Trump says 'bureaucracy' holding UN back

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew BEATTY, September 18, 2017

President Donald Trump warned that as chief executive of the United States -- a
founding member of the UN and its biggest financial contributor -- he wants
a better return on his investment (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Monday warned that "bureaucracy" is holding the United Nations back, delivering a barbed first message to the world body he once derided as a talk shop.

Kicking off a frantic week of diplomacy with a panel discussion on UN reform, Trump noted a personal history with the New York-based institution.

He had seen "great potential right across the street" from UN headquarters, Trump said, referencing his decision to build the 72-floor residential skyscraper Trump World Tower nearby.

"To be honest with you, and it was only for the reason that the United Nations was here that that turned out to be such a successful project," the businessman-turned-president told delegates.

But Trump warned that as chief executive of the United States -- a founding member of the UN and its biggest financial contributor -- he wants a better return on his investment.

"The United Nations was founded on truly noble goals," he said, adding that while progress has been made, "in recent years the United Nations has not reached its full potential, because of bureaucracy and mismanagement."

He said that while the United Nations' regular budget has increased by 140 percent, and its staff has more than doubled since 2000, "we are not seeing the results in line with this investment."

He called on the institution to "focus on results," a call that was echoed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who said a reformed UN needs to focus "more on people and less on process."

Make the United Nations Great

Trump once disparaged the world body as a "club" for "people to get together, talk and have a good time" and his administration has threatened deep cuts to UN funding.

That includes a $600 million cut to the peacekeeping budget, which critics warn will significantly affect peace operations but which is music to Trump supporters' ears.

President Donald Trump warned that as chief executive of the United States -- a founding

 member of the UN and its biggest financial contributor -- he wants a better return on

his investment (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

"I think the main message is 'Make the United Nations Great.' Not again. 'Make the United Nations Great'' Trump said after his remarks.

"The United Nations has tremendous potential and we'll see how it works out."

Although US president Franklin Roosevelt was instrumental to midwifing the United Nations into existence, the American public has proven more skeptical.

Many of Trump's closest advisors and donors see the 193-member body as a check on US power and drain on American resources.

The United States pays 22 percent of the UN's $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 percent of the $7.3 billion peacekeeping budget.

According to Gallup, 60 percent of Americans think the United Nations is doing a poor job.

The Trump administration's effort to cut costs has been met coolly by other powers, most notably Russia and China, who were not among the 128 member states who signed on to a US call for reform.

UN diplomats argue that divisions at the UN Security Council -- where the United States holds veto power along with Russia, France, China and Britain -- are as much to blame for UN failures as bureaucratic hurdles.

The main event

Trump's remarks Monday were a preamble for his maiden address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

His appearance -- which aides say will last around a half-hour -- is likely to emphasize the importance of sovereignty and the primacy of the nation state, reinforcing the anti-internationalist themes of his campaign.

Trump held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who again hit out at the "terrible" Iran nuclear deal and was due to meet later with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Both Macron and Netanyahu are concerned by the future of the Iran nuclear agreement, with the French leader making a strong case for keeping it alive and the Israeli prime minister pushing for its demise.

Trump will also have a working dinner with Latin American leaders that will touch on the crisis in Venezuela.

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"Dual Channeling" + "Unexpected Change" (4) - Mar 18 - 19, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version "Change")

"...Light and Dark Balance

The light and dark balance on the planet is starting to rearrange itself and is going to create more wild cards. Wild cards are "unexpected shifts", things that are often shocking in ways that are not positive or negative, but rather are changes in the paradigm of what was. They often push the future, both in consciousness and science.

There are several coming in the form of Human Beings making changes in ways and in places you don't expect. There's one that is way overdue in New York City at the United Nations. It's an old organization with wonderful ideas about helping the planet, but stuck in its own old-energy politics. What will happen there? If you don't see much soon, it may actually cease functioning. Wildcards are not guaranteed. They are timed to match the free choice of those around them. That's what makes a wild card - totally unexpected events. Think of this: An organization set out to create peace on Earth may become more dysfunctional and even fail, or a wild card may come and restructure it all at great controversy and almost no funding. That's what wild cards do.

You may find it in business, in banking or in politics. New ideas never tried before that are radical may exist soon. Expect these kinds of things, but they have to grow on you. There may be some starts and stops. There may be seed planters who don't make it. Then others may come in and make the seeds start growing. That means ideas that were not accepted yesterday may actually be accepted now or in the future. This is because as you evolve, you will see the new wisdom in them. This is all part of the growth process through time.

So this is where you are currently in the change pattern. You are at the beginning of the growth process. All this with a new grid, with very few time fractals to undo, and with a clean slate from historic energies. Are you ready?

Listen: No prophecy at all has been written about what is happening on your planet now. Zero. There are no elders anywhere or channellers anywhere at the moment giving you good, solid prophecy about what's next. This is because you just went through the tunnel of old energy, the old prophecies, and are barely free of them. This is a new energy that you have never experienced before on the planet. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read the prophecies.

According to the best and most popular and accepted prophecies of your time, where are you supposed to be right now? The answer is "dead".

Where is the earth supposed to be right now? The answer is "radioactive". No one can exist on a planet that has had a massive nuclear exchange, no matter what your movies say. It's "goodbye" to Humans on the planet. The whole idea of a post-apocalyptic earth is a fantasy. You don't live when there's that much radiation. It affects everything in the air, in the oceans and the very dust that would have been kicked up by thousands of nuclear explosions would be circling the planet and blocking the sun for decades. Dark - life gone.

Dear one, that is the apocalypse that never took place. Instead, you stand here with your kids and a new planet with hope. You may wonder why I'm enamored with all of you, but you don't really know it, not yet.

In a generation or two, somebody will raise a hand and say, "I couldn't help but notice we're different from those before." This is how long it takes, especially to rewrite the old consciousness of expected doom. Two generations may have to go by before someone raises a hand to say, "Look, the sun's coming out [a metaphor]. It's different." Humans are slow to change, but they may notice attitudes changing and that they have a new road to walk on.

So you want to know what your task is at the moment, dear old soul? Your task is to encourage those around you using your compassion and balance. When you hear them talk about the fact that they cannot get ahead, or that things are horrible on the planet, or what the news said last night, speak up in a loving way. When timed correctly. you can say, "I'm really not onboard with that. I feel we have a positive time ahead. Things are different. Can't you feel it, can't you see it? I think we've got a brighter future. We just need to be patient with it and stop wallowing in the drama others are giving us that influences us and makes us fear everything."   .."