Trump’s WHO, China vendetta sabotaged UN pandemic ceasefire

Everybody knows Trump has demonized both China and the World Health Organization (WHO) to deflect criticism from his mishandling of the pandemic and boost his re-election chances. But few understand how that vendetta likely upended a worthy peace initiative: a worldwide ceasefire of military ventures to focus international energies in combating covid 19. UN Secretary Antonio Guterres initiated that ceasefire in a proposed UN Security Council resolution March 23. Besides a worldwide war zone ceasefire, it called for international cooperation with the WHO, the UN’s specialized health agency, to defeat the only true enemy worth fighting: coronavirus.

But cooperating with the world’s number two economy China, and the WHO, both in Trump’s gunsight, was unacceptable. To avoid passing the UN’s pandemic ceasefire, Trump’s State Department inserted two deal breakers: no mention of the WHO and labeling the pandemic the ‘Wuhan Virus’. Initially, hopes for passing the UN Security Council resolution were high as 16 warring parties in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and East Asia paused their killing. But six weeks of senseless wrangling over offending language has caused many to give up and fight on. France and Tunisia even excised out the WHO in a redraft by asserting support for “all relevant entities of the United Nations system, including specialized health agencies.” Uncle Sam nixed that compromise because the UN has only one ‘specialized health agency’…the WHO.

For now the UN pandemic ceasefire resolution is almost as dead as the folks were bombing all over the Middle East and Africa. Richard Gowan, the UN Director for the International Crisis Group put it starkly: “What’s depressing about this is that basically everyone would sign onto the cease-fire. It’s being held hostage by this WHO issue, which is pathetic.”