JimC: "Yesterday the [US] has voted to withhold a $60m dollar paymrnt it was due to make next month to UNESCO following a democratically held vote (107 for 14 against, 54 abstentions) to admit Palestine as a member."

This action will have twin consequences, including the loss of US voting rights and influence within UNESCO. If the US continues to make good threats of withdrawal of monies from all subsiduary bodies of the UN (and Abbas will be presenting the Palestinian application for membership, to as many of those as exist I believe) which vote to admit Palestine, it risks alienating itself - and diminishing it's international influence - further and further from the international community. In fact such concerns have been voiced from within the Obama administration itself (can't recall source offhand).