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‘Exceedingly Dangerous’: Here’s How The UN Plans To Massively Expand Its Influence 


By: JAKE SMITH, CONTRIBUTOR | July 12, 20237:43 AM ET

Read more at https://dailycaller.com/2023/07/12/united-nations-influence-agenda/

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SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images
  • The U.N. is planning to unveil sweeping policy proposals that would massively expand its influence.
  • The policies could attempt to impose strict regulations on individual democracies and put freedom of speech at risk, policy experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
  • “It is clearly an effort to empower the Secretary-General and the United Nations,” Brett Schaefer, senior researcher in International Regulatory Affairs at Heritage Foundation, said to the DCNF.

The United Nations (U.N.) is unveiling proposals for a massive expansion of its influence in the upcoming “Summit of the Future” conference in 2024, including policies that would grant the organization an “emergency platform” during global crisis events and a digital code of ethics to censor “misinformation.” The conference will bring together U.N. allied nations and non-governmental organizations to discuss a sweeping policy agenda that speaks to left-wing initiatives, like increasing the size of government, digital censorship and drastic pandemic and climate proposals. These policies signal a concerning expansion of the U.N.’s influence over individual democracies, according to policy experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

CAN YOU SAY “ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT”?

“Back when Americans called themselves Englishmen, we couldn’t abide being ruled by people we didn’t vote for and never saw,” Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, a government watchdog organization, said to the DCNF. “Self-government is in our national DNA. We elect representatives to enact the laws we live by… not so with the United Nations and other international and foreign organizations. That is why it is exceedingly dangerous for the United States to relinquish its sovereignty and allow any of these organizations the power to rule over us.”

In the event of a global crisis, such as a “major climactic event” or “future pandemic risk,” the emergency platform policy would give the U.N. the ability to “actively promote and drive an international response that places the principles of equity and solidarity at the center of its work,” according to the “Strengthening the International Response to Complex Global Shocks – An Emergency Platform” policy proposal.

The proposal was written by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who would have the authority to declare an emergency platform and extend it on his own whim if the policy was ratified.

“It is clearly an effort to empower the Secretary-General and the United Nations,” Brett Schaefer, senior researcher in International Regulatory Affairs at Heritage Foundation, said to the DCNF. “The Emergency Platform policy brief would grant the Secretary-General ‘standing authority to convene and operationalize’ a response to a broad array of international crises with minimal consultation with the member states, including the U.S.”

The emergency platform would also ensure “that participating actors make clear commitments that directly and immediately support the global response to a complex shock.” These participating actors include the U.N.’s member states like the U.S., China, and the U.K. (RELATED: Unearthed WHO Proposal Calls For Adopting ‘Social Listening’ Techniques To Combat ‘Infodemic,’ Misinformation)

“While the member states would not be compelled legally to abide by the recommendations of the Secretary-General, the pressure to ‘contribute meaningfully to the response and [be] held to account for delivery on those commitments’ would be immense,” said Schaefer. “The U.S. should be willing to respond positively to assist other nations in times of crisis, but this should be a decision made by our elected leaders, not driven from Turtle Bay.”

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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appears remotely at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland on July 6. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

Another one of the “Summit of the Future” proposals would seek to develop a “code of conduct” online that would demonetize and censor what the U.N. considers misinformation, titled “Information Integrity on Digital Platforms,” the DCNF previously reported.

The U.N. and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) – which is funded by the U.N. itself, as reported by the DCNF – cite multiple conservative news outlets as sources of misinformation while accrediting left-leaning sources as highly reliable, according to the GDI’s “Disinformation Risk Assessment.” For example, the GDI gave the New York Times, the Washington Post and BuzzFeed News “low” risk levels, while giving the Daily Wire, the New York Post and the American Conservative “high” risk levels.

“From health and gender equality to peace, justice, education and climate action, measures that limit the impact of mis- and disinformation and hate speech will boost efforts to achieve a sustainable future,” the U.N. Secretary-General wrote in the “Information Integrity on Digital Platforms” proposal. (RELATED: Obama Stresses ‘Need’ For ‘Digital Fingerprints’  To Crack Down On Information That ‘Is Not True’)

The U.N.’s definition of “misinformation” poses a major risk to free speech, Schaefer said.

“We have seen firsthand how efforts to repress ‘disinformation’ and ‘misinformation’ instead are misused to silence opposing opinions and repress inconvenient evidence – such as the Chinese lab leak theory on the origin of COVID,” Schaefer said. “It is hard to see any U.N. Code that would not run roughshod over the First Amendment.”

Chamberlain agreed and added that the U.N. has no basis to establish the policy in any democratic country.

“Americans still have the protections of the First Amendment that prohibit the government from infringing on their rights to free speech,” said Chamberlain. “Not only is the government barred from trampling on those rights, it is not allowed to outsource that trampling to others, not even to large, powerful international organizations, regardless of how highly regarded those organizations may be.”

Other policy proposals include a global vaccination plan for COVID-19, which would seek to administer a minimum of 11 billion doses worldwide and increase funding and authority to the World Health Organization.

“The independence, authority and financing of WHO must be strengthened,” wrote the U.N. Secretary-General in the “Our Common Agenda” report. “This includes greater financial stability and autonomy, based on fully unearmarked resources, increased funding and an organized replenishment process for the remainder of the budget.”

Another proposal seeks to enforce climate change initiatives by reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 “or sooner” via abolishing fossil fuels and coal energy worldwide and coercing financial actors to shift away “from high-emission sectors to the climate resilient and net zero economy.”

