https://archive.ph/5bZHE
>During talks on disarmament at the U.N.’s Geneva headquarters last month, alarm bells went off in the chamber to indicate that delegates had infringed new cost-cutting rules that restrict the length of meetings.
>“I was really concerned about the lights,” said the Pakistani chair, Ambassador Khalil Hashmi, who eventually managed to get a limited agreement after assembling participants in a huddle.
>The United Nations has a $768 million hole in its $2.85 billion 2019 general budget because 51 countries have not paid all their fees, including two big paymasters: the United States and Brazil.
>Diplomats and analysts say the cash crisis points to some states’ weak commitment to multilateral diplomacy, as evidenced by the suspension of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization’s top appeals court and U.N. climate talks in Madrid last week reaching only a limited deal.
>Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert at the International Crisis Group think-tank, said cash shortages were a symptom of a broader “crisis of political confidence” in the institution.
>Some critics say the United Nations could spend less on perks and bloated, often tax-free, salaries for senior officials.
Top fucking kek.