Of course Obama would love him, they are both socialists who believe in distributing the world’s refugees throughout wealthy western countries. (And redistributing your wealth to the third world!)
U.S. President Barack Obama (R) delivers remarks to reporters as he welcomes U.N. Secretary General-designate Antonio Guterres (C), of Portugal, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst http://mobile.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSKBN13R23Z
Yesterday Obama welcomed Antonio Guterres to the White House, here at Reuters:
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said he was confident that United Nations secretary general-elect Antonio Guterres would be an effective leader of the international organization.
“He has an extraordinary reputation,” Obama told reporters ahead of his meeting at the White House with Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal.
[….]
Obama and Guterres were expected to discuss cooperation between the United States and the United Nations.
Guterres said he was ready to forge a relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
He said he was totally committed “to work closely with the United States in the present administration” and “also with the next administration.”
Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has named South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who has relatively little foreign policy experience, as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Continue reading here.
We will try to stay on top of this, becauseas I said here, Nikki Haley has demonstrated weakness when it comes to refugees being admitted to the US. Will she succumb to the arguments Guterres will surely make: Gov. Haley your family benefited from immigration to America, are you going to deny that same privilege to _____ (pick an ethnic group!). And, I have a suspicion that Senator Lindsey (Open Borders) Graham will be hovering behind the curtain.
As UN High Commissioner for Refugees for the past ten years, we naturally followed Guterres’ career, go here for more.
Heard him speak in Washington, here, in 2015.
All over the country, as we have been reporting, refugee advocates are having pow-wows and crying sessions about what Donald Trump might do about refugees on January 21st.
Many of those advocates have gotten comfortable, and felt safe in their jobs, through several Presidents including Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama, but all that is expected to change.
This is a story fromNew Hampshire Public Radio (Clinton country) where experts try to predict what is coming.
The first quotes are from Chris George from the New Haven, CT resettlement agency. We told you about him here last week. He is hoping we still take in Obama’s last wish—110,000 this fiscal year. Asst. Professor Ruxandra Paul (Amherst): Trump on solid ground to cut flow of refugees, but she worries that other countries will follow suit. However, one thing never mentioned is that we are far and away the world leader in PERMANENTLY resettling refugees, most countries, including most European countries, do not admit permanent refugees.
Then we hear from a law professor who argues that we have given Presidents too much power. As far as the Refugee Act of 1980goes, the crafters of the law (all Dems) gave the President power. Congress was expected to “consult” and weigh in, but that body has until very recently ignored its role.
(Only Senator Sessions held a required hearing on Obama’s plan, the House has been silent under Rep. Trey Gowdy’s chairmanship of the immigration subcommittee.) New Hampshire Public Radio:
“A president can exercise the highest level of authority, when it comes to border control or foreign policy,” says Sudha Setty from Western New England University Law. “So in terms of setting that refugee ceiling for future fiscal years, future President Trump does have the authority to set that ceiling very low.”
Setty said Trump’s freedom to exercise sweeping decisions, like banning Muslims from entering the U.S. continues a disturbing trend of the last two administrations.
“The lesson of the last 15 years has been that we have given the president a tremendous amount of power. And we have not put into place a lot of accountability measures when it comes to anything that is deemed to be national security or terrorism or national security related, and that’s not changing any time soon.”
Next up is another assistant professorwith a little nugget that is useful. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees gets $1.5 BILLION a year from us (and not mentioned here is the fact that the UN is choosing most of our refugees).
Amherst College Political Scientist Ruxandra Paul is watching both sides of the Atlantic right now. She says if U.S. leadership changes direction on its decades long commitment to refugee resettlement, more global uncertainty is sure to come.
“Donald Trump has been suggesting that the US has contributed too much and that allies from western Europe are not covering their share of the burden.”
Last year the U.S. gave the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) more than $1.5 billion. The European Union next in line, followed by several European countries, gave in the hundreds of millions. [We gave a half a billion here just in July—ed]
From a legal perspective President Donald Trump will be on solid ground if he chooses to lower the refugee ceiling. If he does, Paul says, it’s possible other countries will do likewise.
Nikki Haley?
In light of that bit of information, that the UNHCR gets $1.5 billion a year from us, is Nikki Haley going to be tough enough and would she be able to deal with the refugee issuewhich The News & Observer, a North Carolina paper, says is one of four major UN issues she will have to confront?
Will Senator Lindsey (Open Borders!) Graham be coaching from behind the curtain?
Ambassador to the UN is not a little out-of-the-way job and will depend greatly on who Trump picks for the Secretary of State which she will be reporting to! Placing Haley there is not putting her in a place to simply keep enemies close. A deputy assistant job in the Labor Department would have been a better fit. If Trump does go hardline on refugees and wants the UN funding cut would Haley resign and cause him a PR embarrassment down the road? I think she would (and the likes of Senator Lindsey Graham will be cheering her on from the sidelines as they prepare for 2020)!
