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Unesco gives Palestinians full membership, U.S. pulls funding
[Dawn] The United Nations...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... ' cultural agency decided on Monday to give the Paleostinians full membership of the body, a vote that will boost their bid for recognition as a state at the United Nations. Unesco is the first U.N. agency the Paleostinians have joined as a full member since President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... applied for full membership of the United Nations on Sept. 23. The United States, Canada, Germany and Holland voted against Paleostinian membership. Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa and La Belle France voted in favour. Britannia and Italia abstained. Washington is likely to cut funding to Unesco over the vote. "The action today will complicate our ability to support Unesco," David T. Killion, U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, told journalists after the vote. "The U.S. has been clear for the need of a two-state resolution, but the only path is through direct negotiations and there are no shortcuts, and initiatives like today are counterproductive." The vote highlighted divisions over foreign policy within the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , some of whose 27 members voted for and some against Paleostinian membership. Austrian Unesco ambassador Ursula Plassnik, whose country voted in favour, said she regretted the European Union could not arrive at a common position on the Paleostinian issue. The Paleostinians obtained backing from two thirds of Unesco's members to become the 195th member of Unesco, with status as "an observer entity". Of 173 countries that voted from a possible 185, 107 voted in favour, 14 voted against, 52 abstained and 12 were absent. Forty representatives of the 58-member board has voted in favour of putting the matter to a vote earlier this month, with four -- the United States, Germany, Romania and Latvia -- voting against and 14 abstaining. Admission will be seen by the Paleostinians as a moral victory in their bid for full U.N. membership but could be costly for Unesco. U.S. legislation stipulates that it can cut off funding to any U.N. agency that grants full membership to Paleostinians. Israel called the vote a "tragedy". "This resolution is a tragedy for Unesco.. Unesco deals in science and not science fiction and nevertheless (Unesco) adopted the science fiction reality," said Nimrod Barkan, Israel's ambassador to Unesco. Israel has said the Paleostinian bid would amount to politicisation of the agency that would undermine its ability to carry out its mandate. Posted by: Fred 2011-11-01 |
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