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BBC: Coronavirus: US to halt funding to WHO, says Trump
US President Donald Trump has said he is going to halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) because it has "failed in its basic duty" in its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
[...] Mr Trump has been under fire for his own handling of the pandemic.
He has sought to deflect persistent criticism that he acted too slowly to stop the virus's spread by pointing to his decision in late January to place restrictions on travel from China.
[...] The US is the global health body's largest single funder and gave it more than $400m in 2019.
A decision on whether the US resumes funding will be made after the review, which Mr Trump said would last 60 to 90 days.
[...] China gave about $86m in 2018-19; UK gives most of any country apart from the US
[...] The organisation launched an appeal in March for $675m to help fight the pandemic and is reported to be planning a fresh appeal for at least $1bn.
Reuters: Trump halts World Health Organization funding amid coronavirus pandemic
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would halt funding to the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic while his administration reviews its response to the global crisis.
Trump told a White House news conference the WHO had “failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable.” He said the group had promoted China’s “disinformation” about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak of the virus than otherwise would have occurred.
[...] The hold on funding was expected. Trump has been increasingly critical of the organization as the global health crisis has continued, and he has reacted angrily to criticism of his administration’s response.
[...] U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday it was “not the time” to reduce resources for the body.
“Now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences,” he said.
American Medical Association President Dr. Patrice Harris called it “a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier” and urged Trump to reconsider.
[...] The Republican president recently accused the WHO of being too lenient with China in the earliest days of the crisis, despite having himself praised China in January for its response and transparency.
Trump has made frequent use of scapegoats during his short political career. He often lashes out at the media, Democrats, or others when he feels attacked or under pressure.
The Guardian: Trump turns against WHO to mask his own stark failings on Covid-19 crisis
Donald Trump’s declared suspension of funding of the World Health Organisation in the midst of a pandemic is confirmation – if any were needed – that he is in search of scapegoats for his administration’s much delayed and chaotic response to the crisis.
The US is the WHO’s biggest donor, with funding over $400m a year in both assessed contributions (membership fees) and donations – though it is actually $200m in arrears. [pdf]
Theoretically the White House cannot block funding of international institutions mandated by Congress. But the administration has found ways around such constitutional hurdles on other issues – by simply failing to disburse funds or apply sanctions, for example.
The funding could be formally rescinded, but that would require Senate approval, or “reprogrammed” by being diverted to another purpose that the White House could argue is consistent with the will of Congress.
[...] The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had to fly to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping on 29 January to negotiate entry and information sharing. A WHO team was allowed to visit Wuhan on 22 February. Tedros has been criticised for his flattery of Xi and the Chinese response, in the face of Beijing’s obstructionism and cover-up attempts. His defenders said that such diplomacy was the price for entry.
Trump did more than his own fair share of Xi flattery. On 24 January, the president tweeted “China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus … The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.”
The claim that the delay in the WHO acquiring samples crippled the international response is also false. Chinese scientists publicly released the genetic sequence of Covid-19 on 11 January.
[...] By early February the WHO was in a position to distribute a Covid-19 test worldwide, but the US government opted not to have it fast-tracked through approval. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instead produced its own test at about the same time, but it was flawed and had to be recalled. US testing would be set back more than six weeks compared to the rest of the world.
While virtually no testing was under way in the US throughout February, Trump assumed the consequently low number of confirmed US cases meant that his country had somehow escaped. “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA,” he boasted on 24 February, nearly a month after the WHO declaration of emergency. “We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health [Organisation] have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday April 15 2020, @08:29PM (35 children)
The entire UN is an expensive boondoggle, that the US pays through the nose for. Let the rest of the world support those parasites. Cut all funding to the UN, and I'll praise the people responsible, even if I hate them otherwise.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @08:43PM (14 children)
Yes, sadly only now are a few waking up to the idea. Communism did not fall with the wall, as one american actor declared. They just re-invented. Use the western tech and structures against them - a Japanese self-defense trick in Judo and others. Trump wanted a Wall and have Mexico pay for it. This is the same, but more subtle and goes under the radar of most IQ-defectives turned out by the edumacation system. Use the UN and its medusa tentacles, all paid for by the US and "west" to choke them off. Pal up to poor countries and the "non-aligned block" (pure propaganda) and leverage them against the G7 in there own forum. Chip away at their society's cohesiveness by pushing for 'tolerance' and 'immigration' while being 110% racist back behind the red flag curtain. And it has worked. Superbly. Anyone who wakes up is labelled an enemy of mankind - by the PC west who have been brainwashed. And its multi-front. The Chinese especially have pilfered tech and carefully stripped the planet of manufacturing capacity. It s almost all in their hands alone. Can your country still make a shoe lace? Mine cannot.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:19PM (9 children)
Jesus H Christ, two idiots modded that conspiracy theory word salad Insighful? Unbelievable.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:33AM
Well I think it is a little silly to call sock puppets anything that implies sentience.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:54AM (7 children)
even conspiracy theorists can approach truths, even within racist simplism can be nuggets of unfortunate realilty...
the Chinese have always played the very, very long game, and are prepared to buy their way into the lives of any and every country. The Chinese government has been caught in so many lies yet they just brazen it out... Trump and many others around the world do the same, so it is very much pots and kettles.
