The U.N.’s Apologist for Dictators

Wall Street Journal Opinion Page ^ | June 13, 2022 | Mary Anastasia O'Grady

[Wuli]

Humanitarians were up in arms last month when Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, came away from a China tour spouting Beijing propaganda.

For those who fight for liberty in Cuba, the high commissioner’s performance was no surprise. During the Cold War she was on the side of the Soviets, and she’s a lifelong admirer of the Cuban revolution. Let’s face it: Human rights are not her thing.

According to Axios, the 70-year-old Ms. Bachelet “used Chinese government talking points to frame her remarks” on the situation in Xinjiang, where the regime has detained some one million Uyghurs and other minorities. Ms. Bachelet described China’s policies “as a form of ‘counter terrorism’ intended to combat ‘violent acts of extremism.’ She also referred to mass detention facilities as ‘vocational and educational training centers,’ the government’s euphemism for the camps,” Axios reported.

China seized on Ms. Bachelet’s words to its own advantage, with the consul general in Kolkata tweeting that Beijing was “not only vindicated, but justified” after the U.N. visit.

[snip]

It wouldn’t be the first time Ms. Bachelet sided with totalitarians. The Chilean socialist, who chose to live in East Germany from 1975-79 and has described it as a “beautiful” experience, is a devoted disciple of the late Fidel Castro. In 2009 she made a pilgrimage to Cuba to sit at the feet of the aging tyrant. In 2016 when he died, she tweeted that he had been “a leader for dignity and social justice in Cuba and Latin America.”

[snip, snip, snip]

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the high commissioner’s sympathies lie with the oppressors, whether in Cuba or in China. If the U.N. seeks credibility, Michelle Bachelet needs to go.

[Little Ray]

I know it’s trite, but “US out the UN. UN out of the US.”

Send the UN to someplace like Haiti or Zimbabwe.

[Wuli]

I am 100% of the same sentiments about the U.N.

Having been designed by Leftists to start with it was hard to keep the U.N. sane, which would have required membership limited to multiparty democracies alone. Once the dictators were allowed to be members, the rest of the downhill history of the U.N. was inevitable. If we could have made that limitation to start with, there would have no removing Taiwan and letting the CCP in.

[butlerweave]

UN = Welfare for Failed Politicians

[Little Ray]

That was never possible. As one of the Great Powers that won WW2, the USSR was going to get a seat on the Security Council. If the USSR could be a member, then anybody could...

[Surrounded_too]

Remove all weaponized protection from the diplomats and let the locals have their

way. Saves a lot of cop expense. It might be more like home to a lot of them.

[DoughtyOne]

I used to post this a lot, but then it dawned on me what would happen
if we did just desert the organization. Our veto would be lost and
China/Russia would rule the day with all manner of subversion.

We need to find a way to kill it, then end participation for everyone.