It took months of revisions and debate, but the UN Security Council finally passed a resolution Wednesday backing an immediate, global ceasefire for the sake of shifting attention to the coronavirus pandemic. It calls for a 90 day “humanitarian pause.”
Russia was previously concerned that the language didn’t allow them to defend themselves in Syria, while the US wanted both language blaming China for the virus, and language clarifying it didn’t apply to various US wars.
That didn’t happen, but the US included a signing statement complaining about language that should’ve been in there emphasizing “transparency,” while China’s own statement criticized the politicization of the process.
Many nations had already endorsed the plan months ago, and agreed to voluntary compliance. This means many of the wars that would be liable to be paused for this already were. There is no reason to think that the US will pause any conflicts.
We have to be the exception to every rule, rules only apply to others, same for blame. Should there have been signing statements condemning the US and Brazil for irresponsibly throwing away much of the world’s progress at containing the pandemic? That wouldn’t be very constructive, would it. But at this point the US posture being constructive would be the shocking development.