Gotta Love Bolton

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Gotta love John Bolton:

US President George W. Bush will not accept a nuclear Iran, John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday.

Bolton, speaking from New York via video hook-up to the Interdisciplinary Center’s Herzliya Conference, said that Bush was determined to pursue the issue through peaceful and diplomatic means, “but has made clear that a nuclear Iran is not acceptable.”

According to Bolton, Bush worries that a nuclear-equipped Iran under its current leadership could well engage in a nuclear holocaust, “and that is just not something he is going to accept.”

Bolton said that if the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) referred the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council in early February, it would still be unlikely for the UN to immediately slap sanctions on Teheran.

“In the first instance I suspect that if it comes to the Security Council in a few weeks we would look for a statement that essentially calls on Iran to comply with the existing IAEA resolutions,” Bolton said. “I think that would be a gut check for the Iranians, and if they don’t heed that warning we would have to consider what to do next.”

Bolton said that referring the issue to the Security Council was a form of pressure on Iran to convince them to make the same strategic decision Libya made in 2004 – that their national interests would be better served, and they would be safer in giving up the purist of nuclear weapons, than in continuing that pursuit.

Bolton, who was very critical during his comments of the UN’s treatment of Israel, said – in an answer to a question – that the time had come to re-evaluate UNRWA, the UN body devoted to Palestinian refuges.

When looking toward a two state solution, Bolton said, “you have to ask why one state, Palestine, has an entire UN agency devoted entirely to it.”

Bolton asked why the UN Development Program, and other UN programs present in other countries around the world, would not be applicable to a Palestinian state as well.

“Looking at the future of UNRWA is definitely something we should all be doing, thinking about how to transition to a new UN involvement in the region,” Bolton said.

Man, how great is it to have a UN ambassador from the US actually pointing out the hypocrisy in the UN for the whole world to see. It’s been a long time since we have seen this and it’s refreshing.

If your wondering which group Bolton is referring to when he states “you have to ask why one state, Palestine, has an entire UN agency devoted entirely to it.” It’s the Organization of the Islamic Conference. This group includes 51 out of the 191 members at the UN and is the main reason the UN cannot even issue a condemnation of terrorism.

This month, the United Nations Security Council voted to condemn terrorism. The resolution was introduced by Russia, still grieving over the terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, and perhaps the unanimous vote will give it a measure of solace. But the convoluted text and the dealings behind the scenes that were necessary to secure agreement on it offer cold comfort to anyone who cares about winning the war against terrorism. For what they reveal is that even after Beslan and after Madrid and after 9/11, the UN still cannot bring itself to oppose terrorism unequivocally.

The reason for this failure is that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which comprises fifty-six of the UN’s 191 members, defends terrorism as a right.

After the Security Council vote, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John C. Danforth tried to put the best face on the resolution. He said it “states very simply that the deliberate massacre of innocents is never justifiable in any cause. Never.”

But in fact it does not state this. Nor has any UN resolution ever stated it. The U.S. delegation tried to get such language into the resolution, but it was rebuffed by Algeria and Pakistan, the two OIC members currently sitting on the Security Council. (They have no veto, but the resolution’s sponsors were willing to water down the text in return for a unanimous vote.)

And Bolton isn’t afraid to point this hypocrisy out.? It should be obvious to almost everyone by now that Bush and Israel will not allow Iran to go nuclear.


Man, how great is it to have a UN ambassador from the US actually pointing out the hypocrisy in the UN for the whole world to see. It’s been a long time since we have seen this and it’s refreshing.