First of all, the hype against Bolton is just as goofy as the initial hype against Pricilla Owens, i.e. she was too terrible to allow on the federal bench but all of a sudden she was good enough for Robert Byrd, who even voted for her.
As far as I can determine, Bolton’s biggest fault with Democrats is that he will represent U.S. interests first and the “world community” second
(preferably 9th or 10th for me, but as long as the U.S. is first I’ll accept whatever designation he chooses)
I suppose that if you think the U.S. is always wrong or should never come first all the time, then yes, Mr. Bolton’s appointment will disappoint you.
The U.S. is the largest donor country to the UN and, in fact, without the U.S. donations, the UN would cease to exist. If Pres. Bush was in a mood to screw with the UN, he’d simply do what Pres. Clinton did, withhold (or cancel) our donation.
U.S. Donation to the UN ” The United States is the largest financial contributor to the U.N., and has been every year since its creation in 1945. U.S. contributions to the U.N. system in 2003 were well over $3 billion. In-kind contributions include items such as food donations for the World Food Program.” Do you feel we are getting any kind of decent return on our investment? I don’t.
There are more than a few Americans who believe that the UN has ceased to have any relevancy in the world. I’m not one of them, yet. But I’m getting closer everyday. Personally, I’m tired my tax dollars are paying the salaries of the ambassadors from some of the most despotic countries on the face of the earth.
I think Bolton will be good for America’s interests at the UN and personally feel that if he can’t success then we should consider withdrawing all support to the UN.
Fortunately, as in the case of Ms. Owens, the Democrats objections to Bolton are simply partisan efforts to give them some negotiating points and they’ll abandon their objections as soon as they feel they have made their point.
In other words, they no more have any principled objections to Mr. Bolton than they did for Ms. Owens, it’s all politics.
I'm sorry you mistake their rhetoric as fact.
Bloomberg Condoleezza Rice revealed in a speech yesterday that a consortium of nations, including the US, stopped nuclear material from reaching Iran as well as other rogue nations over the last nine months. The participating nations of the Proliferation Security Initiative have quietly cooperated on eleven interdictions during that time, at least one of those directly involving Teheran:
”The U.S. and its allies in a program to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction prevented Iran from obtaining material for its nuclear weapons program within the past nine months, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
``The trans-shipment of material and equipment bound for ballistic missile programs in countries of concern, including Iran'' was blocked as was the transfer of ``equipment used to produce propellant'' to a ``ballistic missile program in another region'' of the world, Rice said. ...
Rice gave no details but said that the U.S. and 10 of its partners in the initiative have cooperated on 11 successful interdiction efforts over the past nine months. Iran was the only nation interdicted that she cited by name.
``PSI partners, working at times with others, have prevented Iran from procuring goods to support its missile and WMD programs, including its nuclear program,'' she said at the State Department in Washington.
Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker said the U.S. is withholding details of the interdictions to ensure continued cooperation from countries that do not want their participation made public.” Notice that Iran, who must have expected that shipment to arrive, never publicly demanded its release once held up.
Those who believe that Iran needs such a program when it sits on top of one of the world's largest oil reserves should rethink their position in light of this news.
Who was the man who made the diplomatic arrangements to get over 60 nations involved in PSI? Why ... none other than that hardass meanie,
John Bolton. Go figure
