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| Lightin' John Bolton Strikes, UN Fun Club Reels |
| 2005-08-25 |
| Not so fast, bureacrats John R. Bolton, in his first public initiative as American ambassador, told envoys at the United Nations on Wednesday that time was running out on efforts to create institutional change, only days after the United States began privately pushing for major revisions to a draft of reforms that was already close to completion. The new American approach recommends scrapping more than 400 passages in the 38-page draft prepared under the General Assembly president, Jean Ping of Gabon, that was being readied for a summit conference next month after nearly a year of intensive negotiations. "Time is short," Mr. Bolton said in a letter to the 190 other United Nations ambassadors. He proposed immediate negotiations, starting with Mr. Ping's draft, and urged his fellow envoys to remain "open to alternative formats if they help us achieve consensus." He said, "I plan on participating personally in this exercise and hope you will do the same." More than 170 heads of state have confirmed plans to attend the conference, starting Sept. 14, to consider approval of what are seen as the most sweeping changes at the United Nations in its 60-year history. The extent of the deletions sought by the Americans and the late hour brought complaints that the United States was sabotaging the effort to meet demands - many of them originating from Washington - that the institution reform itself to adjust to modern times and make its operations transparent and accountable. Boo-hoos to follow... "It would be very unfortunate and not in the interest of the United States or the international community for the new U.S. ambassador to barge in and undermine an important summit negotiation process," said William R. Pace, general secretary of the New York-based World Federalist Movement, which promotes a strong United Nations. Richard A. Grenell, the spokesman for the United States mission, said, "The fact that we took this document seriously and put it through a thorough interagency process to evaluate its policy implications and then we commented on our ideas should be celebrated, not criticized." Mr. Bolton, who was appointed by the White House three weeks ago while Congress was in recess after he failed to gain Senate approval, was championed by President Bush as the best man to bring about needed reform at the United Nations. Fireworks to follow.... |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #11 Shipman's simple solution: For staff: 35 cents a mile Frequent flyer miles disallowed 60 dollar a day Pure Dime for meals. No overnight travel. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-25 17:44 |
| #10 Amen MAC(#2), amen. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-08-25 17:41 |
| #9 from WaPo article "The United States has only recently introduced more than 750 amendments that would eliminate new pledges of foreign aid to impoverished nations, scrap provisions that call for action to halt climate change and urge nuclear powers to make greater progress in dismantling their nuclear arms. At the same time, the administration is urging members of the United Nations to strengthen language in the 29-page document that would underscore the importance of taking tougher action against terrorism, promoting human rights and democracy, and halting the spread of the world's deadliest weapons. Still pushing the "Bolton is a brute" bullshit. Oh, and no aid for baby ducks. Then, later..."At the same time, the administration is urging members of the United Nations to strengthen language in the 29-page document that would underscore the importance of taking tougher action against terrorism, promoting human rights and democracy, and halting the spread of the world's deadliest weapons." WaPo and NY Slimes in the tank for Kofi & Co. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-08-25 11:28 |
| #8 The answer to the UN is pretty simple. The US should get together with Japan and leave the UN and form seperate organization. This can be done under the auspices of UN refusal to consider a Japanese General Assembly seat. Since Japan and the US form the bulk of UN funding the UN problem will go away on its own after that. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-08-25 11:22 |
| #7 Tranlated from the Diplomatique: "Look, you bunch of cheese-dicks, this thing has been in play for a year, and it's got about 8 months worth of pure, unadulterated bullshit in it. What say we cut some of that slop out?" |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-08-25 11:19 |
| #6 I suppose this falls under "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" We created the UN. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-08-25 10:27 |
| #5 "Bolton: I plan on participating personally in this exercise and hope you will do the same." My kids hate it when I make this statement. They for some reason rather deal with mom. By the time I got to the 20th item on the UN Draft Link by phil_b, I started getting nauseated. I couldn't go on any further. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-08-25 09:59 |
| #4 Ya beat me to it, Spot. Typical UN bullshit. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-08-25 09:37 |
| #3 sweeping changes my ass! Typical UN blather: "We reaffirm...". I don't see any substantive changes in the whole thing. This is not the time to tweak, it's the time to redesign from the ground up or scrap the whole thing. |
| Posted by: Spot 2005-08-25 08:47 |
| #2 Desperately Needed Reform Number One: Immediate Relocation to Geneva. Desperately Needed Reform Number Two: United States Resigns from UN. Once both of those go through, I don't give a damn how corrupt and self-serving those bastards are. Just get our country out of their organization and their organization out of our country and they can do whatever they damn well please. Elsewhere. |
| Posted by: mac 2005-08-25 07:07 |
| #1 If you want an example of the self righteous, self congratulatory, wishlist blather that the UN indulges in, then here is the draft of the resolution that the UNGA will vote on in September. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-08-25 05:34 |