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posted by janrinok on Wednesday June 20 2018, @06:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the nothing-will-change dept.

US leaving UN Human Rights Council -- 'a cesspool of political bias'

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday, accusing the body of bias against US ally Israel and a failure to hold human rights abusers accountable. The move, which the Trump administration has threatened for months, came down one day after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the separation of children from their parents at the US-Mexico border as "unconscionable."

Speaking from the State Department, where she was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Haley defended the move to withdraw from the council, saying US calls for reform were not heeded. "Human rights abusers continue to serve on, and be elected to, the council," said Haley, listing US grievances with the body. "The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape its scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in its ranks."

Also at NPR and Bloomberg.


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  • (Score: 2, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday June 21 2018, @03:27AM (15 children)

    You're going to have massive problems in life until you quit hating your daddy. There is no nation under the sun where people are as free as the US. Now that's not exactly a high bar lately but the truth is the truth even if you dislike it.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:25AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:25AM (#696017)

    You need to get out more. The US is a shit hole compared to much of the developed world.

    Bread and circuses seems to keep most USians stupid, happy, and ignorant of reality.

    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday June 21 2018, @09:42AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Thursday June 21 2018, @09:42AM (#696111) Journal

      He didn't say it wasn't a shit-hole. He said it was the most free. From a legal standpoint I would find it hard to argue with him, the US constitution is an impressive document and I couldn't name another country with more (theoretical) freedom.
      Doesn't mean I would move there. I'm in AU, which is, on paper, heading towards a total fucking nanny-state. In practice I think we have a better quality of life. We still have cultural attitudes of 'a fair go' and support for the underdog. Makes things a lot more pleasant all round compared to the dog-eat-dog, let-them-eat-cake, capitalist paradise of the USA. As far as the nanny-state bullshit, most aussies just ignore it unless it is something that works in their favour.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:42AM (#696029)

    There is no nation under the sun where people are as free as the US.

    If anyone ever wondered whether the US's indoctrination of its citizens is successful, there's your proof. Wow, Kool-Aid deeply drunk.

  • (Score: 2) by dry on Thursday June 21 2018, @05:54AM (5 children)

    by dry (223) on Thursday June 21 2018, @05:54AM (#696045) Journal

    I've met quite a few political refugees from the States, something that has been going on for close to 250 years. Free countries don't have so many people leaving to seek freedom.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday June 21 2018, @03:57PM (4 children)

      I think you need to look up the phrase "political refugee". It obviously does not mean what you think it does.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by dry on Monday June 25 2018, @04:49AM (3 children)

        by dry (223) on Monday June 25 2018, @04:49AM (#697965) Journal

        Running away from political persecution such as being sent to the other side of the world to die in the case of the ones I met. Earlier things like being of the wrong political stripe, being the wrong colour and having no rights or being attacked to have land stolen.

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday June 25 2018, @04:33PM (2 children)

          Oh, you mean the types who swear an oath to do a job then run like rabbits when ordered to actually do it? We used to shoot those types. It's a shame we don't do that anymore.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday June 26 2018, @03:04AM (1 child)

            by dry (223) on Tuesday June 26 2018, @03:04AM (#698566) Journal

            No I mean the ones that didn't have the political or financial connections to get out of being sent to a useless war and ran away. Usually you guys seem to elect the ones who should have been shot as president instead.

            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday June 27 2018, @02:21PM

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday June 27 2018, @02:21PM (#699304) Homepage Journal

              Hmm... let me think... when was the last time any non-volunteer was told to go shoot stuff over there by the US government? Forty-five years ago, was it? That's one of the up sides to having the strongest permanent military on the planet; you don't have to draft people anymore.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday June 21 2018, @06:56AM (1 child)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday June 21 2018, @06:56AM (#696071) Journal

    I have refrained from saying this for quite some time, but as an ancient Greek philosopher, I have spent quite a bit of time in the Indian Nations that are now called Oklahoma, and I have to say, TMB, I am your father. Hand-cutting off is entirely optional, since I, as your father, want you to succeed in your chosen, um, profession. Make me proud, my son, stop being a stupid libertariantard.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @08:24AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @08:24AM (#696102)

    "Free" as in outlaw, perhaps. I'm sure you will find True Scotsman to resolve the cognitive dissonance in your head, but:

    World press freedom [rsf.org] index: ranked 45th
    World human freedom [cato.org] index: ranked 17th
    World prosperity [prosperity.com] index: ranked 18th
    World happiness [worldhappiness.report] index: ranked 18th
    World life expectancy [undp.org] index: ranked 5th in 1980, 45th in 2013
    World ecology [happyplanetindex.org] index: ranked 108th

  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday June 21 2018, @02:10PM (2 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday June 21 2018, @02:10PM (#696185)

    You're going to have massive problems in life until you quit hating your daddy.

    1. Your equating the state with a parental figure presents a fundamentally authoritarian outlook. Stalin, Mao, Mussolini, etc all wanted their people to love them as a parent.

    2. The government of a free people answers to its citizens, not the other way around. If we are as free a nation as you say, then I am under no obligation whatsoever to love the state and certainly under no obligation to defend the state's actions.

    3. As a sibling poster pointed out, there's a lot of evidence that the US is not the most free country in the world. Evidence which matches my experience traveling internationally. You clearly need to get out more.

    My relationship with my actual father, not a father-figure-equated-government, is quite good, and my life has its challenges but is on the whole pretty damn good.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday June 21 2018, @04:05PM (1 child)

      You misunderstand. Deliberately or through lack of reading comprehension? I implied that this was why you shit on the US at every opportunity. The issue is yours not mine.

      The uncle poster lumped a bunch of shit in there that directly contradicts individual liberty when managed by the government for evidence as well. Given that he can't even understand the topic, I wasn't inclined to reply to him.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @06:29PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 21 2018, @06:29PM (#696341)

        You know, every time I read through threads like these I see the conservatives and libertarians constantly having massive issues with communication. Misunderstanding statements that are very clear and doubling down on your original points as if people did not understand them. All I can figure is it is just the cognitive dissonance at work where your emotions are no longer tied to reason and it just breaks down your ability to be rational.

        Just bringing in "daddy issues" shows your point was merely an ad-hominem attack and then you respond to actually decent responses with projection claims of superiority. Get your ego in check before you bury yourself.