Forced immigraiton into Tibet? Taiwan? Uigher 'reeducation' (and organ harvesting) camps? Are none of these "racist"?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:51AM (5 children)
GRIN "Trump playing a very, very long game" - such a funny idea I almost LOL-ed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday April 16 2020, @06:15AM (4 children)
sorry - guilt by association - Trump is only playing to the next election.
I meant to associate Trump only with the second clause (".. brazen it out."), not the first.
Not sure Trump himself can plan beyond his last sentence...
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 16 2020, @07:48AM (2 children)
Aaand... here's your change good sir.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday April 16 2020, @09:40AM (1 child)
McDonald’s, Burger King or KFC? [theculturetrip.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 16 2020, @10:40AM
Trump and 'good sir' don't go together in a phrase without a negation between them.
On a second though, one can drop either 'good' or 'sir' from the second term and the proposition above still ring true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:14PM
Not sure Trump himself can plan beyond his last sentence...
Does it matter? I mean, look at him, still fat catting up there on the pedestal, with a good chance of being reelected. Looks like his people have it under control.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday April 17 2020, @02:55AM
No, they do not. People in the West must stop repeating this fallacy. Historically Chinese excel at the head-stuck-up-their-ass game. For example, Imperial China had plenty of warning that European powers had gained decisive technological and military advantages and were aggressively colonizing less developed countries. They did nothing about it, because their system was too hidebound and they too in love with their own national mythos as the "Middle Kingdom" (that is, the country that is the center of the world). Turns out that cultivating hundreds of generations of scholar officials who excel in calligraphy and memorizing the Chinese classics is not really good for a whole lot (take note, Ye Learners of Gender Studies of the West).
Japan learned quickly. They learned in a goddamn hurry when Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay and forced the country open. A couple short decades later they were beating Russia, a major European power, in modern warfare. Not China, though. They kept getting picked apart by countries you could fit in a shoebox.
Some long game.
Then they decided it would be a super good idea to follow the communist path. Mao and his successors managed to kill about 73 million of their own people. The Japanese Imperial Army only managed to kill 14 million. It was an abject failure.
Some long game.
But since Deng Xiaoping Beijing has been on the warpath (you can read all about it in Congressional white papers going back at least 20 years) to take down the United States and conquer the world. We better all do all we can to keep that from happening, because believe you me none of us will enjoy it.
No, it's the United States that has been playing the long game. It is quite good at it, which resulted in its becoming the world's sole superpower. Think about it: we have the most powerful military. We have the international financial system locked up. We've got multiple military alliances with countries with significant militaries and substantial martial traditions. Culturally, we influence so much of the world, and our soft power extends in countless ways, small and large, everywhere. Heck, between the British Empire and America English is the international lingua franca now. How many of you speak Mandarin? Between a few and none?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:30AM (2 children)
I think it'll be educational what sort of presence Communism will have in China in 30 years. By then, they should have hit developed world status. My take is that they'll have excised every bit of its ideological presence by then. It'll have judoed itself out of significance.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Thursday April 16 2020, @06:27AM (1 child)
corrupt, despotic, fascist-ic*, but far more controlling than anything 5-eyes can dream about.
*just like the US, UK, and many other 'modern' democracies...
this statement reflects your world-view and an almost delusional sense of where China is heading.
1.4 billion people [wikipedia.org] are owed $1.1 trillion [investopedia.com] by 330 million people [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @11:17AM
Sums up my opinion of your post. Basically, China has gotten where it is now by a wholesale and near complete abandonment of Communist ideology. There's no deeper game.
My take is that it's more likely than not that all that judo is going to result in a sweet tombstone for Communism in 30 years.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @05:29AM
Of course it did not fall. Unlike your late stage capitalism, real Communism has never been tried yet.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:11PM
The league of nations are there to restrict nations, so in a sense the UN is doing well. Of course defunding them would be the first thing happening should people actually wake up.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:47PM
Shut up, Runaway! You sick racist!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday April 16 2020, @01:01AM (2 children)
What a good example of righteous indignation.
Rrrright... that's like $1.35 per person (given "The US is the global health body's largest single funder and gave it more than $400m in 2019.")
To put it in terms you understand, that's about the price of 1 to 5 riffle rounds [midwayusa.com], right?
Ummm... lets put the things in perspective, shall we? Can you remind me how much the overhead of health care administration in US health amounts per person*year? Somewhere around $2500 [soylentnews.org], right? If $1.35 is paying through the nose, how wide the trunk you have for the nose not to complain of a $2500 flood.
