| Submit your comments on this article |
| International-UN-NGOs |
| Sack John Bolton, or at least muzzle him |
| 2006-06-21 |
| The Condoleezza Rice State Department is proving more adept at diplomacy than the Colin Powell State Department. Part of her success is tied to her cagey effort to move John Bolton from Washington to New York, where he serves _ minus Senate confirmation _ as the ambassador to the United Nations. Problem is, he's plowing just as wide a path of destruction through the United Nations as he plowed through overall U.S. foreign policy when he worked in Washington. Rice deserves a fair amount of credit for the change in her department. She is close to President Bush, so she's viewed as a trustworthy insider; Powell wasn't. Rice also had the good sense to elevate Nick Burns to the top political post at State. Burns is young, smart, pragmatic, a consummate diplomat with a warm, engaging demeanor. He would make a fine secretary of state himself. Shuffling Bolton off to the United Nations helped an awful lot too. The department no longer had to suffer his brutish, undiplomatic approach to foreign policy. Bolton does not appear to believe in traditional statesmanship; his way is to wade into an issue, mouth blazing, and demand that his views _ by extension, America's views _ prevail. Bolton single-handedly sabotaged talks with North Korea on its nuclear-weapons program. And when the British and Americans were trying to get Libya to renounce nukes, the British actually requested that Bolton be kept away from the negotiations, lest he wreck them. But while it was good to get Bolton out of Washington, it hasn't been healthy for the United Nations. Bolton, you'll recall, once remarked that you could knock off the top 10 stories of the U.N. headquarters building and suffer no negative effect. Time and again, he has mucked up U.N. efforts to reform the organization, which badly needs it. Bolton's latest contretemps involves Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan for reform. Annan developed a series of quite radical proposals, aimed at eliminating useless work and assigning staff where they were most needed. Poor nations rejected key parts of Annan's plan, fearing they would dilute Third World power in the organization. So Bolton responded that if they continue to resist reform, wealthy countries (which pay for a huge percentage of the budget) should stop paying for the United Nations. Ultimatums usually don't work, and that is particularly true at U.N. headquarters, where consensus is the traditional path to action. The result of Bolton's ploy has been paralytic crisis. Poor nations have their backs up, and Bolton won't budge. Yet the deadline for agreeing on reforms looms at the end of June. Everyone is worried that U.S. and Japanese financial support will be cut off, leaving U.N. agencies unable to function. An essential part of Rice's job at State is containing the damage that Bolton can cause anywhere he applies his boorish bluster. The best thing would be to sack Bolton and let him slink off to a think tank. At the least, he needs to be put on a short leash and forced to wear a muzzle. Rice should arrange a fitting for those devices early this morning, even as she withdraws the threat to withhold U.S. funding and upbraids opponents of reform. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #19 he should force the Senate to vote on him again - before the election |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-21 19:53 |
| #18 I agree Gort. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-06-21 17:52 |
| #17 Go Sarge! |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-21 16:59 |
| #16 Excellent analysis Sarge. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-06-21 12:37 |
| #15 I have always considered the m0onb@+ reaction of the left a good measure on how good a person is doing their job. For instance: They revile Karl Rove – He has won two Presidential elections (very poor) They hate Condi Rice – Gosh how can a Black female with a doctorate be a successful Secretary of State (just horrible) They despise Arnold – Single handedly (we have a Democrat controlled legislator) turned projected years of deficit into HUGE revenues and saved the economy of California (Nazi) Bolton should have been confirmed by the Senate last year but we have sheep for leaders. Given his great success at the un I am surprised he hasn’t been attacked more. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-06-21 12:30 |
| #14 Took the words right out of my keyboard there, GORT. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-06-21 11:39 |
| #13 . . . his brutish, undiplomatic approach to foreign policy To my mind, this is a feature, not a bug. |
| Posted by: GORT 2006-06-21 11:25 |
| #12 Rudi/Bolton 2008! |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-06-21 10:57 |
| #11 that is particularly true at U.N. headquarters, where consensus is the traditional path to action... Uh, no. At the UN consensus is the traditional path to lunch. |
| Posted by: Matt 2006-06-21 10:51 |
| #10 The UN and its lickspittles must be feeling pressure from him. Good. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-06-21 10:48 |
| #9 Nah, really get the UN's panties in a bunch.....nominate him for the next Secretary General! ;) |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-06-21 10:18 |
| #8 LOL, mojo! |
| Posted by: Ulusing Cleash5738 2006-06-21 10:15 |
| #7 Fire him? Like hell! Give him a freakin' gun, baby. |
| Posted by: mojo 2006-06-21 10:04 |
| #6 Why how refreshing a diplomat that has America's views as his top priority, I like Bolten alot he is a keeper. |
| Posted by: djohn66 2006-06-21 09:39 |
| #5 The department no longer had to suffer his brutish, undiplomatic |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-06-21 08:42 |
| #4 Bolton single-handedly sabotaged talks with North Korea on its nuclear-weapons program. Really? I blame Mad Halfbright and that dim witted, cowardly Jimmy Carter for that long before Bolton showed up. Time and again, he has mucked up U.N. efforts to reform the organization That one leaves me speechless though, so I've concluded that this editorial sucks and the author is an effete UN loving windbag tranzi. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2006-06-21 08:40 |
| #3 Call me crazy, but if they got rid of even half of the corruption that goes on there, they should have enough money to do their "important work" just fine. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-06-21 07:57 |
| #2 The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune is a communist rag. I consider this Editorial an endorsement of Bolton methods. He should wear this as a badge of honor. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2006-06-21 07:24 |
| #1 An unattributed editorial from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, lol. This means: 1) Bolton's doing a superlative job 2) They don't have a clear angle on how to smear Dr Rice... yet LOL. |
| Posted by: Ulusing Cleash5738 2006-06-21 07:20 |