U.N. cleanup

Janice Shaw Crouse wrote in Townhall Just weeks after his appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton has taken pen to paper and inked in almost 800 changes in a document containing nearly 40 pages of business-as-usual proposals for increasing the U.N.’s power to police the world. The document, issued by U.N. General Assembly president, Jean Ping of Gabon, was meant to receive rubberstamp approval from nearly 200 heads of state on their way to New York for the mid-September World Summit.

I am happy to see Bolton making needed changed.

Bolton’s move is, quite literally, his own declaration of independence, clearly establishing his leadership in countering the Old Guard that has dominated the General Assembly for decades. While Bolton took a rather indirect route in establishing his power at the United Nations, he has, nevertheless, thrown down a gauntlet to those detractors who have called him an “anti-U.N. simpleton.” His wily move is garnering support from those diplomats who have problems with the U.N.’s high-handedness, while the usual suspects are denouncing him as a “saboteur” rather than “an ambassador.”

If the good guys like what he is doing, and the bad guys don't, he must be doing a good job.

His surprise move –– slicing and dicing the 40-page document –– let Secretary General Kofi Annan and his colleagues know that he will read every word of their tedious rhetoric (about “digital divides” and “foreign colonial occupation”) and none of their utopian goals (like an International Criminal Court or redistribution of wealth) or special lingo of hidden meanings will slip past his eagle eyes.

Good for him

Bolton will not allow their diversionary tactics (focusing on world problems instead of internal corruption at the U.N.) to shift attention away from the scandals under Annan’s watch. Nor will lofty sentiments and ridiculous theories slip past the intense scrutiny of John Bolton, who intends to see genuine reform replace the self-serving policies that have for so long cloaked the Left’s special agenda at the U.N.... It’s about time to have an “advocate for Americans’ values and interests at the U.N.” John Bolton’s detailed editing of the proposal for the U.N. summit means that his critics will have to either argue over each change or adopt Bolton’s suggestion: a simple, two-page statement of democratic principles.

Ambassador Bolton once said that it wouldn’t make a bit of difference if the world lost the top 10 floors of the U.N. Headquarters. His language changes, with their policy ramifications, would sweep away the detritus of Mr. Annan’s tenure and establish a new standard for diplomatic discourse at Turtle Bay; certainly his critics will have to work hard to keep up with Ambassador Bolton. He has proved that he has nothing to gain by kowtowing to the U.N. bureaucracy or to rogue nations. With the swoops of his pen, he landed a solid blow against the pompous emptiness of the U.N.’s documents and policies. His detractors may not like him, but they will have to take him seriously.