Trump wants to end Muslim migration to the U.S. until terrorist threats are addressed, banning refugees fleeing violence in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. This policy directly violates international law, which stipulates that other countries have an obligation to take in people seeking refuge from persecution in their home country and cannot bar refugees based on origin. [Trump (we hope) will follow US law which gives him the power to limit refugee flow, not international law!—ed]
Although Haley opposes Trump’s outright Muslim ban, she was among 30 governors who demanded Syrian refugees not be resettled in their states, citing security concerns. A spokeswoman for the governor said last year that until refugees can be properly vetted “it’s not appropriate for them to be sent to South Carolina or any other state.” [Just words and they all knew it!—ed]
New UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, is, from our point of view, the worst possible UN leader they could have chosen.
Refugees are not allowed into the country until they pass a series of background and health checks, a process that can take up to two years. Governors can’t legally stop refugees from being resettled in their states. [For the umpteenth time, the Syrian screening has been reduced to 3 months and we do admit refugees with TB and other diseases.—ed]
Incoming U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres is likely to resist any American efforts to dismantle refugee programs. He formerly served as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and is a strong advocate for wealthy countries doing their fair share to help the most vulnerable. He will take office Jan. 1.
This last makes me wonder (again) whether the Trump transition team has any idea of what they are up against at the UN and how those of us who voted for Trump feel about the ‘world body.’ Endnote: If you were digesting your Thanksgiving meal and didn’t read my post last night, here it is. Islamists say their long game is to take America down through immigration and out-breeding us!
Longtime readers of Refugee Resettlement Watchwill surely know the name since Guterres served for ten years as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and his office was primarily responsible for the flow of refugees coming to the US now. He is responsible for the fact that most Syrians chosen by the UNHCR to come to America are Sunni Muslims, not Christians. Socialist Guterres, the new Secretary General of the UN. Why are we still funding an organization working for the destruction of the US?
I thought when I heard the news that his tenure as UNHCR ended in December 2015, that he would be disappearing into the sunset (or catching some rays on a Portuguese beach) after arguably helping create a migrant crisis (or at least his leadership did nothing much to stem it) that looks like it will ultimately swallow the European continent.
Frankly, as I read about him, saw him in person once***, and followed the UNHCR, I saw him as a sullen, lackluster, uninspiring socialist ideologue that he is. But, he must have something going for him at the UN to be chosen over other more colorful, less ideological and more accomplished contenders. I’m guessing he was a favorite of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Perhaps my impression of him as an apologist for Islam was seared in 2009 when he wrote a forward to a study that maintains that it is Shariah law that underpins the world tradition of helping refugees, of welcoming the stranger—not Judaism and Christianity. I was stunned and wrote a postlisting all of the Muslim countries headed by Saudi Arabia that do not welcome strangers, not even their fellow Muslims (none have welcomed the Palestinians!), and God forbid would never welcome Jewish or Christian refugees.
Here is the news story that I was responding to:
New York, 23 June (AKI) – The 1,400-year-old Islamic custom of welcoming people fleeing persecution has had more influence on modern international refugee law than any other traditional source, according to a new study sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
High Commissioner Antonio Guterres said that more than any other historical source, Islamic law and tradition underpin the modern-day legal framework on which UNHCR bases its global activities on behalf of the tens of millions of people forced from their homes around the world.
This includes the right of everyone to seek asylum as well as prohibitions against sending those needing protection back into danger, Guterres said in the foreword to “The Right to Asylum between Islamic Sharia and International Refugee Law: A Comparative Study.”
In the study, Professor Abu Al-Wafa, Dean of the Law Faculty at Cairo University, describes how Islamic law and tradition respects refugees, including non-Muslims; forbids forcing them to change their beliefs; avoids compromising their rights; seeks to reunite families; and guarantees the protection of their lives and property.
Now, again, check out my listfrom 2009 showing just how Muslim countries are NOT (in fact) helping resettle refugees but are moving them on to the West, Australia, and the US.
Since 2009, when I wrote about Guterres comments, several Muslim countries have taken in Syrian refugees (they had no choice as they flowed across borders). Countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey are flooded (Saudi Arabia still takes none). However, whenever someone starts to give you that equivalence argument, always remember that the refugees in those countries will not become permanent, voting, citizens. Their residence is temporary. That is not so with refugees coming to the US—they come permanently and become citizens. And, it is the permanent requirement that Guterres has been pushing for years.
Back to Guterres
We are told in several news accounts that he became a member of the Socialist Party in his native Portugal in 1974 (at age 25). By the way, Portugal, to this day, takes very few refugees.
Here is one account at the BBC:
Speaking earlier this year, Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said insiders believed Mr Guterres, from Portugal, “could give the UN the kind of kick up the backside it needs”.
Mr Guterres was born in Lisbon in 1949. He studied engineering and physics at the Instituto Superior Tecnico, before going into academia after graduating in 1971.
But academia only held the fervent Catholic’s interest for a couple of years. He joined the Socialist party in 1974 – the same year five decades of dictatorship came to an end in Portugal – and soon became a full-time politician. In 1995, three years after being elected the Socialist party’s secretary general, he was voted in as prime minister, a position he held until 2002.