“We should be shoring up our populations, infrastructure, economies and societies to be resilient to climate change, yet adaptation and resilience continue to be seriously underfunded,” the U.N. Secretary-General said in the “Our Common Agenda” report.

Schaefer told the DCNF he remains skeptical that the U.N.’s climate plan is possible.

“China’s priority – and the priority of many other countries, especially developing countries – is to maximize economic growth and increase standards of living. To the extent that net zero and phasing out fossil fuels impede those goals, they will not abide by limitations,” Schaefer said.

The United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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International Politics

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Andrew Cuomo’s COVID Reign Has Been Devastating, And It’s Time For A Reckoning


Reported by Mike Lawler FEBRUARY 15, 2021

Read more at https://www.conservativereview.com/andrew-cuomos-covid-reign-has-been-devastating-and-its-time-for-a-reckoning-2650539894.html/

Andrew Cuomo’s COVID Reign Has Been Devastating, And It’s Time For A Reckoning

We need a full, thorough, and independent investigation with subpoenas to Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, the governor’s staff, and the governor himself.

A few weeks ago, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, without a hint of self-awareness, said, “Incompetent government kills people. More people died than needed to die in COVID.” Sadly, I couldn’t agree more.

While many in corporate media glorified Cuomo’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping create a cult of personality for him among Democrats across the country, an examination of his decision-making reveals that he failed New Yorkers on many fronts.

Cuomo was given near-unilateral emergency powers to tackle the pandemic, with the state legislature forfeiting all decision-making and responsibility to the governor and his team. Thus, Cuomo’s decisions and the repercussions of his actions fall squarely on his shoulders. First, and most jarring, is the revelation that the Cuomo administration’s decided to cover up the true cost of their Department of Health order on March 25 that sent COVID-positive patients back into nursing homes. That fateful order was subsequently deleted from the state’s Department of Health website in the beginning of the cover-up by the Cuomo administration.

Following that order, tens of thousands of nursing home residents lost their lives and the Cuomo administration moved into overdrive on blocking transparency efforts, shutting down inquiries at every turn, and even releasing a phony report absolving them of any responsibility. Two weeks ago, we learned in a report by New York Attorney General Tish James, a Democrat, that Cuomo’s administration hid the true cost to lives of this non-scientific order, under-counting nursing home deaths by almost 50 percent. Just this weekend, we learned the Cuomo administration intentionally hid and withheld information from federal authorities.

We need a full, thorough, and independent investigation with subpoenas to Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, the governor’s staff, and the governor himself.

It also speaks volumes that for months on end, the governor stonewalled transparency efforts by families that lost loved ones while mocking their efforts. His cruelty in this regard was on full display in January when he said “Who cares?” when asked about the death toll.

We care, governor. Those families deserve answers and justice.

Second, Cuomo’s administration forced out many of the public health experts who should have been developing New York’s vaccine plan, deciding instead to recruit expensive consulting firms. This led to an incredibly slow, ineffectual, and confusing rollout of the vaccine. My legislative office is still receiving daily calls from seniors older than 80 who simply cannot get an appointment no matter how hard they look.

While media outlets continue to sing Cuomo’s praises, the reality on the ground is that his top-down, Soviet-esque management style has hampered the efficacy and speed of the vaccine rollout, tying local health departments in knots. Every county health department in New York already has a mass vaccination plan, yet the governor refused for weeks to let them use those plans, instead of forcing them into the system created by his high-priced and high-brow consulting firms, all at taxpayers’ expense.

Third, Cuomo’s extensive lockdowns and subsequent non-scientific decisions to limit capacity in houses of worship shut down indoor dining, and restrict in-person learning (even temporarily) have hurt millions more. Setting unconstitutional caps on houses of worship was rejected by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision, a case that shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place. Many houses of worship, spanning all types of faiths, were already setting limits on themselves to ensure the health and safety of their worshippers. Recommending that they be shut down or capped was ludicrous, and an affront to the basic right to freedom of religion in our nation.

Another group whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed by Cuomo’s insatiable desire for control is restaurant owners and restaurant workers. Shutting down indoor dining in New York City made zero sense at the time, with people being infected at less than 1.5 percent (lower than the state positivity rate) when dining indoors. Now, Cuomo has reopened dining when the infection rate has climbed significantly.

These decisions are not being made based on science, but what the governor “feels” is the right move. That is a recipe for disaster that cannot be allowed to continue. Cuomo’s actions are driven by his need for control, his ego, and his ability to legislate freely, as Democrats in the state legislature have completely abdicated all their duties as a co-equal branch of government.

Finally, it’s clear that New York students are rapidly falling behind other students around the globe. The lack of in-person interaction and learning is having devastating impacts on our children’s academic and social futures, as they are not learning the important lessons we all learned in grade school. To the governor’s credit, he didn’t outright ban in-person learning, but he certainly hasn’t been a champion for it either. Hybrid-learning programs are still leaving our kids behind, and his silence on this subject is deafening. I’d hazard a guess he’s spent more time bashing former President Trump at his press conferences than he has talked about the needs of our students.

In short, the governor’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of disastrous for the millions of New Yorkers who call the Empire State home. While CNN, MSNBC, and other major news outlets remain busy pumping up Cuomo’s ego and image to the American public, Americans need to hear that his decisions cost tens of thousands of New Yorkers their lives, hundreds of thousands of students their educational advancement, and millions of New Yorkers their livelihoods.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mike Lawler is a member of the New York Assembly.

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