Congratulations to the Rosa Parks Islands

Back in January I wondered if the Marshall Islands, which had just elected an atypically independent government, might start charting its own course in terms of its United Nations decisions rather than continuing to hand over its vote to the United States.  And sure enough a few weeks ago it abstained from the annual UN General Assembly vote condemning the US economic embargo of Cuba—or as Reuters put it, "unexpectedly and without public explanation broke ranks."

Going from support to abstention may not seem like much, but take a look at the voting record for the Cuba embargo resolution over the past eight years:

2000  167-3 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands)
2001  167-3 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands)
2002  173-3 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands)
2003  179-3 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands)
2004  179-4 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau)
2005  182-4 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau)
2006  183-4 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau)
2007  184-4 (US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau)

And considering that US funding accounts for about 60% of the Marshall Islands' budget, defiance even on this small a scale is an enormous risk.  So congratulations to the Marshall Islands for having the courage to assert this small but very significant measure of independence from the United States.

Comments

[SteveB]

Any idea what goodies Palau got in return for switching its vote? Maybe a coupla new sweatshops? Seems only fair.

[John Caruso]

Actually what surprised me was that Palau hadn't voted with the US prior to 2004. I didn't know Palau even bothered to ask the US ambassador to the UN how he'd cast their vote, much less show up at the UN.