In a vote of 12 in favor, the U.S. used its veto power to prevent Palestine from becoming a full member of the United Nations (U.N.).
Inputs that matter: For a draft resolution to pass, the Council must have at least nine members in favor, and none of its permanent members – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States – use their veto power.
- Palestine has been a Permanent Observer at the U.N. since 2012, before which it was an observer in the U.N. General Assembly.
The opportunity: Meanwhile, Argentina has submitted a request for the country to become a "global partner" of NATO.
- President Javier Milei has repeatedly said he wants to protect his country's sovereignty claim on the Falkland Islands.
- In January, U.K. Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron met with the Argentine President to discuss the islands' future. According to the Foreign Office, "The U.K. position and ongoing support for the Falkland Islanders' right to self-determination remains unchanged."
- On Thursday, Defense Minister Luis Alfonso Petri submitted the formal request. He said on X: "I met with the Deputy Secretary General of NATO Geoana. I transmitted a letter of intent to him, which contains a request from Argentina to become a global partner of this organization."
Zoom in: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 and is a group of 32 countries from Europe and North America that exists to protect the people and territory of its members.
- Originally meant as collective security against the Soviet Union, NATO regards an attack on one member as an attack on all.
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attended the recent G7 summit that discussed sanctions on Iran.
- Colombia is currently NATO's only partner country in Latin America.
- Any decision on a formal partnership would require consensus by all 32 Allies.
Between the lines: NATO Allies agreed at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine would become a member of NATO, noting that its next step would be to apply to the Membership Action Plan (MAP).
- NATO recently declared, "The Russian Federation is the most significant and direct threat to Allies' security and peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area."
- "Today, relations between NATO and Russia are at their lowest point since the Cold War."
Follow the money: Newsweek states, "The Russia-Ukraine war, now in its third year, has been at the heart of tensions between NATO and China. China hasn't officially backed Russia's war in Ukraine but has provided economic assistance to the Kremlin."
- The most recent partnership, AUKUS, is a trilateral security agreement for the Indo-Pacific region between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to assist Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.
- Created in 2021, the group is under the close eye of China, which worries the group will become a NATO for the Pacific.
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Read More
- https://twitter.com/current_monitor/status/1781062196358754499
- https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148731
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/19/israels-war-on-gaza-live-us-veto-at-un-unfair-unethical-pa-president
- https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1889927/argentina-nato-javier-milei
- https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_224873.htm
- https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_192648.htm
- https://www.newsweek.com/china-nato-ukraine-russia-war-dialogue-1879500
- https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/11/sewage-cold-war-chinas-expanding-narratives-nato