Noam Chomsky, "Letter >From Lexington [On Media Forgetfulness of Past U.S. Subversion of U.N. Peacekeeping], Lies of Our Times, November 1990.
This letter mocks the New York Times and other mainstream media for conveniently forgetting everything it has known about U.S. efforts to prevent the U.N. from intervening against international aggressions supported by the U.S. and/ or Israel. For the most part he points out how the U.S. vetoes and votes against the overwhelming majority of the Security Council and General Assembly and thus creates double standards, one for the U.S. and its allies and one for the rest of the world.
First Chomsky begins by quoting the Boston Globe and New York Times as they (as representatives of the American media) make the United Nations sound as though it is finally turning into an effective tool for American foreign policy in the early 90s. The U.S. media would make the Soviet Union appear as though it was the main impediment for progress internationally by its casting vetoes or voting against the majority when in fact since 1970 it was the U.S. that was far in the lead for casting vetoes. Furthermore the U.S. would often vote alone or with one to two other countries (almost always Israel) against General Assembly resolutions against the overwhelming majority of the rest of the world. In contrast the Soviet Union would usually vote along with the overwhelming majority in both the Security Council and General Assembly. Often the U.S. media would denounce an action taken by another country which would have a resolution passed against it which would achieve media attention (ex. Iraq surrounding foreign embassies in Kuwait, Soviet Union invading Afghanistan) yet would conveniently not give attention to parallel actions taken by the U.S. that also have had resolutions passed against it (U.S. attacking Nicaraguan embassy in Panama, U.S. actions in Nicaragua and Panama and Grenada). Basically he shows that the U.S. media distorts the American worldview by forgetting what the U.S. actually does and also he makes it clear that the U.S. prevents much of the United Nation’s initiatives in many areas in order to protect its own freedom to engage in what under international law (and even our own law) would and are crimes.
A sample of United States vetoes of United Nation Security
Council resolutions:
-U.S. vetoed resolution (voted 14-1) calling for a fact-finding mission to investigate abuses against the Palestinians in occupied territories. June 1990
-U.S. vetoed resolutions condemning Israel’s attack on Lebanon, proposing UN role in peace negotiations and calling on Israel to abide by the Geneva Conventions. 1982
-U.S. vetoed resolution deploring Israel’s violation of Palestinian human rights. June 1989
-U.S. vetoed resolution calling upon the Secretary General to keep the Security Council informed about the Central American crisis. The United States said that the resolution would “breed cynicism” and would harm the United Nations b/c it undermines the “Inter-American system” and mocks the search for peace; Saddam Hussein adopted this same stance regarding Kuwait. April 1982
-U.S. vetoed resolution condemning its attack on the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama. NYT editors forgot this one as they strongly denounced Iraq for surrounding foreign embassies in Kuwait calling Saddam Hussein a war criminal because of that action. 1989
-U.S. vetoed resolution calling on all states to observe international law.
The United States is number one in vetoing Security Council resolutions with the United Kingdom a distant second and France third.
A sample of United States votes against the vast majority of the General Assembly (and most of the World):
-U.S. voted against the General Assembly’s condemnation of Israel for “killing and wounding defenseless Palestinians”. Vote 130-2(US, Israel) October 1980
-U.S. voted against the calling for an end to hostilities when Israel invaded Lebanon. Only Israel voted with the U.S. June 1982
-U.S. voted against resolution condemning U.S. support for the contra army in Nicaragua. Again only Israel votes with the U.S. December 1989
-U.S. voted against resolution opposing weapons in outer space. 154-1 (US) no abstainers December 1987
-U.S. voted against comprehensive test ban of nuclear weapons. 143-2 (US, France) 1987
-U.S. voted against halt to all nuclear explosions. 137-3 (US, UK, France) 1987
None of this was reported in the US media, and at the same time Reagan was being extolled for being a “peacemaker” for disarmament resolutions. The NYT, Washington Post and 3 major networks also overlooked General Assembly resolution calling for the US to comply w/ World Court condemnation of US was against Nicaragua.
“The UN is a good little boy when it follows our orders.” The media distort our perception of reality and “ignore real history in favor of self-serving fairy tales.”