The U.N.'s Case of Chronic Anti-Americanism 

By Fred Gedrich
June 6, 2006
The American Enterprise
Original Source: http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleid.19215/article_detail.asp

Americans should take a close look at the U.S. State Department’s recently released report (May 2006) on United Nations voting practices for 2005. It’s clear from the report’s contents that the U.S. has many more enemies than friends in the global body.
The report disclosed that 191 U.N. General Assembly members collectively voted against U.S.-supported positions 75 percent of the time (out of 90 votes cast) on important issues such as terrorism, arms control, and human rights.
Anti-American voting among assembly members appears to be a very popular pastime and one prime reason is obvious: the majority of U.N. member nations do not have free and democratic governments. 
Unsurprisingly, many countries, including some putative allies in Europe, oppose both America’s status as Free World leader and President Bush’s stated national security strategy of defeating global terrorism by promoting and expanding global freedom. 
Freedom House, a democracy-focused group co-founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, ranked 104 of 191 assembly members as having other than “free” governments in 2005. The group includes 45 of the most oppressive regimes and human rights abusers in the world and six countries designated by the U.S. as terrorist states. 
This group of nations shrewdly uses democratic theory—under the “one nation, one vote” concept enunciated in the U.N. Charter—to protect their interests and oppose U.S. supported positions. This is ironic since, unlike the U.S and other Free World countries, most of these governments use democratic principles in general assembly proceedings but deny their own citizens the constitutional right to freely elect and replace government leaders. 
Through strong, intertwined alliances these anti-American forces wield enormous power in the U.N. by typically voting in blocs against the United States. For example, the: 
131-nation G-77 voted against U.S. positions 83 percent of the time 
114-nation Non-Aligned Movement voted against U.S. positions 87 percent of the time 
56-nation Islamic Conference voted against U.S. positions 91 percent of the time 
53-nation African Union voted against U.S. positions 87 percent of the time 
Interestingly, these groups instinctively look to despots and human rights abusers like Cuba’s Castro, Libya’s Gadhafi, Venezuela’s Chavez, and Zimbabwe’s Mugabe for leadership. 
The voting practices report also provides some other illuminating facts.
The U.S. authorized $15.4 billion in direct bilateral financial aid to 152 countries in the FY 2003 Foreign Operations Appropriation. Eight countries—Israel, Afghanistan, Columbia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Pakistan, and Sudan—collectively received two thirds of the aid. Israel voted with the U.S. 91 percent of the time. The seven others collectively voted against the U.S. 88 percent of the time.
And what about the three Muslim countries that the U.S.-led coalitions liberated at a cost of several thousand American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars in expenditures? Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait showed their gratitude by collectively voting against the U.S. 89 percent of the time.
America’s weak-kneed allies in the 25-nation European Union did somewhat better by voting against the U.S. only 55 percent of the time.
Over strong U.S. objections, assembly members recently voted to block substantive U.N. reform, refused to define deliberate attacks on civilians as terrorism, elevated Iran’s nuclear weapon-seeking terrorist state to Vice Chair of the Disarmament Commission, and placed several human rights abusers (China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia) on the newly created Human Rights Council.
The U.S. was the primary impetus for the global body’s creation and has served as its host and chief financier since it came into existence in 1945. Based on current general assembly voting habits, it’s about time Americans seriously question whether the U.N. deserves the right of continued U.S. support. 


Fred Gedrich is a foreign policy and national security analyst. He is a former U.S. State Department official and a contributing author to War Footing.