Finally, some honesty from Bolton supporters is making its way out of the muck.
Whereas much of the support for Bolton has had the veneer of being about United Nations reform, what Bolton proponents really want is a ferocious show-down with Iran and North Korea through the United Nations — not because the U.N. is a good venue for such a battle but because the weaknesses of the U.N. and the problem of getting Security Council unity behind resolutions may allow Bolton to kick apart the institution.
As reported today in the Financial Times:
Conservative hawks backing John Bolton as the next US ambassador to the United Nations are looking forward to their champion taking on North Korea and Iran in the Security Council as the Bush administration takes the next steps to deal with their nuclear programmes.
The White House said on Friday it expected Mr Bolton to be confirmed after the Senate foreign relations committee took the rare decision on Thursday to send his nomination to the Senate floor without endorsement.
While I disagree with the objectives of the pro-Bolton crowd, I respect much more the notion that they want to have a show-down with Iran and North Korea in the U.N. arena — than I do their false claims that they are “real believers” in an improved and reformed U.N.
Here is the problem though.
Now that we know that Frank Gaffney, David Frum, Gary Bauer, and others at ConfirmBolton.com are worried about North Korea and Iran — what is their strategy — other than sending Bolton to the U.N.?
The fact is that they have no strategy — that is apparent to TWN yet — on how to credibly confront and/or preempt the further creep of North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear pretensions.
Their goal is to focus on blowing up the United Nations by using North Korea and Iran confrontations that run the risk of yet again dividing the U.S. and Europe.
Their goal is not to look at the combination of policy initiatives, including efforts at the U.N., to deal with the substantive threats posed by North Korea and Iran.
It’s all about kicking apart the United Nations, reformed or not.
— Steve Clemons
