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Axios
an hour ago
- Politics
- Axios
U.S. again withdraws from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias and "woke" causes
President Trump has again withdrawn the U.S. from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Why it matters: This is the third UN agency the Trump administration is withdrawing from following decisions earlier this year to leave the World Health Organization and the Human Rights Council. The move further decreases U.S. footprint and influence in international organizations, and experts say the nation's exit will allow China to increase its influence on the UN system. The U.S. officially informed UNESCO of the decision on Tuesday, the State Department said. The U.S. withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2026. The U.S. will remain a full member of UNESCO until that time, the State Department said. Behind the scenes: The U.S. move wasn't a surprise. In February, Trump ordered a review of the country's UNESCO membership, and a report was submitted to the White House in May. A U.S. official said Trump made the final decision last week. UNESCO's Director-General Audrey Azoulay expected Trump to again withdraw from the organization. In February, she met with Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in an effort to influence the administration's perspective, a source with knowledge of the meeting told Axios. In a statement, Azoulay said that after Trump's 2017 UNESCO withdrawal, the organization diversified its funding sources and that U.S. funding is only 8% of the organization's budget today. Catch up quick: After Palestine became a full member of UNESCO in 2011, the Obama administration stopped providing funding to the organization because it was barred to do so by U.S. law. In October 2017, the Trump administration announced it was leaving UNESCO over what it described as anti-Israel bias. Israel announced that it would leave the organization not long after. In February 2022, the Israeli government notified the State Department that it wouldn't oppose a U.S. return to UNESCO. The Israeli position paved the way for some Democrats and Republicans in Congress to support the move. The U.S. rejoined UNESCO in July 2023 under then-President Biden. What they are saying: The U.S. is departing UNESCO since the organization "supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November," White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement. Trump "will always put America First and ensure our country's membership in all international organizations aligns with our national interests," she said. It it's own statement, the State Department said "continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States," and pointed to the organization's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as one of the reasons for the departure. UNESCO's involvement in "divisive social and cultural causes" and "outsized focus on the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development [is] at odds with our America First foreign policy," the statement said. The statement also accused UNESCO of a "proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric." Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the U.S. decision and called in "a necessary step, designed to promote justice and Israel's right for fair treatment in the UN system." A senior Israeli official said the Trump administration notified Israel of the decision in advance. The other side: Azoulay said in a statement she "deeply regrets" Trump's decision and stressed it may impact "first and foremost our many partners in the U.S."
The Star
a day ago
- Politics
- The Star
Zelenskiy names new ambassadors during Ukraine political shakeup
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olha Stefanishyna attend a bilateral meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance (not pictured), on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), in Munich, Germany February 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appointed over a dozen new ambassadors on Monday, during a big shakeup that has seen him replace top cabinet officials and envoys to shore up relations with Washington and isolate Russia internationally. The new envoys named on Monday include ambassadors to NATO members Belgium, Canada, Estonia and Spain, as well as major donor Japan and regional heavyweights South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Zelenskiy launched a major government reshuffle last week, promoting Yulia Svyrydenko, 39, who had served as economy minister and is well known in Washington, to head the cabinet as prime minister. Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna is set to become Ukraine's new envoy to the United States, as Ukraine seeks to mend ties with the Trump administration. In remarks to the diplomatic corps released by his office, Zelenskiy said envoys needed to support "everything that causes Russia pain for its war". "While the content of our relationship with America has transformed following the change in administration, the goal remains unchanged: Ukraine must withstand Russia's strikes," Zelenskiy said. (Reporting by Yuliia DysaEditing by Peter Graff)
Straits Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Zelenskiy names new ambassadors during Ukraine political shakeup
Find out what's new on ST website and app. FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olha Stefanishyna attend a bilateral meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance (not pictured), on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), in Munich, Germany February 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appointed over a dozen new ambassadors on Monday, during a big shakeup that has seen him replace top cabinet officials and envoys to shore up relations with Washington and isolate Russia internationally. The new envoys named on Monday include ambassadors to NATO members Belgium, Canada, Estonia and Spain, as well as major donor Japan and regional heavyweights South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Zelenskiy launched a major government reshuffle last week, promoting Yulia Svyrydenko, 39, who had served as economy minister and is well known in Washington, to head the cabinet as prime minister. Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna is set to become Ukraine's new envoy to the United States, as Ukraine seeks to mend ties with the Trump administration. In remarks to the diplomatic corps released by his office, Zelenskiy said envoys needed to support "everything that causes Russia pain for its war". "While the content of our relationship with America has transformed following the change in administration, the goal remains unchanged: Ukraine must withstand Russia's strikes," Zelenskiy said. REUTERS
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Putin Drops Bombshell: Russia Will ‘Cease To Exist' Without Sovereignty