I mean, look, cutting only 0.08% of what those parasites gobble from you will more than cover US contribution to WHO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:31AM (1 child)
A buck two eighty is too damned much to give away to an organization that would love to tell us how to live. They demand, demand, demand, and give nothing back to us.
Worse, when called in to keep the peace, the troops instead take a piece - raping all the women they can lay hands on. That is part and parcel with recruiting troops from hellholes around the world.
I've never had any use for the UN.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Touché) by c0lo on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:25AM
I'm confused. Are you saying that the US govt takes from you only "a buck two eighty"?
Or that you prefer an administration that tells you whether or not you'll live at all based on your ability to pay $2500/year just for the administration itself?
(large grin)
(something about the plank in your own eye and the speck in your brother's eye seem applicable. I'm highly tempted to raise the qualification to "an example of idiotic righteous indignation")
(BTW: have you found a GP replacement for the one that retired and the others that refused your insurance?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:03AM (5 children)
You're nuts, as usual.
Here is the actual report from the WHO on Jan 23rd.
https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-the-advice-of-the-ihr-emergency-committee-on-novel-coronavirus [who.int]
Seems incredibly reasonable given what was known at the time, and need I remind you your POTUS was calling it a Democrat Hoax a few weeks later? Ya know, the guy that could have actually lead the country and done something. But I guess bitching about the UN and WHO is more important right now cause that is what Fox is crowing about 24/7.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:13AM (4 children)
So, you're a Fox watcher? I wouldn't know what's on Fox, if you hadn't told me.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:35AM (3 children)
Hah, nope I just get clues about it based on what you post! Nice try claiming you don't watch it but you're OK citing brainfart.com
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:16AM (2 children)
And, apparently, you presume that you know what you're talking about. Read my lips - I don't watch Fox. If you know what Fox talking points are, then you watch more Fox than I do.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:22PM
If you know what Fox talking points are, then you watch more Fox than I do.
No, the president transmits them every day. Nobody has to watch FOX to know their talking points. FOX is the Trump channel, for the most part.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2020, @12:58AM
Well, I'll grudgingly believe you don't watch Fox and limit yourself to internet archives of Foxy Dumbassery like bret's fart.
I really have no idea about the current topics of Fox, but from the little bits I've seen and heard of over the years it is pretty guaranteed that any rightwing nuttery will be also coming from one of Fox's superior programming choices.
That reminds me, I need to send a gift basket to Shep Smith for having a conscience.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:24AM (8 children)
The UN costs the USA no more than $500 million a year. Which is an absolute bargain compared to the World War III that never happened. That's the reason it exists, and it has served that purpose admirably. And if you think the Cold War was kind of equivalent to a World War, get to know some of the really old guys at your local VFW or American Legion before they die off. You don't have to like everything it does to appreciate that an exchange of nuclear ICBMs never happened. Which it absolutely could have, and not just in Dr Strangelove or 99 Red Balloons.
Also, that's less than half of a single F-35 aircraft, and 1/4000 of what we just put towards Covid-19 bailouts.
I'm quite sure the cost of the UN isn't the reason you hate it.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:45AM (7 children)
No, the cost isn't why I hate it. I hate that they presume to have a say in our government. I hate that we fund an organization that doesn't have our interests at heart. Why doesn't Saudi Arabia fund the UN, instead of us? All of those oil-rich countries should be funding it. And, China. But, no, every time the UN wants something, they come to us, instead.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:02AM (2 children)
Yeah, how dare those beggars say something to the best government money can buy?
Shirley, at such a price, our government have our interest at heart; must be so despite decades of the contrary.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:12AM (1 child)
If I come knocking on your door, to ask for handouts, would that entitle me to tell you how to run your home?
The UN is a piss-poor joke, coming to us asking for money, then pretending to be our equal or our superiors. Worse, the screw up everything they touch.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:25AM
more like: you pay a pest inspector, they tell you to move a wood pile because of termite risk..
but you don't move the wood pile, and indeed, you make it bigger, then complain that the pest inspector didn't stop the termites,,,
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday April 16 2020, @01:33PM (3 children)
The UN can't order office stationary without US approval, thanks to the US's veto power in the Security Council. So how can they not have US interests in mind?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:57PM (2 children)
"In mind" and "at heart" aren't synonymous. Not even close.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday April 16 2020, @05:06PM (1 child)
Ahh, so your problem with the UN is that it's organized so that they also have to answer to the 6 billion or so other humans who live outside of the US in any way whatsoever. Got it.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday April 16 2020, @07:00PM
There is your mistake. The UN doesn't answer to six billion humans, in or out of the US. The UN panders to governments, some more than others. If the UN actually answered to billions of humans, I might possibly approve of the UN. In short, the UN is politics, and UN officials are political animals, no better than our own political animals here in the US.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.