It's that time of year, Manhattanites. Long stretches of First and Second Avenues in Midtown cordoned off. Showing ID to police just to gain entrance to your own block. Cacophonous motorcades of black Suburbans. All manner of nattily dressed foreign dignitaries in Kips Bay, and their wives buying luxury items on Fifth Ave.
It's our annual headache of traffic snarls, and sirens. Oh, and don't get in their way--those drivers have diplomatic immunity, so if you get hit, they'll walk away without a care.
Why don't we move this damn thing to New Jersey?
OK, kvetching over. The real nuisance isn't the traffic, it's the trafficking, and other unsavory plans cooked up under our noses and camouflaged by flowery language by the charlatans who purport to have the interests of the global population in mind.
Last night, the UN member states voted to adopt the "Pact for the Future". The proposal is as obtusely worded as you might suspect. Behind grandiose themes such as "sustainable development" and "global inclusion" lurk some familiar demons: increased spending in the name of equity, climate change, and developing nations.
In other words, much more of the same woke agenda we have come to expect of the UN, which is nearly indiscernible in policy matters from the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Economic Forum (WEF).
In comments before the vote on the pact, UN Secretary General U.N. Antonio Guterres read from prepared remarks.
“We are here to bring multilateralism back from the brink,” he said. “Now it is our common destiny to walk through it. That demands not just agreement, but action.”
There was some concern over the popularity of the wide-ranging agreement, but it was approved overwhelmingly. The unelected global watchdogs known as diplomats are in agreement on the pact, with a few notable objectors.
Russia’s Vershinin launched the opening salvo. He proposed an amendment that would have significantly watered down the pact. “No one is happy with this pact,” he said.
It turned out he was wrong. Africa’s 54 nations opposed Russia’s amendments and speaking on their behalf, the Republic of Congo countered with a motion not to vote on the amendments. Mexico supported the Africans, and in a vote on their motion, the Africans got support from 143 countries, with only six countries supporting Russia — Iran, Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Sudan and Syria. 15 countries abstained.
Assembly President Philémon Yang then put the pact to a vote and banged his gavel, signifying the consensus of all U.N. member nations that was required for approval — to vigorous applause.
Russia has made significant inroads in Africa — in countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Central African Republic — and the continent’s rejection of its amendments along with Mexico, a major Latin American power, was seen as a blow to Moscow by some diplomats and observers.
The "Pact for the Future" is yet another reason to vote for sanity in November. We must stand against the erosion of national sovereignty and defund the United Nations.
