New York Times: Feeling Spurned by Trump, U.N. Sees Redemption in Biden and Team
“After four years of disparagement and disengagement by the Trump administration, the United Nations is infused with expectations that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will restore much of what his predecessor dismantled. … The president-elect has vowed to reverse Mr. Trump’s widely criticized decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization, the U.N.’s public health arm, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. He has pledged to restore the funding that Mr. Trump ended to the United Nations Population Fund, a leading provider of family planning and women’s reproductive services, a cut that was part of a conservative-led policy to penalize groups that offer abortion counseling. Mr. Biden’s choice for U.N. ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a veteran American diplomat with vast experience in Africa — and his plan to restore that position to Cabinet rank, another reversal of Trump administration policy — have also sent powerful signals about the president-elect’s views toward the United Nations…” (Gladstone, 12/3).