Now let's see whether the nations who voted for Palestinian membership will pick up the 60 million dollar shortfall automatically triggered by the vote under long-standing US legislative restrictions.

Why didn't they wait until after the contribution was made?

"Ms. Bokova, the Unesco director general, said in interviews that she was concerned about immediate financial problems for her agency, and about American disengagement, which she said ran counter to the United States’ “core security interests” and which she hoped would be temporary. After the vote, she said that she was worried that “the universality and financial stability” of Unesco would be jeopardized." ...

"On Monday, the United States voted against Palestinian membership, joined by Germany, Australia, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands and Israel, among others.

The European Union failed to come to a common position. Some European nations, including France and Belgium, voted in favor, joining China, Russia, Brazil, India and most African and Arab states. Many other European nations abstained, including Romania and Latvia, which had earlier voted no in the executive council. Others abstaining included Britain, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine and Switzerland...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/world/middleeast/unesco-approves-full-membership-for-palestinians.html?ref=world

That's a very interesting question you pose: why didn't they wait on the vote till after the contribution was made...

I  just ask it as a matter of strategy..no sense in putting the organization into financial difficulty, especially as the exchange rate is already wreaking havoc with IO budgets...

According to the State Dept. spokeswoman, that 60 million US contribution was due to be made this month.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/with-unesco-membership-granted-palestinians-seek-to-join-16-more-un-agencies-1.393134

"After being granted full membership at the United Nations' cultural agency UNESCO, the Palestinian Authority is seeking to become a member of the World Health Organization and of 15 smaller UN agencies. The forum of eight senior Israeli government ministers will convene later on Tuesday to discuss Israel's response to the matter..."

We Canadians are US lapdogs.  Even our socialist party (New Democratic Party) foreign affairs critic is going along with the lies of the IAEA regarding Iran.

NDP Foreign Affairs critic Hélène Laverdière, a former diplomat, says sanctions do work. Laverdière wants the government to keep working diplomatically, especially pressing China and Russia, allies of Iran.

"Iranian banks are suspected of financing the nuclear development program, so if you cut the financing mechanism, if you don’t help these people who finance the program, well, you’re doing real concrete action," she said.

"Putting in sanctions is one thing, but there’s a lot of hard work to be done here in Canada and abroad with our partners."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/11/21/pol-iran-sanctions-canada-us.html

“YOU AND your Weimar!” a friend of mine once exclaimed in exasperation, ”just because you experienced the collapse of the Weimar Republic as a child, you see Weimar behind every corner.”

The accusation was not unjustified. In 1960, during the Eichmann trial, I wrote a book about the fall of the German Republic. Its last chapter was called: “It can happen here” Since then I have come back to this warning time and again.

But now I am not alone anymore. During the last few weeks, the word Weimar has popped up in the articles of many commentators.

It should be sprayed in huge letters on the walls.

* * *

ISRAELI DEMOCRACY is under siege. No one can ignore this anymore. It is the main topic in the Knesset, which is leading the attack, and the media, who are among the victims.

This does not happen in the occupied territories. There, democracy never existed. Occupation is the very opposite of democracy: a denial of all human rights, the right to life, liberty, movement, fair trial and free expression, not to mention national rights.

No, I mean Israel proper, the Israel inside the Green Line, The Only Democracy In The Middle East.

The attackers are members of Binyamin Netanyahu’s government coalition, which includes semi-fascist and openly fascist elements. Netanyahu himself tries to remain discreetly in the background, but there can be no doubt that every single detail has been orchestrated by him.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/18/weimar-revisited/