Cue fireworks as 'lord of misrule' Donald Trump chairs UN security council

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/22/trump-un-security-council-chair-world-worries

Cue fireworks as ‘lord of misrule’ Donald Trump chairs UN security council

Simon Tisdall

Sat 22 Sep 2018 14.00 BST Last modified on Sat 22 Sep 2018 18.15 BST

In medieval English folklore, the lord of misrule was an anarchic, half-crazed clown who presided over an annual Feast of Fools. This week the UN security council, that most august and sober of international bodies, looks set to revive the tradition with its own riotous diplomatic banquet. In the chair and wielding the gavel for the first time: none other than Donald Trump, 45th US president, former reality TV host, and modern-day lord of misrule.
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Although the UN gathering will discuss a range of worthy subjects, including poverty and climate change, drug trafficking and gender equality, all eyes will inevitably be on Trump’s antics. The White House has already indicated that his main target on Tuesday will be Iran. Trump will accuse Tehran, in trademark confrontational terms, of supporting terrorism, lying about nuclear weapons, and fomenting regional instability.
(snip)

Iran will again top the agenda – because the country whose turn it is to chair the council, in this case the US, chooses what it debates. Trump is expected to try to browbeat members into backing swingeing new US sanctions on Tehran.

And that’s when the trouble could start. All the other permanent members of the council – China, Russia, the UK and France – have deplored Trump’s decision to withdraw from the UN-endorsed, multilateral nuclear pact with Iran. The EU and others are working to minimise the impact of sanctions. They all believe it is better to engage with Iran rather than ostracise it, and despite denials, they all suspect Trump’s ultimate aim is regime change. US officials, fearing a major embarrassment, have already broadened the council’s agenda to encompass nuclear proliferation in general. But if Trump resorts to the disrespectful language, blatant untruths and bullying that have come to characterise his presidency, he may provoke a powerful backlash.

Far from supporting his claim to global leadership, the ensuing row could starkly dramatise American isolation. And that would hand a victory to Iran. It is even possible that Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, who is attending the general assembly, could come to the security council to defend his country. That is unlikely, but Rouhani is not one to duck a fight. At last year’s assembly he roundly denounced Trump as a “rogue newcomer” peddling “ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric”. It was America’s president, not Iran, who threatened world peace, he said.
(snip)

Trump’s contemptuous treatment of the UN sets a demoralising example for less powerful countries that value it for the voice it gives them in world affairs. It is also exacerbating a negative trend among leaders of the great powers: a tendency to bypass an often deadlocked UN over the big geopolitical questions of the day (such as Iraq and Syria). The leaders of China, Russia and India will not be in New York this week. While Trump acts out and plays the fool, they will be busy taking responsibility for global leadership off America’s hands.

[pazzyanne]

1. I tremble with doubts about what could happen at the UN meeting.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. This is a frightening prospect

Isn't there golf that needs playing somewhere??

[Honeycombe8]

3. Why are they letting him chair the meeting? nt

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

4. And Trump continues destoying the alphabet: DOJ, FBI, NAFTA, TPP, NATO, UK, EU, G7 and now UN

Thank God he doesn't read. He'd have bigger words to destroy.

[tanyev]

5. They're letting him wield a gavel?

Ain't nuthin' gonna happen at that meeting except a lot of gavel banging.

[LakeSuperiorView]

6. His gavel.

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