Trump’s UN threat backfires after Canada changes its vote to avoid being seen as his ‘puppet’

[JosephDredd]

http://thehill.com/policy/internati...-vote-condemning-trump-jerusalem-move-reports

Canada will abstain from a United Nations vote on Thursday condemning the United States's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

"Canada is strongly committed to the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including the creation of a Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel. Canada’s longstanding position is that the status of Jerusalem can be resolved only as part of a general settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute," Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, said.

"Canada continues to support building the conditions necessary for the parties to find a peaceful solution," he added. "We are disappointed that this resolution is one sided and does not advance prospects for peace to which we aspire, which is why we will abstain on today’s vote.”

According to Barak Ravid, a reporter for Israel's Channel 10 News, Canada considered voting against the resolution calling on Washington to reverse its Jerusalem decision, but ultimately decided to abstain to avoid being perceived as too willing to align itself with the U.S.

BREAKING: Canada considered voting against the UNGA resolution on Trump's Jerusalem announcement but changed vote to abstention after hearing Trump's threats in order not to be perceived as US puppet, Western diplomats tell me

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) December 21, 2017

The decision reportedly came after President Trump threatened on Wednesday to cut off foreign aid to countries that support the resolution, which is set to come to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.

It was that threat, according to Barak, that prompted Canada's abstention.

The U.N. resolution is not legally binding, but would exert political pressure on Trump to reverse his decision.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/tr...ote-to-avoid-being-seen-as-his-puppet-report/

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a direct threat against countries that voted in favor of a United Nations resolution that condemned the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us,” Trump said of countries that planned to vote for the resolution. “Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”

However, Trump’s threat seems to have already backfired, as Israeli reporter Barak Ravid says he’s received word that Canada will abstain from voting on the UN resolution after having previously planned to vote with the United States against it.

“Canada considered voting against the UNGA resolution on Trump’s Jerusalem announcement but changed vote to abstention after hearing Trump’s threats in order not to be perceived as US puppet, Western diplomats tell me,” Ravid reported.

I haven't been able to find much information about the NAFTA talks since Vincente Fox accused Canada of stabbing Mexico in the back. I have to imagine this decision was made with retaliation in the NAFTA talks very much in mind, so I'm curious to see exactly how these two Trump shitshows will collide with each other.