“Good, let’s start the exit with the Philippines. The UN has far outlived a useful purpose, indeed, it never had one.”
It’s refreshing to hear coming this from a Filipino president, because when I lived over there, I was dismayed at how the people there hold the UN in such high regard. They have “National UN Day” at their schools and do other kinds of celebrations. This would be a big departure for a country like the Philippines, and perhaps the beginning of the demise of that useless organization.
The UN is important there because old Carlos Romulo, President Quezons PR guy and great international celebrity of the 1940’s was a big backer and early organizer of the UN and was an early UN secretary-general.
He participated in some of the great events of those days, among them he got the Phil delegation to arrange for a positive vote for Israel in 1948.
CPR was also the go-to guy in organizing votes favorable to the US among the ‘third world” of the day, and was a player in the Cold War PR struggle.
So its a big deal for the sake of one small man, but these are good reasons. The country has been proud of this.
In a historical perspective the Philippines turning its back on the UN is big.