Right, Arafat is diverting humnaitarian relief funds to assist terrorists. He’s also stealing some of those funds.
As you say, the UN is not about promoting terrorism; it is about working to world peace, health and prospertiy. So, what should we do about Arafat’s misuse of relief money? Should we ignore the problem? Should we attack those who refuse to ignore it?
Reuters answer seems to be, “Yes.”
I haven’t read all of the posts here so I’m not sure if I’m rehashing anything.
Asking the UN to stop the suicide bombings is a hell of a dirty thing to do 
The UN is in there helping the palestinians… And they’ve been critical with Israel and their hardline stance on the suicide bombings.
However what can the UN really do?
They can’t say that won’t help. They’d be failing their mandate and showing to the world how little political power they can excersize. They also can’t can’t actively take a side, either side. And they if Israel’s military can’t stop the suicide attacks whatever forces the UN can gather won’t help. Also, a lot of countries which are more or less neutral in the whole Israel-Palestine thing wouldn’t help the UN with troops or money.
Basically, they are asking an agency to help, who’s mandate says they should help but lack the ability to do so, and who also lacks the ability to say no.
I don’t see what so wrong with asking what the claims “the US tax payer still needn’t worry about his precious tax dollars,” and “this graph depicting the US debt to the UN vs. the total debt to the UN” have to do with each other.
The Ryan:
Very very simply
Each country is asked to pay a portion of the UN operating costs.
That is based off their economy. US = biggest economy = we foot most of the bill
We don’t like that and the senate usually pays only a small portion of that.
If we pay only part of it what we owe, we end up owing them money.
Yes, I know that. But what does that have to do with the claim “the US tax payer still needn’t worry about his precious tax dollars”?
Actually, that’s not quite correct. Every country apart from the US does pay a % based on their economy. The US also pays a % but that % is capped at a maximum. That maximum used to be 25% of the total UN budget but I think it’s now down to 22% after ‘negotiation’. In theory.
IIRC, Japan pays something like 18% of the UN budget (obviously uncapped) and Germany isn’t far behind. The EU countries together pay something like 35-40% of the total UN budget, again IIRC.
Thus, in terms of economy size, the US contributes less than any other nation although it’s the largest single contributor.
We debated this some while ago, it’s in the GD database somewhere.
Kimstu: Let us know exactly what specific actions you think UNRWA should take, or you think Israel thinks UNRWA should take, and then we can figure out if that constitutes a “reasonable request” or not.
december: *What should UNRWA do?
I’d say they would have an obligation to find out if large amounts of money were being misapplied.*
Okay. What specific actions are you suggesting that they should take to investigate that possibility? Please be as detailed as possible with reference to the particulars of the UNRWA programmatic budget that I gave you a link to above, and also bear in mind that UNRWA is not supposed to have any security or intelligence functions.
*If they determined that such was the case, they’d have to find some way of seeing that the money got used for relief aid for the people. They might have to bypass Arafat and give the money out in some other way. *
Okay. What specific actions are you suggesting they should take in order to deal with such an eventuality? Please be as detailed as possible with reference to the particulars of the UNRWA programmatic budget that I gave you a link to above, and also bear in mind that UNRWA is not supposed to have any security or intelligence functions.
Similary, if they determined that their money was being used for warfare, rather than for relief aid, they should make some change.
Okay. What specific actions are you suggesting they should take to make such a change? Please be as detailed as possible with reference to the particulars of the UNRWA programmatic budget that I gave you a link to above, and also bear in mind that UNRWA is not supposed to have any security or intelligence functions.
Nothing to offer more specific than that they should “find out”? Should “find some other way”? Should “make some change”? :rolleyes: In other words, you’ve got absolutely nothing constructive to suggest in terms of how UNRWA is supposed to do its job better. You just want to make vague complaints and demands. It’s not surprising if a number of people conclude that your real motive in raising the subject is not to improve the situation in any way, but just to embarrass the UN.
Remarks about the UN’s “refusing to help prevent bombing attacks”, and “getting the UN to do their job”, and the UN’s “fucking up”, and the UN’s “acting like a lazy waiter”, and the UN’s “ignoring the problem”—unaccompanied by a single, solitary, specific constructive suggestion about exactly how you expect this particular UN agency to ameliorate the situation—don’t constitute a serious request for assistance or policy change; they’re UN-bashing, pure and simple.
Baloney. What would you do if you discovered that a charity you supported was acutually using the donations for terrorism? Would you simply keep donating?
*How should UNRWA find out where their money goes? * They should do audits, just like anyone who gives out money does.
What should they do if they discover Arafat is misapplying the relief money? They should make him use the money properly. If he refuses, they should stop distributing the money via Arafat.