My friends at Citizens for Global Solutions have started an online campaign to get the Senate to reject the nomination of the Bush Administration of John Bolton to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations. I had the displeasure of seeing John Bolton in action about 10 years ago in DC in a debate on the United Nations, during which he said that the UN could “lose 10 floors” and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. His nomination can only be viewed as a complete insult to the international community by President Bush.
Go to http://www.stopbolton.org/ to see a video of John Bolton, and what you can do to stop his nomination. He would be a complete disaster as the premiere voice of the United States at the UN.
Some fun quotes from the man:
“[M]any Republicans in Congress–and perhaps a majority–not only do not care about losing the General Assembly vote but actually see it as a ‘make my day’ outcome. Indeed, once the vote is lost… this will simply provide further evidence to why nothing more should be paid to the UN system.” — The Washington Times, 1998
”If the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” — 1994 Global Structures Convocation, New York, NY.
“There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world and that is the United States when it suits our interest and we can get others to go along.”
“If I were redoing the Security Council today, I’d have one permanent member because that’s the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world.” — National Public Radio with Juan Williams, 2000.
Or seen another way, he might just be an accurate reflection of the stance of the Bush administration toward the UN.