Why It Just Makes Sense for the U.S. to Withdraw from the UNHRC

http://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/25/why-it-just-makes-sense-for-the-u-s-to-withdraw-from-the-unhrc
Date Written:  2018-06-25
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX22808

Having withdrawn from the Paris Accord, and the Iran deal; having broken with the world to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital; having provoked allies and rivals with trade war-triggering tariffs and personal insults; having shocked the world with talk of a Great Wall to keep out Mexicans (paid for by Mexico).

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

U.S. politicians have long accused UNHRC of anti-Israel bias. But the U.S. relationship to the body is actually complicated. In 2015, the Saudi ambassador to the UN in Geneva was elected Chair of the UNHRC Advisory Committee, occasioning protests that a country with such a horrifying human rights record could hold such a post. But the U.S. UN ambassador Samantha Power supported the decision. It would have been awkward not to, given the tight Riyadh-Washington connection.

The current U.S. UN ambassador Nikki Haley had hinted darkly, without naming any names, that because the council includes members guilty of egregious human rights violations the U.S. might pull out. But this was after Trump's sword dance with the Saudi princes in May 2017. What sense does it make to first facilitate Saudi participation in the council (in order to enhance the kingdom's reputation while it pursued a discrete anti-Iran alignment with Israel), then pull out of the council due to its alleged anti-Israel bias?

The decision to withdraw from the council makes sense in its nonsense. It is another gesture to Netanyahu, another statement to the world that the U.S. will stand with Israel against its critics. It’s a statement that Trump's foreign policy is to follow through on bombastic campaign promises, to maintain his 40% support base. To do this, he must alienate Europe. He also alienates Russia, China, Japan, Canada, Mexico--practically everyone--but in particular he alienates European allies with Germany at their head.