Hostile Congressional UN Voting Accountability Act of 2017
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
America finds new ways of burnishing its rogue state status, more ruthless and dangerous than any others in history over a longer duration.
On November 3, neocon GOP Representatives Louie Gohmert and Steve King introduced the above measure “to prohibit United States assistance to foreign countries that oppose” America’s imperial agenda, its wars of aggression to eliminate sovereign independent states it doesn’t control, its alliance with Israel and other rogue states.
The measure was referred to the House Foreign Relations Committee for further action – none so far.
The bill is the latest example of Washington’s debauched political system, its opposition to world peace, its rage for unchallenged global dominance – no matter the human cost.
It prohibits economic, financial and military aid to nations hostile to Washington’s destructive agenda – based on the Security Council and General Assembly voting records. It states the following:
“(T)he term ‘opposed the position of the United States’ means…that the country’s recorded votes in the United Nations General Assembly during the most recent session of the General Assembly and, in the case of a country which is a member of the United Nations Security Council, the country’s recorded votes both in the Security Council and the General Assembly during the most recent session of the General Assembly, were the same as the position of the United States less than 50 percent of the time…”
The “most recent session of the General Assembly” means its most recently completed one.
US assistance is defined as any under the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, anything military related, anything under the 1976 Arms Export Control Act, and “any other monetary or physical assistance.”
If there’s “a fundamental change in the leadership and policies of the government of a country” denied US aid, renewing it would be considered.
The president may continue aiding any nations – based on national security interests, provided Congress is informed of his reasons.
The State Department issues annual reports on the voting practices of member states at the UN – to show which nations support America’s agenda and which ones oppose it – based on how often they’re for or against it.
The UN Voting Accountability Act of 2017 is the first congressional measure aimed at denying economic, financial and military aid to nations against America’s imperial agenda.
Other hostile legislation will likely follow – including more illegal sanctions on targeted countries than already.
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