Today’s map comes via Chris Albon. (Really, though, it is just an excuse to link to this great summary from What’s in Blue about the next procedural steps on Palestinian membership to the United Nations.)
The map is from Imgur.com and purports to show “countries that will support Palestine’s UN bid for statehood this month.”
What’s interesting about this map to me is just how…typical it is. The greatest cleavages in the United Nations are not between the United States and Russia or China, or between Europe and and the United States or Africa and the rest of the world. Rather, when the thorniest political and economic questions come before the world body, the general split is between the north and global south. Developed countries in the Europe, North America, and the British Commonwealth tend to form a united front against the developing world — and vise versa. In terms of traditional cleavages at the UN, the Palestine UN membership question, at least as of today, is pretty characteristic.