There is no such thing as the United Nations," Bolton said a decade ago on a panel of the World Federalist Association. "If the U.N. Secretariat Building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
He has also declared, "It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so—because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrain the United States."
Bolton has been appointed to be ambassador to an organization that he claims does not exist.
This, I'm sure you know, is part of pattern. Bush appoints someone with a history of hostility to the environment to head the EPA. He appoints someone who has advocated torture to be the nation's highest law enforcement authority. Bush appoints people to head agencies who hate what the agency stands for all the time. This is so much easier than gutting the agencies, because you actually have to persuade people and pass bills and do messy stuff like compromise in order to do that.
Perhaps this goes along with the basic Republican practice of hating the government, but wanting to run it.
"Uniter, not a divider," my ass.
1 comment:
Might not be a bad idea for the Democrats to happily confirm Bolton, frankly.
First of all, this is Bush's call, if he wants Bolton, he should get him.
Second, by the time Bolton has "settled in" at the UN, you can forget about the UN or, basically, anybody save maybe Sharon, bailing Bush out on his screw ups. Yes, it's going to make the world hate us more, if that's possible, but that may mean that if we ever overthrow these fascists, we'll have one helluva warm reception from the internationalists. We will be able to do no wrong.
Finally, this should well blow back on Bush. Bolton's past statements do indicate an ideological opposition to the UN, but more than that, they indicate he's an asshole. Assholes can do well with bureaucratic infighting, but they tend to make bad diplomats. It shouldn't be too long before Bolton shoots his mouth off and causes embarassment. Maybe this will not get through the right wing filter, but if it does, people will wonder how somebody could nominate such an asshole to be our face to the world. Actually he'd be the second asshole.
Anyway, if things go bad for Bush, having Bolton running around the UN can only make it worse for him.
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