John Bolton

In a world where people have embraced their own religions, races, ethnicities, social classes, etc, and used the principles of such things to separate themselves from people of differing beliefs (despite the ballyhooed notion of integration), at least one organization exists with the purpose to unite people for the benefit of the whole planet. That organization is the United Nations (UN).

The UN was birthed in the days following World War II. And although several dozens of countries aren’t members of the UN, its fundamental purpose is the pursuit of Justice in Human Rights for all people.

To that end, the United Nations has come under serious criticism in recent years, mostly over three issues. The most ubiquitous being the Oil-For-Food Scandal with the others being its ineptitude in bringing UN Peacekeepers to justice for criminal acts that include countless rapes in areas like The Congo in Africa, and its slothfulness in aiding war-torn areas like the Darfur region of the Sudan. Indeed, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan himself has been heavily criticized for mismanagement of the organization over the last 2 years.

Among the many countries that are members, only a handful are significantly powerful; France, Germany, Great Britain (to name a few), and of course the United States of America.

Each country has an Ambassador that speaks on behalf of that nation to the United Nations’ Assembly. President Bush recently nominated Undersecretary of State John Bolton to be the UN Ambassador for the USA. For many, many years, Bolton has been an ardent critic of the UN, and the Political Right believes that his hard-line approach to the UN is exactly what is needed to “right the ship.” This week, on Capitol Hill, his nomination is being brought to a vote.

Bolton is the proud owner of plentiful sound-bytes on the United Nations. So, to give you an idea of his character, and what he thinks of the UN, I’ll let you read one. This particular quote is from Bolton during an interview in the mid-90’s. And I quote:

“The League of Nations was a failure because the United States did not participate. The United Nations would be a failure if the United States did not participate and, in fact, I remember as vividly as though it were yesterday, right after Iraq invaded Kuwait, Jim Baker said to me, we’re going to make this United Nations work, or we’re going to find out whether it is the League Nations or the UN. And that's the fact. And if you don't like it, then I’m sorry. The United States makes the UN work when it wants it to work, and that is exactly the way it should be, because the only question, the only question for the United States is what is in our national interest. And if you don't like that, I’m sorry, but that is the fact.”

STOP!!!

Now scroll back up and read the last two sentences of that quote again out loud to yourself.

Ok, I’d now like to say in one extremely bold and loud statement that John Bolton is exactly who we DON’T need as Ambassador to the United Nations. He is the epitome of American arrogance, and he is the embodiment of everything that the rest of the world hates about America. His idea of diplomacy is you listen to us (the United States), do as we say, or we’re gonna blow you up. The quotation above indicates as much.

On TV, the radio, and the internet, I’ve listened to and read many of his statements concerning the UN, and in ALL of them he points fingers and never offers qualified solutions. He is plainly accusatory and thinks that the US is always right. I indeed agree with Senator Barbara Boxer when she says that the guy needs to be placed in anger management courses and not the UN Ambassador seat.

I don’t know why we insist upon pissing the rest of the world off. All these incendiary appointments by Bush (Condoleeza Rice to Secretary of State, Paul Wolfowitz to Head the World Bank) do everything to further promote anti-American sentiment. This administration fails to understand that the world liked Colin Powell because he was even-handed in his approach, and knew HOW to talk to people.

Certainly the UN needs some critical reform, but Bolton isn’t going to help towards that end because he will always be seen as a UN cynic by other nations. Furthermore, I’m tired of the USA criticizing the UN when the sole reason that the UN has been so ineffective is because the USA itself has violated some of its laws (like pre-emptively invading Iraq without a UN Resolution for war), and because all we do is sit back and criticize while not taking an active role in reform. If we don’t get things our way in the UN, we just ignore it and do what we want.

The last time I checked, that is not the way to function within a group or cooperative organization, as the UN is. And honestly, a leader best leads when they lead by example, not by force or a heavy-hand. So if you want to talk about the USA leading the UN in a better direction, we should work within the framework of the UN’s guidelines (which aren’t significantly flawed), set a magnanimous example, and watch all the other nations follow suit.

Too many times have I literally heard right-wing politicians say that “the United Nations is a joke.” Well, if the UN is a joke, and the USA is a part of it, what does that say about us???

ARROGANCE, ARROGANCE, ARROGANCE!!!

It frustrates me so. I hope that US politicians and citizens alike realize that in modern times the length of world power by any particular nation is about 80 years. We’ve been a world power since the 1st World War, and the most significant power in the world for the last 30 years or so. That means that our time is just about up. And it sounds cryptic, but NO NATION IS POWERFUL INDEFINITELY (read the history books).

So all I’m saying is that in this cacophonous solution of multifarious people, we need a buffer in the United States’ UN Ambassador seat, not a catalyst for the imminent fall from grace for the USA. And Bolton is as far from a buffer as the East is from the West.

-Maelstrom