Rosett on Bolton

Claudia Rosett, finest and most knowledgeable expert on the UN weighs in John Bolton's confirmation. Grabbed it off Tigerhawk's blog; hat tip____dhimmi

On the subject of Mr Bolton and the UN, Claudia has her say

If Congress is absolutely determined to reject the best UN ambassador the world has seen in about a quarter of a century — John Bolton — then the only alternative if President Bush wants to keep him is another recess appointment. For that, Bolton would have to work without pay. It’s enough to make a person want to suggest that if you really care about trying to do some good in the world via the UN, stop sending your kids out to collect for UNICEF, and start sending them out to collect donations to keep John Bolton in office. Bolton, from everything I have seen, is far more honest and competent on every level than UNICEF, any of the other UN agencies, or most of the senior staff walking the halls of the UN, let alone many of the UN ambassadors whose limos cruise the streets of New York.

I would normally be against any such private meddling in U.S. foreign policy, or in matters relating to the public institution that is the UN. But the State Department in 2001 blithely accepted a $31 million check from left-leaning Ted Turner to fill a gap in U.S. dues to the UN (and thus free up much larger sums of U.S. taxpayer money to flood Turtle Bay). And the UN itself has been trumpeting its joy over its ever-expanding agenda of “public-private partnerships.” These set-ups are all very bad ideas, and someone needs to be asking why on earth both the U.S. and the UN should be franchising out public policy matters (and financing) to private players with their own agendas. But without John Bolton there, no one at the UN is going to be asking about anything very much…we will see the dawn of a new era of even greater UN impunity, moral bankruptcy and financial corruption. Why should only the left wing of U.S. politics have a private hand in UN affairs?

So, in the interest of fighting fire with fire, I wonder if anyone will start a campaign to scrap the UNICEF cans (they are not all about feedling wide-eyed children; they double-billed and padded their budgets in Iraq), and start collecting for Bolton.

(There is plenty more to say on all this, and more seriously, of course… Roger Simon asked for a comment, and these are quick thoughts on the way out the door to give a talk on the UN. It is staggering that in a time of real world crisis, our legislators, of whatever stripe, could turn down a man who is honest enough to talk straight to the American public, skilled enough to navigate the UN swamps, and sane enough to manage both without going out of his mind. Congress is throwing away the best we’ve got — and somewhere down the line, we will all pay for it).

Comments

[Adam Stanhope]

Pam:

You, Claudia, Debbie Schlussel, Michelle Malkin and Brigitte Gabriel should hold a bake sale to raise money to pay for Bolton's salary for staying at the UN.

[lowandslow]

Bolton today,

The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution Saturday that sought to condemn an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and demand Israeli troops pull out the territory.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the Arab-backed draft resolution was "biased against Israel and politically motivated."

"This resolution does not display an evenhanded characterization of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace to which we aspire and for which we are working assiduously," he told the Security Council.

attaboy.

[Adam Stanhope]

19 Palestinians killed including 7 children in an apartment building that was targeted due to a technical error and was hit with multiple artillery shells as a result.

It would be nice if somebody in a position of power in the United States "condemned" the attack.

[steve expat]

Would this be part of that bipartisanship you are complaining that the Democrats aren't going to engage in? In other words, why don't the Democrats work with Bush by doing what he says, even if they don't agree with it? Sound familiar? Yes, because that is what has happened for the past 5 years under Republican "bipartisanship." It's over, my dear. Bush will not last another year and Cheney will be out even sooner. Bolton can take his cheesy mustache back to Plato's retreat and see if he can get a job cleaning toilets. I wouldn't even hire him for that.

[cozmo1950]

The most distastefull thing I've heard about Bolton is that he expects people who work with him to actually DO some work. Is there something else?
Mississippi Combat Robotics. Go Fast/Hit Stuff.

[wxjames]

Adam, so in the actions of war, some bystanders were killed......tuff darts.
Feeling bad about it is the very fagass political corectness that will bring down even a nation as powerful as America. Yes, Adam, when we kill, we kill whatever is in reach. The odd strategy of hiding among women and children is Darwinian at best.
You and your friends who would rather negotiate and extend the hand of empathy to the vile murders of Islam, will be pounded into hamburger if you are not careful. Your simplistic position is like standing in the street with a sign, when the street is the backstretch of the Daytona 500.

