UN has great potential, but right now just a club to have good time: Trump | World News - Hindustan Times
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UN has great potential, but right now just a club to have good time: Trump

ByAP, West Palm Beach, Florida
Dec 27, 2016 10:41 AM IST

President-elect Donald Trump is questioning the effectiveness of the United Nations, saying it's just a club for people to "have a good time".

Days after the United Nations voted to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Donald Trump questioned its effectiveness on Monday, saying it’s just a club for people to “have a good time”.

President-elect Donald Trump is questioning the effectiveness of the United Nations, saying it's just a club for people to "have a good time".(AP file photo)
President-elect Donald Trump is questioning the effectiveness of the United Nations, saying it's just a club for people to "have a good time".(AP file photo)

The president-elect wrote on Twitter:

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On Friday, Trump warned, “

Trump takes the office on January 20.

The decision by the Obama administration to abstain from Friday’s UN vote brushed aside Trump’s demands that the US exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations with Israel’s leadership.

Trump told The Associated Press last December that he wanted to be “very neutral” on Israel-Palestinian issues. But his tone became decidedly more pro-Israel as the presidential campaign progressed. He has spoken disparagingly of Palestinians, saying they have been “taken over” by or are condoning militant groups.

Trump’s tweet on Monday about the UN ignores much of the work that goes on in the 193-member global organization.

Read | New UN chief to be sworn in amid uncertainty over Donald Trump

This year the UN Security Council has approved over 70 legally binding resolutions, including new sanctions on North Korea and measures tackling conflicts and authorizing the UN’s far-flung peacekeeping operations around the world. The General Assembly has also approved dozens of resolutions on issues, like the role of diamonds in fueling conflicts; condemned human rights abuses in Iran and North Korea; and authorized an investigation of alleged war crimes in Syria.

Trump’s criticism of the UN is by no means unique. While the organization does engage in large-scale humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts, its massive bureaucracy has long been a source of controversy. The organization has been accused by some Western governments of being inefficient and frivolous, while developing nations have said it is overly influenced by wealthier nations.

Trump tweeted later Monday, “The world was gloomy before I won — there was no hope. Now the market is up nearly 10% and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars!”

Markets are up since Trump won the general election, although not quite by that much. The Standard & Poor’s 500 is up about 6% since Election Day, while the Dow has risen more than 8%.

As for holiday spending, auditing and accounting firm Deloitte projected in September that total 2016 holiday sales were expected to exceed $1 trillion, representing a 3.6% to 4.0% increase in holiday sales from November through January.

The president-elect is spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He had no public schedule Monday.

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