UN members face asymmetric penalties that made anti-American voting nearly costless

Evidence

To attract or offend the Soviet Union can be dangerous; to differ from the Arabs, costly and perhaps also hazardous. To attack the United States and its policies, on the other hand, brings no penalties. On the contrary, in addition to gratifying the Soviet bloc and its allies, attacking the United States wins acclaim and respect from large segments of American opinion, including many policy-makers and, above all, the media. In these circumstances, the choice is not difficult, and it is not surprising that before very long the United States found itself in a permanent minority, where the best it could hope for was abstentions by its more devoted and loyal friends. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1330

Categorization

• QUESTION: This is Said’s framing of the UN as an arena of asymmetric pressures — worth chasing how Orientalism-adjacent scholarship treats the ALN/Zionism ‘Zionism is racism’ vote of 1975 that follows in the book.