Free Republic

Salvaging Our North Korea Policy.... By JOHN R. BOLTON There are signs, albeit small ones, that the Bush administration may be reaching the end of its patience with the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. These signs could prove illusory. But as it nears its end, the administration has a serious responsibility: It must not leave its successor with an ongoing, failed policy. At a minimum, President Bush should not bequeath to the next president only the burned-out hulk of the Six-Party Talks, and countless failed and violated North Korean commitments. Since they were conceived in spring 2003,...

BY CLIFFORD MAY As America's ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton was the White House's most effective defender. Now, as an ex-diplomat, he has become among the administration's toughest critics. But he critiques from the right, not the left, which probably explains why the elite media are not eager to focus on what he has to say. The son of a Baltimore firefighter who attended Yale Law School on scholarship, Bolton combines a combative nature with a keen intellect. He is a conservative without the prefix - neither neo-con (he's skeptical about nation-building and democracy promotion) nor paleo-con...

Late in 2006, as the pro-Israel community in Washington was still making its last-ditch efforts to secure John Bolton's confirmation to the post of ambassador to the United Nations, the object of their affection was beginning to change his mind about the post. The initial attempt to give the job to Bolton had been blocked by hostile members of the Senate, who saw the veteran Washington lawyer and diplomat as too critical of the world body to represent the United States there. But after a "recess" appointment in August 2005 that allowed him to stay in office until the end...