The UN? Make it an international cooperative effort?

Ahh, yes, this is exactly how one goes about making it a cooperative effort, which is something this administration is clearly an expert at doing.

Your snark misses the fact that the program has been funded by the US for 25 years and the decision to not make it a UN project has nothing to do with the current administration.

Trying to cut it immediately instead of saying "ok, it needs to become a joint international effort starting on (a date months ahead)" is the issue with the current administration. Running it is fine, handing it over is fine, suddenly making a huge mess is not.

That's the missing cooperation.

I am confused about what UN has to do with America shutting down services whose primary goal was to protect American infrastructure, government and companies.

Some UN nations are quite happy about this, because it will make it easier to access what they want in US.

Only that the earlier comments raised that if the program was important it should be run by the UN rather than the US.

Maybe it was the US that wanted it under their own control, and could enforce that via the soft-power it had. :)

Anyways, I have to agree with the others: this is not the real issue. If you wanted to change the governance on that point, you can transition these things orderly.

Like Doge, the messaging is to hide the real intentions. It doesn't take much effort to see that the actions do not really match with the messages, but if the media would not even do that bit of analysis and would not bring the disconnect front and center, then yeah, it is a winning strategy.

do you think this is what they're actually trying to do

Obviously not or they would have gone about it differently - i.e. talking with other organisations and making plans

As US is cutting UN funding and pushing friends away? Good luck with that.

The US is not the best friend of UN. Out of the WHO, menaces the ICJ, vetos that go against the democratic countries and a few times match russia. Trump out of the climate accord. Trump quit UN rights council, Trump cuts UNRWA funding.

You may agree with some, but there is a pattern.

I am waiting for it to leave the FAO. Not hoping, waiting.

>menaces the ICJ

The ICJ started that particular fight by issuing arrest warrants against non-signatories, something explicitly outside of its power and purview.

Generally you would make plans to do that first — before cutting off your nose so to speak.