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Trump to pull US out of UNESCO over DEI policies, pro-Palestinian, pro-China tilt

Trump to pull US out of UNESCO over DEI policies, pro-Palestinian, pro-China tilt

New York Post2 days ago
WASHINGTON — President Trump is pulling the US out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), citing its anti-America and anti-Israel leanings as well as its woke agenda, The Post has learned.
Trump ordered a 90-day review of America's presence in UNESCO back in February, with special emphasis on probing any 'anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization.'
Upon conducting the review, administration officials took issue with UNESCO's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies as well as its pro-Palestinian and pro-China bias, a White House official told The Post.
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5 President Trump will pull the US out of UNESCO again due to their anti-Israel and pro-China stances.
AFP via Getty Images
'President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO – which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November,' White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
'This President will always put America First and ensure our country's membership in all international organizations aligns with our national interests.'
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Among the faults cited are UNESCO's publication of an 'anti-racism toolkit' in 2023 and their 2024 'Transforming MEN'talities' initiative, the former of which called on member states to adopt 'anti-racist' policies and compete in a 'race to the top' to be the foremost social justice advocate, answering questions about the history of racism in their jurisdictions and then working to ensure equity.
5 A view of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters on July 10, 2025 in Paris, France.
VCG via Getty Images
The 'MEN'talities' initiative published a report highlighting the organization's work in India aimed at reshaping how 'men think about gender issues' — especially 'harmful gender norms.'
The gender program also published a video game report last year that looked into how games could 'promote gender equality.'
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'It is not only about controlling the negative impacts, but also relying on video games to address socio-cultural stereotypes and encourage positive, antidiscriminatory behaviors,' Assistant-Director General for the Social and Human Sciences Gabriela Ramos said at the time.
5 Aerial view of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
VCG via Getty Images
Meanwhile, UNESCO used its Executive Board to force through anti-Israel and anti-Jewish actions, including designating Jewish holy sites as 'Palestinian World Heritage' sites, the White House official said.
UNESCO frequently uses language stating that Palestine is 'occupied' by Israel and condemns the Jewish state's war on Hamas, without criticizing the terror group's brutal reign over Gaza.
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In addition, Beijing is the second largest funder of UNESCO, with Chinese nationals like deputy director-general Xing Qu in key leadership positions.
5 'This President will always put America First and ensure our country's membership in all international organizations aligns with our national interests,' Anna Kelly said.
Gripas Yuri/ABACA/Shutterstock
'China has leveraged its influence over UNESCO to advance global standards that are favorable to Beijing's interests,' the official said.
The Chinese Communist Party has particularly been criticized for using its influence in UNESCO to downplay the role of minorities like Uyghur Muslims in the nation's history.
Trump initially ordered the US out of UNESCO in 2017, then as now citing anti-Israel bias.
5 Former President Joe Biden ordered the US to rejoin UNESCO in 2023 with the promise of repaying over $600 million in membership dues.
VCG via Getty Images
The US first withdrew from the UN organization in 1983 under former President Ronald Reagan, saying at the time that the organization 'has extraneously politicized virtually every subject it deals with. It has exhibited hostility toward a free society, especially a free market and a free press, and it has demonstrated unrestrained budgetary expansion.'
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Former President Joe Biden made the US rejoin UNESCO in 2023, arguing an American presence was needed to counter China's growing hold on the organization.
The Biden administration also vowed to pay back more than $600 million in dues incurred since the US stopped contributing in 2011 due to the inclusion of Palestine as a member.
