Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist

Trudeau Gets a Pass From the UN on his Trucker Protest Crackdown

In December of 2020, Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary General, was asked about a farmers' protest in India. Thousands of demonstrators were protesting at the borders of Delhi against three farm laws they regarded as anti-farmer. The protesting farmers were allegedly met with “repressive measures” by the government. When it comes to how governments should handle peaceful protests, the United Nations bureaucracy from the very top has a double standard. So does Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who lectures other countries about how they should handle peaceful protests but does precisely the opposite himself.

Cold War Era Clashes at the UN Security Council Over Ukraine

It seems that we are back in the height of the Cold War era with escalating tensions over Russia's designs on Ukraine. The United Nations Security Council became the global public arena in which sharp rhetorical barbs were exchanged, particularly between the United States and Russia. Russia's massing of troops and sophisticated weaponry along its border with Ukraine and in neighboring Belarus precipitated the current crisis. The United States and its Western allies in turn have threatened serious economic consequences if Russia invades Ukraine and have been supplying Ukraine with advanced weapons to repel an attack. NATO member troops are also being deployed to the region.

UN Secretary General Guterres Discusses His Most Urgent Concerns for 2022

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres held a news conference on January 21st in which he focused on what he considers to be the gravest dangers facing the world in 2022. The news conference followed his somber speech to the UN General Assembly describing in more detail these dangers and his ideas on how to address them. “I see a 5-alarm global fire,” Secretary General Guterres told reporters. “Each of the alarms is feeding off the others. They are accelerants to an inferno.”

The Taliban's Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card Courtesy of the Biden Administration and UN

The Biden administration has just handed the Taliban terrorists now running Afghanistan an end-of-year gift. Lots and lots of money will be coming their way. President Biden’s Treasury Department said on December 22nd that it was issuing new “general licenses” allowing financial transactions by the U.S. government, international entities, and non-governmental organizations involving the Taliban and members of the terrorist Haqqani network, subject to certain conditions. The money can only be used for such permitted purposes as humanitarian aid, civil society development, and environmental and natural resource protection projects.

The UN Continues to Enable Palestinian Lies and False Victimhood

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a statement on November 29th commemorating the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” He blamed Israel for the Palestinians’ self-inflicted plight. Guterres fed into the Palestinian victimhood narrative, claiming that “[P]ersistent violations of the rights of Palestinians along with the expansion of settlements risk eroding the prospect of a two-State solution.” False.

The UN’s Latest Non-Productive Global Climate Conference

The United Nations' latest global conference on climate change known as COP 26 concluded this past weekend with little to show for it. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed his disappointment with the outcome of COP 26, although he indicated that something was better than nothing. “The approved texts are a compromise,” Guterres said. “They reflect the interests, the conditions, the contradictions and the state of political will in the world today. They take important steps, but unfortunately the collective political will was not enough to overcome some deep contradictions.

Developing Countries Demand No-Strings Handouts From UN Green Climate Fund

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) commences on October 31st in Glasgow, Scotland. This summit meeting of world leaders is a follow-up to the 2015 conference in Paris, which resulted in the one-sided Paris Climate Agreement that China has gamed. “We’re going to be there with bells on,” U.S. President Joe Biden said during his September White House meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will be hosting the Glasgow meeting. As of the writing of this article, it does not appear that China’s President Xi Jinping will be attending in person, with or without bells on.

UN Secretary General Office Punts on Rising China-Taiwan Tensions

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed concern last month about a possible “Cold War” breaking out between China and the United States unless they repair their “completely dysfunctional” relationship. But the Secretary General has avoided calling out the Chinese regime for its provocative military flights near southwestern Taiwan – 56 in just one day earlier this month - that are needlessly inflaming tensions in the region and are causing increased concerns in the United States over China's intentions.

UN Refugee Chief Challenges U.S. Sovereignty Over its Borders

The United Nations is once again putting its nose where it doesn’t belong. It continues to weaponize so-called “international law” and “international norms” to challenge national sovereignty. The most recent example is a joint statement issued on September 30th by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) regarding the treatment of the huge waves of Haitian immigrants entering countries illegally, especially the United States.

President Biden Falls Short in his Debut Address to the UN General Assembly

President Joe Biden made his presidential debut September 21st on the United Nations General Assembly’s world stage. He called for global unity in the face of multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, technological threats, terrorism, regional conflicts, and aggressive expansionism by authoritarian regimes.

