Democracy New provides interesting commentary by U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton from an event called ?The Global StructuresConvocation? held on February 3, 1994, in New York. Many of these comments have already been widely publicized, but it is useful to see them in their original context.
JOHN BOLTON: The point that I want to leave withyou in this very brief presentation is where I started, is that thereis no United Nations. There is an international community thatoccasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, andthat’s the United States, when it suits our interest, and when we canget others to go along. And I think it would be a real mistake to counton the United Nations as if it is some disembodied entity out therethat can function on its own.
Here is anotherclip from that event.
JOHN BOLTON: The League of Nations was a failurebecause the United States did not participate. The United Nations wouldbe a failure if the United States did not participate and, in fact, Iremember as vividly as though it were yesterday, right after Iraqinvaded Kuwait, Jim Baker said to me, we?re going to make this UnitedNations work, or we?re going to find out whether it is the LeagueNations or the UN. And that’s the fact. And if you don’t like it, thenI?m sorry. The United States makes the UN work when it wants it towork, and that is exactly the way it should be, because the onlyquestion, the only question for the United States is what is in ournational interest. And if you don’t like that, I?m sorry, but that isthe fact.
And one more excerpt from thatevent more than a decade ago.
JOHN BOLTON: If you think that there is anypossibility in this country that a 51,000 person bureaucracy is goingto be supported by most Americans, you better think again. TheSecretariat Building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost 10 storiestoday it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. The United Nations is oneof the most inefficient inter-governmental organizations going. UNESCOis even worse. And others go down hill from there. The fact of thematter is that the international system that has grown up, and again, Ileave out the World Bank and the IMF because I do think that they’re ina separate category, has been put into a position of hiring ineffectivepeople who do ineffective things that have no real world impact, and wepay 25% of the budget.
what he says makes sense to me.
The problem for supporters of the UN is that his statements are ABSOLUTELY true. Most people just dislike him because he points that out.
Is it Bolton’s aim to prove that the UN only works when the US wants it to, and only then in the US interest?Why does Bolton want this job in the non-existent inefficient UN? Which storey will his office be on?