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heather nauert
Trump's Pick of Wealthy Climate Denier for UN Ambassador Decried as 'Slap in the Face' to Planet and Humanity
Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter said she is "disgusted but not surprised" by the president's nomination of Kelly Knight Craft, who is married to a billionaire coal magnate
Feb 26, 2019
Environmentalists on Wednesday said they are appalled by President Donald Trump's decision to promote yet another "anti-science, anti-climate, pro-pollution" figure to a key diplomatic role during such a perilous moment for the planet.
Trump nominated GOP mega-donor and climate denier Kelly Knight Craft as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations last week.
"We have little confidence that Ms. Craft will be a competent advocate for clean air, safe water, and adequate public health either here or abroad if her nomination is confirmed."
--Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch"Trump's nomination of Kelly Craft for U.N. ambassador is a slap in the face of climate science and human rights," Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said in a statement.
Hauter said she is "disgusted but not surprised" by Trump's decision--which comes after the president's previous nominee, former State Department spokesperson and Fox News commentator Heather Nauert, withdrew her name from consideration--and added, "[A]t a time when the United States should be working harder than ever with the rest of the world to address our deepening climate crisis, to select an admitted climate denier to represent us before the U.N. is especially egregious."
"We have little confidence that Ms. Craft will be a competent advocate for clean air, safe water, and adequate public health either here or abroad if her nomination is confirmed," Hauter concluded. "We strongly urge the Senate to reject Ms. Craft's nomination out of hand."
Both Craft and her billionaire coal magnate husband are major donors to the Republican Party and Trump. According to the New York Times, "the couple donated more than $2 million to Mr. Trump's candidacy and inauguration."
Craft, who is currently serving as U.S. ambassador to Canada, made headlines in 2017 after she said during an interview with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation that she respects "both sides" of climate science, despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is driving global warming and threatening the future of the planet.
"I believe there are scientists on both sides that are accurate," Craft declared. "I think that both sides have their own results from their studies and I appreciate and I respect both sides of the science."
Watch:
\u201cWatch Trump\u2019s UN nominee Kelly Craft say about climate change, \u201cI believe there are scientists on both sides that are accurate.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think both sides have, you know, their own results from their studies, & I appreciate & respect both sides of the science.\u201d\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1550884439
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After Rejecting US Resolution Condemning Hamas, UN Easily Passes Resolution Condemning Israeli Occupation
After her resolution fails, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley asks why other nations can't just "get over" the illegal occupation
Dec 06, 2018
In a blow to Nikki Haley in her final weeks as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation just after the body rejected a U.S. resolution condemning Hamas.
Haley's resolution, which, per a procedural vote, needed a two-thirds majority for adoption, received 87 votes in favor to 57 against. There were 33 abstentions. It condemned "Hamas for repeatedly firing rockets into Israel and for inciting violence," and called for the group to stop using "airborne incendiary devices."
Gaza, which Hamas controls, has been described as "the scene of a humanitarian disaster" as a result of Israeli policies, and Israel's military assaults against the territory--facilitated by U.S. weaponry--have been globally blasted as "massacres" and tantamount to war crimes.
Denouncing the vote, Haley asked her "Arab brothers and sisters" to "let go" of their "hatred of Israel," later adding that "both sides" would do well to "let this go."
An Irish resolution, meanwhile, entitled "Comprehensive, Just, and Lasting Peace in the Middle East," easily passed with 156 votes in favor to six against with 12 abstentions. Australia, Israel, Liberia, Marshall Islands, and Nauru joined the United States in voting against it. It called for an end to Israel's occupation of Palestine including East Jerusalem, and affirmed support for a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders.
Ireland's ambassador to the U.N. Geraldine Byrne Nason said that "settlement activity, violence, and terrorism" are all barriers to achieving such peace. She added, "A settlement of the conflict must meet Israeli and Palestinian security needs and Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, and resolve all final status issues."
President Donald Trump announced Friday his intention to nominate State Department spokeswoman and former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert to fill Haley's role. When it comes to Israel, Nauert will likely bring continuity. According to the Jerusalem Post, "In her briefings, when asked about controversial Israeli policies or decisions, she almost always defers to the Israeli government."
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'To Defend the Indefensible,' Trump Picks Former Fox News Anchor to Push Dangerous US Foreign Policy at United Nations
"The worrying aspect of the U.S. is not a particular appointment but the aggressive, unilateralist foreign policy of the Trump administration. Global peace itself is being put at risk."
Dec 06, 2018
As President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that he will nominate State Department spokeswoman and former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, critics argued that while the president's decision to select someone with zero diplomatic experience to represent the U.S. before the international community is "appalling," the belligerent foreign policy and contempt for human rights that Nauert will be in charge of selling is immeasurably more dangerous.
"The U.S. is breaking treaties, cutting foreign aid, imposing unilateral sanctions, threatening other countries, expanding the arms race, and gravely endangering the global environment. Global peace itself is being put at risk."
--Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University
"Appointing a Fox News talking head to represent our country at the United Nations is completely in character [for Trump]," argued Brian Dixon, senior vice president for media and government relations for the Population Connection Action Fund. "Nauert brings no experience, no understanding and, frankly, no interest in learning. Her main claim to this role is her willingness to defend the indefensible as a spokesperson."
Nauert's nomination comes as the Trump administration is ratcheting up tensions with Iran, defending Saudi Arabia's brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its continued assault on Yemen, and contributing to the climate crisis by withdrawing from the Paris accord and propagandizing on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.
In an email to Common Dreams, Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs argued that it is these broad and dangerous developments--not the appointment of Nauert or any other individual--that should be the deepest cause for alarm among advocates for peace and global cooperation.
"The worrying aspect of the U.S. is not a particular appointment but the aggressive, unilateralist foreign policy of the Trump administration," Sachs said. "The U.S. is breaking treaties, cutting foreign aid, imposing unilateral sanctions, engaging in beggar-thy-neighbor trade protectionism, threatening other countries, expanding the arms race, and gravely endangering the global environment. Global peace itself is being put at risk."
If confirmed by the Senate, Nauert will take the place of Nikki Haley, the current warmongering U.N. ambassador who announced in October that she is resigning from her post at the end of the year.
As The Jerusalem Post noted, Haley was a staunch and unequivocal defender of Israel's brutal occupation of Palestinian territory and America's broader interventionist and imperial foreign policy. Nauert is expected to bring more of the same.
"In her briefings, when asked about controversial Israeli policies or decisions, she almost always defers to the Israeli government," the Post noted.
According to CNN, Trump ultimately favored Nauert over other candidates because of her unwavering willingness to defend him and effectively peddle the White House's aggressive line on television.
"She's excellent," Trump said of Nauert on Thursday. "She's been with us a long time. She's been a supporter for a long time."
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