“Engagement” is such a windy word, as in: President Barack Obama’s policy of engagement at the United Nations Human Rights Council. It all sounds so abstract. What does that really mean?
Well, on Nov. 5, it became less abstract, when the Obama administration bellied up to the microphones in the chamber of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, to present America’s human rights record for review by the assembled eminences. Whatever amount of engagement the administration had engaged in, it did nothing to deter the likes of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, China and Libya from making use of their UN privileges to savage the United States. The UN makes video of these proceedings available for all the world to look in on. Despots can of course cull the contributions of their own envoys for broadcast back home — show-casing under UN auspices any propaganda that they and their chums wish to spread about America. And Americans, of course, can also look in on these videos, just in case they want to see what’s being done with the tax dollars spent on their behalf to help bankroll the UN and pay for the delegations the Obama administration sends to represent — and in this case, apologize for — America. But if you work for a living, at something other than following the UN… well, who has time to plod through hours of speechifying in some UN chamber in Geneva?
So, thank you to Anne Bayefsky, whose watchdog organization, www.eyeontheun.org , has put together a montage of top hits of the UN Human Rights Council’s Nov. 5 review of the United States. You can watch the entire compilation of highlights in just a couple of minutes, including the comments of Iran, North Korea, Cuba, China Libya, Qatar, Nicaragua, Egypt, etc. — trashing and vilifying America over human rights. The most interesting part of the show, however, is the U.S. delegation, telling this crowd what a pleasure and an honor it is for America to present itself for review, and thanking them for the experience. If you want to know what Obama’s policy of engagement at the UN really looks like, up close and graphic, this is a must-see video; your diplomats on the front lines, and your tax dollars at work. The U.S. presents itself for review by the UN Human Rights Council.
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