Normal Service Resumed

A Wake Up Call

Internationalism is now the great white hope for humanity.  The nation state is seen as parochial, dangerous, and, more often than not, bellicose.  National sovereignty is primitive and dangerous.  Far, far better (we are told) is the call for international government, where parochial, cultural, and racial concerns are laid aside in favour of internationalism which represents the "higher" concerns of the human race.  

A living example of internationalism is the European Union.  This project sees itself as leading the world out of national and parochial loyalties to a state of loyalty to mankind in the abstract.  Thus, barriers to immigration are torn down because Europe now would represent humanity and the values of internationalism, rather than the interests of petty nation states like Germany or France.  Ostensibly everyone in the world has a "right" to move to the EU and reside in France or Germany or Belgium. We exaggerate, but you get the point.

Merkel and Obama and Macron are poster children for the grand internationalist cause.
  In this worldview, the future of the human race rests not just with Europe, but with the United Nations.  Europe serves as a "poster boy" for how nation states can lay aside national and parochial interests and begin to act in a superior fashion following the interests of Man.  If every nation followed Europe's example, before long the UN would rule the world.  Or so the theory runs.

One can understand, then, how Brexit was a stake in the heart of the grand internationalist cause.  It was a betrayal of the grand European project.  It represents a traitorous act.  Similar extremist views are held with respect to the United States, now in the thrall of Donald Trump.  He is a nationalist; his very existence is an insult to the promise of, and progress towards, internationalism.

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley has done the unthinkable.  She has actually stood on the floor of the UN and put other nations on notice that they will not find the United States willingly compliant with the ideology of internationalism.  It seems as if the betrayals of the Grand Project are coming thick and fast.

Nikki Haley, United States Ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.), announced Sunday night that the federal government has reduced its contribution to the U.N.’s annual budget by 285 million dollars.  The Christmas Eve statement reads in full:

Today, the United Nations agreed on a budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. ‎Among a host of other successes, the United States negotiated a reduction of over $285 million off the 2016-2017 final budget. In addition to these significant cost savings, we reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key U.S. priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system.

“The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known. We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked. This historic reduction in spending – in addition to many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable UN – is a big step in the right direction. While we are pleased with the results of this year’s budget negotiations, you can be sure we’ll continue to look at ways to increase the UN’s efficiency‎ while protecting our interests,” said Ambassador Haley.  [Breitbart News]

This comes on the heels of Haley's sharp rebuke to the nations that voted to condemn the US moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Haley said, in effect, "We have noted who voted against the US in this matter.  We have your number.  There will be consequences."

“The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation,” Haley told the assembly in New York City.

“We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit.”

It looks like national interests are making a bit of a comeback.  That strange sound you can hear is teeth being ground in Europe and amongst Democrats in the United States.