Missing from this resume and other accounts I have read is that he was not only a Socialist in Portugal, but lead Socialist Internationalas its President from 1999-2005, immediately preceding his tenure as UNHCR. See more hereat wikipedia. Guterres with Asst. Sec. of State Anne Richard. As a political appointee, Anne Richard should be among the first to go if Donald Trump is elected President of the United States.
Get out from under the United Nations’ thumb!
So it strikes me that this might be a good time for Americans to reignite a demand that we begin to extricate ourselves (and our money!) from the United Nations.
Indeed we are placing refugees in your towns and cities that have been chosen by the United Nations for us and what do we see—a rapidly expanding increase in the Muslim refugees chosen for us.
And, btw, I don’t believe there is anything in the Refugee Act of 1980 that requires us to do what the UN says regarding refugees. We could pick our own refugees!
We know what the UN is and what they are up to, choosing Guterres as Secretary General is a clear indication that the UN is on a mission to change America by changing its people, and has placed one of the world’s greatest proponents of doing just that at its helm.
See our extensive archive on Guterres by clicking here.
***If you want to learn more, scroll down in this post about a big refugee pow-wow at Georgetown last year and read about Jim Simpson questioning Guterres about why so few Syrian Christians are being resettled.
For the last 8 years we’ve been telling you about Antonio Guterres, the hardcore Socialist and Islamic apologist who was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, but he is out now as his ten-year tenure came to a close in November. Fillipo Grandi replaces Guterres. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/12/un-appoints-filippo-grandi-as-next-high-commissioner-for-refugees
The new man, who will be responsible for choosing refugees that arrive in your home town, is an Italian. I have no time today to check into his background, but will in the coming days and weeks. However, be sure you start focusing on him because he is in charge of determining America’s future as he chooses refugees headed to the US.
The story is here at Deutsche Welle:
Italian Filippo Grandi is the new face of the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Despite the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, his organization is grappling with a chronic lack of funds.
At this point in time, it’s hard to imagine someone assuming a more difficult job: Italian Filippo Grandi is the new head of 9,300-odd employees in around 123 countries. But even more impressive than that kind of responsibility for staff is his mandate. [I wonder what percentage of this workforce you pay for!—ed]
As United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Grandi is tasked with ensuring the safety and survival of refugees worldwide. According to preliminary calculations, the number of displaced persons has reached a new high in 2015, with more than 60 million people driven from their homes.
What do you notice about this graphic? The vast majority of refugees in the world have been created by Islamic violence.
I’m glad I read to the end because it’s this last line you should be worried about!
…UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected Grandi in mid-November. The Italian has now assumed one of the key posts within the UN hierarchy. His predecessor, Guterres, is now regarded as a promising candidate for the post of Secretary General.
We have many many posts at RRW on Guterres, go here to see them all. One of my all-time favorites is this one where Guterres credits Sharia law (not Judeo-Christian charity) for creating a refugee tradition throughout history. So then let the Muslim countries take care of their own refugees!
We heard that news at the big pow-wow at Georgetown on Thursday, so I decided to look around and see if I could find out more.
This is a Reuters story from a month ago where we learn that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is not extending Guterres’ term even though he could. Hmmm! Then Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (a Socialist) yuks it up with Obama at the Mandela Memorial Service in 2013. She is on the short list to replace Antonio Guterres as UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Michele (right) obviously not thrilled with hubby.
By the way, go hereand see the list of pledges for Syrian resettlement and see that Portugal (where Antonio Guterres is a past President) is taking a whopping 23 Syrians.
What! He can’t persuade his own home country to take in a larger number of Syrians? Besides being the former President of Portugal, Guterres is the former President of Socialists International. He gave up that post when he became UNHCR:
Guterres retired from Portuguese politics and worked as President of the Socialist International until 2005.
Reuters (U.N.’s Ban rejects calls to keep refugee chief amid crisis):
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has disregarded a request from a large number of member states to keep the U.N. high commissioner for refugees in his job for an extra year to cope with the worsening refugee crisis, diplomats said.
Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres was elected by the U.N. General Assembly in 2005 and re-elected in 2010. Earlier this year, the assembly voted to extend his mandate by 6-1/2 months to Dec. 31, on Ban’s recommendation.
But the sources, who include the chairman of the U.N. refugee agency’s executive committee, said Ban decided to resist pressure for a further extension of one year, and resort to a normal election process to make way for a new high commissioner.
Several diplomats said it was unusual for a secretary-general to ignore such appeals, though they acknowledged it is Ban’s right to do so.
So who is on the short list (at least at the time this story was published):
Comissario told Reuters there was a short list of three candidates for the post: Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and veteran diplomats Achim Steiner of Germany and Filippo Grandi of Italy.
The UNHCR statute makes no mention of term limits for the high commissioner, though it states that the terms of the appointment are set by the secretary-general.
Consider this nightmare: Obama heads UN in 2017 with Helle as UNHCR!
