Add to that the dozens of Muslim special interest groups with representatives running up and down halls of the UN lobbying for Islamic interests.  Included among these special interest groups are:

• Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC, 57 UN Member States)
• Islamic Development Bank (IDB, 57 UN Member States)
• Arab League (formerly League of Arab States, 22 UN Member States)
• Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD, 29 UN Member States)
• Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, or more commonly, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, 6 UN Member States)
• East African Community (EAC, 6 UN Member States)
• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS, 15 UN Member States)
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, 9 UN Member States and 1 affiliated member)

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the primary Islamic “representative” at the UN, alone is comprised of 57 Islamic nations:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Cote D'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

https://www.quora.com/How-are-Islamic-countries-represented-in-the-UN

And then there are the communist nations including Russia, Cuba, Vietnam, and China.  Add to this the dozen or more hard core socialist nations like Venezuela, most European member nations, and half of the South American member nations and we suddenly realize that over 75 nations of the 93 members of the UN have national interests diametrically opposed to those of the US.

Even though the US has veto power, we don’t and can’t influence most of the policies and programs, not to mention the actions, of the UN.  Who has the most overall, day to day, influence in the UN?  Islamic, communist, and socialist nations.  And between these three, Islamic nations carry the most influence and pay the smallest share of expense.

So, is the US getting a worthwhile return on investment?  Where else could that annual $3.3 billion be spent?  Yet, even outside this UN expense, we are still the world’s policeman at a cost of $100’s of billions beyond that.  And if we were not in the UN, we would still be the world’s policeman if that is the path we wish to continue to follow.  How many of our current foreign military installations, airfields, and special forces interventions formally sanctioned by the UN?  Any?

Is our continuing membership and substantial monetary funding of the UN giving unjustified credibility, power, and influence to that body contrary to the interests of the United States?

Should there be a UNexit by the US, using very similar rationale of Britain’s Brexit? 

You be the judge.