Posted on 11/26/2005 4:48:57 PM PST by blam
Bolton loses British backing for UN tactics
By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 27/11/2005)
Britain has angered John Bolton, America's combative ambassador to the United Nations, by breaking ranks with him over the need for reform.
The rare public disagreement between the two close allies comes as the showdown over reforms at the UN's New York headquarters becomes increasingly acrimonious.
John Bolton: Angered
Britain has rebuffed a Bolton move to join him in refusing to pass the organisation's 2006 budget until member states approve wide-ranging management reforms.
To the irritation of Mr Bolton, many developing nations are bitterly opposed to changes that they claim are driven by American political pressure. He suggested last week that talks on the 2006 and 2007 budgets could be postponed as a means to overcome the trenchant resistance from the "G77" bloc of developing countries. He also threatened that the United States could seek an alternative to the UN for solving international problems in future.
Britain strongly supports the reform package, but along with the other 24 EU states it has ruled out a budget delay. "We are not in favour of holding any individual items or the budget hostage to other issues but we do say very clearly that by the end of this year we need clarity and a determination to tackle a better management for the United Nations," said the British ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, said that any delay in approving next year's budget would create a "serious financial crisis". Mr Bolton says a temporary budget could be passed to ensure UN operations did not grind to a halt.
The reform proposals are intended to improve the efficiency and running of the UN bureaucracy by handing the secretary general's office greater power to oversee management, finance and staffing. These responsibilities are currently the remit of the unwieldly 191-state General Assembly, where developing nations fear losing their influence.
The changes - agreed at the UN World Summit in September following a damning report into the oil-for-food scandal - are already a watered-down version of what America and the EU had hoped for.
The stand-off is also frustrating Mr Annan, who is desperate to introduce reforms before he leaves office next year in an attempt to improve a reputation badly tarnished by the scandal.
"We have to get past this political dogfight. We just hope that both sides can sober up and reach some agreement on this," Mark Malloch Brown, Mr Annan's British chief of staff, told the Sunday Telegraph. "The UN needs a first-class international public administration capable of meeting its challenges and we don't have that right now."
Western diplomats hope that there may be progress before the end of the year on limited changes such as new ethics committee and overhauling the discredited human rights commission. But they are braced for "trench warfare" on management reforms.
"The hostility and conflict in the debate about reforms illustrate the many fault lines in the organisation," said a senior Western envoy. "It is going to be a long hard slog."
Mr Bolton, a long-time and vocal UN critic, arrived in New York four months ago with a reputation as an uncompromising tough talker. Privately, British diplomats express surprise that he has not made greater efforts to cultivate them or build alliances. "You're either with him or against him," said one.
It's time to send the UN packing.
What are they going to do, strike? Anything that caused the UN to cease operations cant be bad.
Take our 22% and just leave the UN Mr. Bolton. Let that debating society whine. Also, don't forget to tell Japan they can leave to.
That is almost half the UN funding gone.
Good for Bolton. That's why he's there.
"We are not in favour of holding any individual items or the budget hostage to other issues
It's also being done to embarass Bolton and undercut Bush.
Yes, the British Parliament Labour Party thugs are in on the game.
Blair has to be careful and pick his fights judiciously. This is probably not one he wants to enter into.
Leni
The UN is nothing but a club for rapists, thieves and murderers. Send them all packing. NOW!
[I'm ashamed of the UK!]
I know a lot of folks here would have us wash our hands of any such organizations forever, but here's what I would propose: the USA and Japan should jointly agree to withdraw from the UN and take the nearly 50% portion of the UN budget to announce the founding a new, bilateral international aid organization that will be founded on rationally defensible principles, including promotion of private enterprise and non-governmental solutions to problems in the "developing world" (or not-developing world as it might better be called). We will only allow new 'members' to our new organization who agree to contribute their reasonable share (no more freeloaders!!) and who agree to the organization's principles and by-laws, which will promote liberty, democracy, free enterprise, and the greatest economic/political principles the world has ever known. Why waste any more of our time and resources trying to influence the corrupt and pathetic UN? Let all those governments who are so addicted to it PAY for it, and we will do something better with the money contributed by the USA and Japan (if only we can get Japan to go along with a better course of action). In time this new organization would become the principal entity worthy of respect on the international stage, but we'd have to make sure it would not allow membership to the moonbat countries that currently dominate too much of the UN's activities.........
If they can't compete they'll lose their profits.
Now we know who has the cajones and who are the, shall we say, the wussies.
good cop bad cop
Trouble is, Bolton and Bush don't know if they are coming or going with the UN... they should grow a spine and kick the UN out.. or figure out a way to work with/around them. But they and the other Repubs, will piss and moan and shout... and not do anything, and ultimately go along.
The Repubs now have all the power... why aren't they using it?
Yes sir.
I'm glad to see Mr. Bolton stirring the pot.
Don't stop.
LVM
TRANSLATION: Third World Basket Cases and Failed Nations
I am not a Darwinist, and I believe his theory of evolution is deeply flawed, but I know many believe it. If it was true, would not that make these nations the weaker of the lot? All nations developed through Evolution, and some nations are more "fit" than others, correct?
Then, by Darwin's theory, those nations should perish.
Alas, I don't believe in Darwin. We are all God's creatures. But the bible says God judges nations as well as individuals.
That sounds soooo defensive and insecure, doesn't it? They clearly stole their title from the G7 of economically successful nations.
BTTT
Oil For Food, no doubt. The Brits should've cleaned house.
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