Steve expat, I suppose expat means you are an expatriot. ?? When did you denounce your patriotism, Sept twelfth ? I can tell you are young, because you don't know the functions of the 3 branches of our republic. The Legistative Branch debates and writes laws. the Judicial Branch interprets those laws within the confines of the courts. The Executive Branch, executes those laws. The Legistature does not send representatives to the UN, the Executive does that. Try to stay focused, Bush, Cheney, and whomever Bush appoints to the UN, will stay in power until January 21, 2009.

[steve expat]

Wxjames,
I am now an ex-expat, having moved back to the states to watch the downfall of the Bush Administration. But, yes, I gave up patriotism a long time ago. Read this piece I wrote for more info:
http://theroguevoice.blogspot.com/2006/07/why-im-not-patriotic.html

[x_dhimmi]

STEVE, I clicked over to read your short essay. I will assume your sincerity and that of the 1st two commenters I read (didn't read comments past that). Frankly, I could not trace a logic throughout the essay -- more like a fantasy. A NICE fantasy, to be sure. Then, I clicked over to the main blog page to see what else was written. Nothing much caught my interest, but nothing offensive, either. What did catch my interest is the "rant" (blog owner's word -- Are you the owner?) which included something along the lines that the terrorists hate us because we are denying civil rights to our citizens while having some go to die for us (huge paraphrasing there, but don't think I am mischaracterizing the sentiment -- correct me if I do). Truthfully, Steve, (and I do recognize your sincerity) that is a ludricrous analysis in my mind. The terrorists hate us because our gov't is denying human rights to its own citizens? How did you ever come up w/that insight? Not trying to be argumentative here, but that just floored me. Seems to be attributed to a female, tho, so maybe it's not you.

[wxjames]

Steve, I read it,...you're a pacifist.
One of your commenters from Britian wrote that it's not patriotism, but nationalism that's the monster walking our two nations.
Pray it were true.
Islam is the walking monster, and brute force is civilization's only defense. But, I'm willing to wait till they cut off your head with a ginsu for you to see my point.
Waiting is my game, but you are running out of time. Islam is coming.

[DoctorDentons]

I hate the loss of human life but in this case you reap what you sow...all you pacifists ahould be there trying to talk the Arabs out of their weapons...good luck with that.

[steve expat]

I don't know whether I would describe myself as a pacifist. I respect that postion. I have many friends who describe themselves in that way. I protested with a lot of Quakers, for example.
I don't see how anyone can doubt now that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq. Try to remember that those of us who were right about that, were called traitors, spit at, had our car windows broken, etc. This is what happens when mindless patriotism is bred into people in the way the this website tries to create blind hatred towards Islam with statements like Islam is a "monster" that must be "destroyed". That kind of simplistic, black and white thinking is dangerous. It leads to disasters like Iraq. It leads to a lot of human misery on both sides.
I am not the author of the "rant" section in question, by the way, although I generally agree with the ranter's politics (His name is Stacey Warde - just had a few beers with him last night as we pondered which of the Bush Administration scoundrels will be next to resign - I am betting on Cheney within 2 months for "health reasons").

[Grafton]

Pacifist, nationalist, realist, ex-pat, republican or democrat it really doesn't matter. I've quit trying to nuance the struggle of militant Islam with the rest of the civilized world. Maybe I've become too pragmatic. I've reduced any further considerations to the following conclusions: I take these people at what they write. I take these people at what they say. I take these people at what they do. Further, I fault the remaining majority (I hope) of Muslims who thusfar have declined to rise up against their violent brethren. As much as I would desire that there be even a thread of common interest between the civilized west and the desires of radical Islam, there simply aren't any. Like dhimmi posted above-Islam is coming.

[lowandslow]

,blockquote>I don't see how anyone can doubt now that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq. Try to remember that those of us who were right about that, were called traitors, spit at, had our car windows broken, etc.So you guys were right about that, three and half years after the fact you know that it would all be puppies and kite flying in Iraq if we would have left Hussein alone. Tell me, who should I bet on for the Super Bowl?
Nice touch throwing the victim card in also. Spit at and had your car window broke, yeah right.

[Isophorone]

I think that if Bolton is not confirmed, Bush should yank our entire U.N. delegation and block the doors to that cussed place. The Donks don't seem to mind interfering with the President's foreign policy, right? Let's turn the tables!

[Adam Stanhope]

There is a great deal of difference between Qasam rockets and radar-guided artillery.

[Pamela Geller]

How right you are. Radar guided artillery strike directly at the desired target -- rocket launchers, missile launchers, weaponry intend on killing innocent Jews.

Qasams, OTOH, are pure objects of terror. Hundreds of rockets aimed at cities,towns, civilian targets without rhyme or reason. Random raining rockets of indiscriminate death.