Read on Twitter
As part of his victory lap tweets, @SecPompeo is emphasising the Trump administration's heroic struggles against @UN agencies, including @WHO, @UNESCO and @UNWRA.
A short thread on why I think this is mainly nonsense
[1/8] https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1348660946487676929
A short thread on why I think this is mainly nonsense
[1/8] https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1348660946487676929
Throughout his time @StateDept, @SecPompeo has tended to blow the evils of @UN agencies out of all proportion, as in his speech to @gmfus in Brussels in 2018. [2/8] https://mobile.twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1347913549839003653
As I noted @WPReview after @SecPompeo's @gmfus speech, he was "tilting at a rapacious multilateral system that does not exist", overstating the costs and bureaucracy of @UN, as well as IOs' capacity to bind the U.S. through multilateral deals. [3/8] https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/26968/trump-and-pompeo-take-aim-at-a-multilateralism-that-doesn-t-exist
And while @SecPompeo claims that the Trump administration put #AmericaFirst by quitting @UN agencies like @UNESCO and bargains like the #Paris climate deal, it is striking that virtually all other states refused to play along. [4/8] https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/29186/trump-failed-to-kill-multilateralism-and-might-ve-even-made-it-stronger
In the meantime, #China has gained a lot of clout @UN, which is partly a matter of geopolitical gravity, but also a side-effect of the Trump administration's poor management of multilateral affairs. [5/8] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/24/china-trump-united-nations-220529
While @SecPompeo may boast of great victories over such mighty rivals as @UNRWA, the loss of U.S. credibility @UN was very clear in last year's fiasco over the #Iran snapback in the #UNSC. [6/8] https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iran/218-iran-us-brings-maximum-pressure-un
In the meantime, @SecPompeo takes credit for shutting down "obsolete" @UNPeacekeeping missions like those in, er, Liberia and Haiti that were well on their way to closing anyway when Trump took office. [7/8] https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1348638293563465732
So @SecPompeo and Trump's's hit list @UN involved (1) alienating allies; (2) failing to achieve its goals on Iran; (3) creating political space for China; (4) taking credit for stuff @UN was doing anyway; and (5) leaving Biden a lot of cleaning up to do https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/repairing-damage-us-diplomacy-un-security-council
https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/repairing-damage-us-diplomacy-un-security-council