UN Secretary General Delivers His New “Common Agenda”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres introduced his “Common Agenda” plan to the General Assembly and the media on September 10th to address what he called “a pivotal moment” for humanity. Guterres painted a picture of a world facing a perfect storm of simultaneous crises, including the pandemic, climate change, nuclear weapons proliferation, lethal autonomous weapons, cyberwarfare, rising inequality, and discrimination and violence against women and girls.

UN Security Council Holds Useless Meeting on Afghanistan

Back in July, President Joe Biden claimed that “the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.” Wrong! The Taliban have overrun everything, and they now own Afghanistan.

UN Ignores Israeli Demand for Condemnation of Hezbollah Rocket Attacks

The Islamist terrorist group Hezbollah is running Lebanon on behalf of its patron, the Iranian regime. The Deputy Attorney General of the puppet Lebanese Government released four Hezbollah terrorists who were responsible for recently shooting rockets into Israel. On August 6th, Hezbollah had fired from within civilian areas a barrage of 19 rockets into northern Israel. This attack came only two days after the terrorist organization had fired 3 rockets at Israel.

UN Security Council Invites Pro-Palestinian Left-Wing NGO From Israel to Speak

At the United Nations Security Council’s quarterly open debate on the Middle East, which focuses on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a radical Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) known as Ir Amim was given a global platform on July 28th to spew its pro-Palestinian propaganda. Yudith Oppenheimer, Executive Director of Ir Amim, blamed Israel for the latest war between Hamas/Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists and Israel that broke out in May of this year.

UN Attacks Western Democracies for So-Called “Systemic Racism”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights just issued a report that focused on the alleged failure of the United States, Canada, and other Western democracies to adequately address and correct so-called “systematic racism” against Africans and people of African descent. The UN report, commissioned by the dysfunctional UN Human Rights Council, praised the Marxist Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. And it parroted the Critical Race Theory’s attempt to tie every adverse condition and experience that blacks claim to suffer today in the U.S., Canada and other Western democracies to “systemic racism” rooted in the continuing legacy of slavery and colonialism.

Iran’s Next Butcher President

The Biden administration is moving full steam ahead to negotiate a return to the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), come hell or high water. And Iranians will continue to be living in hell after the phony “election” of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran’s new president. Raisi is a hard-line cleric and protégé of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and he has the blood of thousands of Iranian civilians on his hands. Ebrahim ‘The Butcher’ Raisi will replace the current president, Hassan Rouhani, this August.

Israel Scores a Very Rare Victory at the UN

There is an old expression in journalism that “when a man bites a dog that is news.” When it comes to reporting on the United Nations’ treatment of Israel, the UN had one of its rare “man bites a dog” moments on June 7th when Israel was elected for first time to serve as a member of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). More than two-thirds of the 193 UN member states showed their support for Israel, which will now have the ability to vote, offer proposals for discussion, start initiatives and more on one of the UN’s main bodies. Israel’s 3-year term commences in 2022. Iran’s 3-year term fortuitously expires at the end of 2021.

UN Security Council Refuses to Call Out Terrorist Rocket Attacks Aimed at Civilians

After several failed attempts, the United Nations Security Council finally issued an official statement on Saturday regarding this month’s military conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza. The statement called for the parties to continue observing the ceasefire that took effect on May 21st. Here is the text of the statement in its entirely, which is an exercise in the UN’s usual display of immoral equivalency:

UN Security Council Holds Useless “Emergency” Meeting on Israel and Gaza Violence

Following two inconclusive closed meetings of the United Nations Security Council last week to discuss the violence spinning out of control in Israel and Gaza, the Security Council held an open virtual meeting on Sunday that lasted nearly three hours. Since China is the president of the Security Council for the month of May, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi presided over the meeting. Several other foreign ministers, including from Jordan and Egypt, also participated remotely.

Biden Administration Supports Globalist Version of Multilateralism at the UN

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivered virtual remarks on May 7th at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on Multilateralism. The meeting was chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on behalf of China, which is this month’s president of the Security Council. Blinken spewed forth the same old same old Biden administration rhetoric about the critical importance of an international “rules-based order” and the administration’s commitment to multilateralism.