New United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley arrived at U.N. headquarters in New York City for the first time Friday, and wasted no time in lashing out at the international community and U.S. allies.
The former South Carolina governor, confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, declared: "Our goal with the administration is to show value at the U.N., and the way that we'll show value is to show strength, show our voice, have the backs of our allies, and make sure that our allies have our back, as well."
Ominously, Haley added, "For those that don't have our back, we're taking names—we will make points to respond to that accordingly."
Haley also appeared to threaten a shake-up of the U.S. relationship to the U.N., in keeping with the Trump administration's plans to drastically slash U.S. funding to the international body.
"And this administration is prepared and ready to go in—to have me go in, look at the U.N., and everything that's working, we're going to make it better; everything that's not working, we're going to try and fix; and anything that seems to be obsolete and not necessary, we're going to do away with," Haley said.
As Common Dreams reported, Haley has no previous foreign policy experience.
Watch Haley's full remarks here:
Full remarks from new US ambassador to the UN @nikkihaley - 78 seconds, no questions. https://t.co/MSaIsHfObi
— Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) January 27, 2017
Meanwhile, likely U.S. ambassador to the European Union Ted Malloch echoed Haley's hostility toward U.S. allies with threats to "tame" the E.U., comparing it to the Soviet Union, in comments on BBC's "This Week" on Friday.
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When asked why he wanted to serve as U.S. ambassador to the E.U., Malloch said: "I had in a previous career a diplomatic post where I helped bring down the Soviet Union. So maybe there's another union that needs a little taming."
Malloch is a lobbyist, an ardent Brexit supporter, and a close ally of Trump. Earlier this month, he urged politicians in post-Brexit Britain to read Trump's The Art of the Deal before seeking a new trade agreement with the U.S.