In an interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin reflected on the lasting impact of his 2007 Munich Security Conference speech. Putin revealed that he discarded the originally prepared draft and rewrote the speech entirely while aboard his flight to Munich, stating it was essential to express Russia's concerns openly. Putin emphasised that the speech was not meant to provoke confrontation but to assert Russia's need for sovereignty. He stressed, 'Russia will either be independent and sovereign, or will not exist at all.' He added that while other global actors shared similar concerns at the time, they remained silent due to the dominant influence of the United States. Putin also reiterated his longstanding grievance over NATO's eastward expansion, claiming Western powers deceived Russia with broken promises made in the 1990s. Watch Read More
Miami Herald
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
‘Sound of Freedom' Studio Releases New Films Taking on Woke Culture
Angel Studios, the distributor behind the surprise 2023 summer hit Sound of Freedom, has released a new documentary series that argues the impact of woke culture on parts of the West amounts to a "soft totalitarianism" which is comparable to, but distinct from, the "hard totalitarianism" of the Soviet Union. The film Live Not By Lies! is based on the 2020 New York Times bestselling book of the same name written by conservative commentator Rod Dreher, who described himself as an "old friend" of Vice President JD Vance. Split into four parts, it had its U.K. premiere in London's swanky Belgravia district on June 30, where Dreher told Newsweek he believes Vance "could be the new Reagan." Live Not By Lies! fleshes out the argument made by Vance at the Munich Security Conference in February, when he shocked European audiences by arguing Western European nations face a bigger threat from "within," including perceived attacks on free speech, than from traditional rivals like Russia and China. This shows a powerful current within American conservative thinking which believes political freedoms are being weakened in Western Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom, in an attempt to accommodate "woke" ideology and multiculturalism. Live Not By Lies! was released by Angel Studios on its streaming platform on a weekly basis over April in four parts. The first episode, which was played at the London premiere on June 30, focused on dissidents who opposed what Dreher calls the "hard totalitarianism" of the Soviet Union from behind the Iron Curtain. A number of prominent British conservatives attended the event, including Mark Francois, a Tory MP and former minister, and ex-Mumford & Sons guitarist Winston Marshall, along with Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster, who co-host the popular Triggernometry YouTube channel which has 1.4 million subscribers. The U.S. premier took place in Washington and was addressed by Vance. Subsequent episodes argue parts of the West are now in the grip of a "soft totalitarianism," which has seen restrictions placed on free speech to avoid causing offense. Speaking to Newsweek, Dreher said: "The main message of the film is that we're living now in Western civilization in a time of soft totalitarianism which is to say it's not like the Soviet version which has a police state, nevertheless people are very oppressed by speech codes, by fear of saying what they really think, against the left frankly. "The message of the film is that it is important to find the courage to speak up to it for the sake of liberty and of the values that have been at the core of what it means to be a man or woman of the west for a very long time." The U.K. is held up as an "extreme example" of this, with Dreher saying: "As an American we look to Britain as our mother country, as the founding place of democracy and that this is happening in Britain is of course a horror to us but it should not happen." A promotional poster for Live Not By Lies! provocatively features CCTV cameras and communist flags emblazoned over British landmarks like Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament. U.K.-based cases featured in the series include that of Adam Smith-Connor, a former British soldier who in 2024 was criminally convicted after silently praying within a council designated "safe zone" outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth, on England's south coast, and refusing requests to move. Smith-Conner was ordered to pay more than £9,000 in costs and handed a two-year conditional discharge, which he is appealing. Speaking to Newsweek at the premiere, Smith-Connor said: "I think our soft totalitarianism is a very comfortable one, but I think as more and more lies seep into our society and this culture of death with abortion up to birth and assisted suicide coming in, I think it's going to start encroaching into more and more fields of our life." In 2023 Angel Studios, a Christian film distributing company based in Utah, released Sound of Freedom, an action movie telling the story of Tim Ballard, who launched missions to rescue children from sex trafficking in Columbia. The film became widely popular, particularly with conservative audiences, bringing in more than $250 million worldwide against a budget of just $14.5 million. Speaking to Newsweek, Smallman said that "no mainstream elements" would touch his proposal for Live Not By Lies! "with a 10-foot poll," but that Angel Studios expressed interest. The company submitted the documentary series to what it calls its "Guild," made up of its customers, who green-lit the project and allowed him to raise "about $1.5 million from 3,000 people online who sent us money because they believed in the project." Dreher told Newsweek he is an "old friend" of Vance, whom he described as "a serious intellectual Christian and a man of great stability." The writer went on to predict Vance "could be the new Reagan" adding: "I think if everything goes generally well with the rest of the Trump administration, we will have a President Vance because JD Vance has proved himself loyal to President Trump and his agenda." Referring to Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference, Dreher said: "When JD gave that speech in Munich, my smartphone lit up with texts from conservative friends from Bucharest, across Europe to London, saying, 'thank God somebody finally said it.' "Europeans who love their country, who love their culture and who love freedom of speech are looking to the American vice president as their defender. It's an incredible moment in history." Live Not By Lies! is available for streaming on the Angel Studios website. Related Articles Supreme Court to Hear JD Vance CaseJD Vance Is Being Proven Right About Europe's Free Speech ProblemSupreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Quotes Himself in New OpinionBen Cohen: I Was Arrested at Senate Hearing Because I Protested for Justice | Opinion 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