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Illustration Representing the GENIUS Act, First US Legislative Bill All of the crypto-sphere is atwitter with the implications of the final passage of the 'Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act'' or the ''GENIUS Act''. I went through the text of the act that was signed into law last week. Contrary to what the boosters of the bill believe, the implications for related digital assets and the economy are very mixed at best. As the first legislation to directly address one form of crypto-assets, the act is seminal. Of course, my own compatriots at the various blockchain companies and organizations are ecstatic over the act. It is best to temper your enthusiasm due to the details in the bill. First, the act focuses on payment stablecoins, and for other purposes. 'For other purposes' could cover an unspecified number of purposes. 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Other details including breaches of these limits are punted to a Stablecoin Review Board, making for an open-ended set of rules. The act constantly invokes the Review Board and the Treasury Secretary who is the leader of the Stablecoin Review Board giving them tremendous leeway for rule setting. Neither USDT nor USDC qualify as US payment stablecoins yet according to this act. USDT because Tether is based offshore, USDC does not have a bank charter yet. However, a safe harbor provision may get Circle off the hook while their charter is pending. As soon as USDC is approved by the OCC, they will be instantly not in compliance to the act, as USDC is more than $50 Billion in issuance. As we can see, current stablecoins are not usually used for payments. Where Are Payment Stablecoins? Payment stablecoins means a digital asset that is designed to be used as a means of payment or settlement; and the issuer is obligated to convert, redeem, or repurchase for a fixed amount of monetary value. 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Stability Of Stablecoins Any stablecoin whose basic function is stability with respect to a single fiat currency can only be assured by holding liquid reserves denominated in that fiat. For USD based stablecoins the act explicitly enjoins this to be cash, treasuries maturing in 93 days or less and repos as well as reverse repos based on these instruments. The act also warns against concentration risk. Significant portions of these reserves cannot be in one single institution. We have already seen this scenario play out during the collapse of SVB, which custodied more than $3B of Circle's assets. Only a last minute expansion by the FDIC of the limit to 'unlimited' saved Circle and many other startups. A Stablecoin functions as one of the representations of fiat money that it is based on. In the United States that would be the United Stated Dollar. The other forms available to retail participants are bank deposits and bank notes. Par price, that is the price between the different representations ties all these forms into the singleness of money. Par is 1:1, that is one dollar of bank deposits is equal to one dollar of currency. Stablecoins must follow this. Professor Mehrling has discussed this in a money view of stablecoins. There is no discussion of par in the act. The reserves which are a touch point between stablecoins and traditional markets is where the risk of contagion can start. The restricted redemption of Money Market Funds by BNP Paribas (my previous employer) in 2007 foreshadowed the 2008 financial crisis. A run on a stablecoin issuer could initiate a rapid sell-off in the reserves, including short duration treasury bills. A negative feedback loop on this sort of act can cascade into multiple assets as treasuries are the basis of fixed income and credit markets. We have seen that only bazookas with tremendous firepower through the buying backstop of an institution like the Fed can stem this blood-letting. These are reasonable scenarios to assess the risk of any stablecoin issuer. Additionally stablecoins are not protected by the FDIC, which can cause the panic to spread through retail investors in a very short period of time, maybe even minutes. The Fed will have to ride to the rescue to prevent the larger financial system from collapsing. How Do Issuers Make Money? No big issuers of Stablecoins currently pay interest. Most of the money made by the issuers is based on the yield difference between issuing a zero interest stablecoin and the reserves that they hold. This is the classic example of other people's money making money for your enterprise. In the case of Tether, this payout is in the billions and makes the most money per employee of any enterprise, except for shadowy enterprises such as drug dealing or other illicit activities. If we had negative interest rates on Treasuries or other qualified digital assets, this source of yield farming by the issuers will dry up. Issuers will have to increase their fees, they might also slide into loss-making enterprises. The 48 pages of the act deals with the seniority of Stablecoin claims, guidelines on custody, commingling of assets and other ideas from traditional finance. The Genius Of The Act It is to convince the crypto-universe that it is beneficial to them while advancing traditional institutions for issuing, custodying and exchanging stablecoins. Traditional banking or non-banking institutions who already have bank charters, scale and know-how for customer on-boarding, AML and KYC are the winners. It is to allow a form of private money to come into being and shut out the issuance of CBDCs. It is to remain relatively mum on par price which is only implied. It is to convince the world that the velocity of money unleashed by the near instant settlement at low cost will not have monetary policy implications.

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