"Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, set out her agenda for the U.N. during a speech Wednesday at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, confirming that the U.S. budget for the U.N. is likely to be decreased.



'I believe you will see cuts to the U.N.,' said Haley, adding, 'We don't want to just cut for the sake of cutting. There are places we can cut. Everybody knows there's fat at the U.N. Everybody knows there's fat in the peacekeeping missions. So that's why we're taking each one.'...



During her remarks Wednesday morning, Haley said she intends to focus on two areas when the U.S. assumes the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council next month: the role of human rights in national security and reforming the U.N.'s peacekeeping operations, including 'winding down' the missions in Haiti-'It's not needed anymore'-Liberia and Ivory Coast. Haley added that she's 'working to change the culture' at the Security Council, which she compared to South Carolina's Legislature: Both, she said, are clubs and have rules and cultures that need to change. (Haley is the former governor of South Carolina.)



'There is a constant pressure to comply with its culture, and soon enough, members are doing things a certain way because that's the way they've always done them,' she said, without specifically naming countries. She went on to call the U.S. the 'moral conscience of the world' and said the U.S. 'will insist that our participation in the U.N. honor and reflect this role.' The U.N., she noted, will be 'an effective tool on behalf of our values.'...



Haley said she plans to dedicate a Security Council meeting to 'the broader question of how human rights abuses can lead to a breakdown in national peace and security,' which, she said, would be a first for the council. While human rights are usually discussed at the U.N. Human Rights Council, Haley claimed that the group 'is so corrupt' and said she intends to 'essentially put them on notice' when she addresses the body in June.'..."