Atlantic Review - Entries tagged as Bolton - Analysis of Transatlantic Relations and U.S. Foreign Policy

Majority of Americans: Reform or Replace the United Nations

Posted by Joerg Wolf in US Foreign Policy on Tuesday, September 12. 2006

"A majority of Americans (57%) now believe the United Nations should be scrapped and replaced if it cannot be reformed and made more effective", according to a telephone poll conducted on behalf of the Hudson Institute:

75% believe the UN is no longer "effective" and "needs to be held more accountable."
71% believe the UN "needs to be considerably reformed."
67% believe "there are too many undemocratic nations in the UN that do not care about promoting democracy and freedom."

Nobody doubts the need for reform, but there are strong disagreements among the member countries about how to do so. To support more cooperation among the democracies in the world, the Community of Democracies should be strengthened, but I am not aware of any serious efforts to strengthen this forum founded in 2000. The United Nations, however, cannot and should not limit its membership to democracies. The UN is not an alliance like NATO, but has a different purpose. Besides, you don't make peace with your friends, but with your enemies.
The Foreign Policy blog writes:

The poll confirms that since 9/11, Americans have become more skeptical of the global body. Fifty-two percent of respondents feel more unfavorable toward the United Nations and just 27 percent feel more favorable. (...) A plurality—44 to 37 percent—feels that the United Nations generally opposes U.S. interests. (...) The poll, though, is far from all bad news for those who support greater U.S. engagement with the United Nations. A whopping 73 percent favor the United States taking a "a more active role in the UN" as it is "the best way for us to influence world affairs."

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Defined tags for this entry: Bolton, Polls, United Nations

President Bush nominates undiplomatic hardliner as ambassador to the UN

Posted by Editors in US Foreign Policy on Friday, April 15. 2005

“Some have said that sending you to the U.N. would be like sending Nixon to China. I'm afraid it would be more like sending a bull into a china shop," said Senator Joe Biden to John Bolton, President Bush's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Jon Stewart's Daily Show sums up the arguments against John Bolton. Short video footage from the Senate hearings.

John Bolton “would be far from the first US envoy to the UN to have the word "controversial" often cited in front of his name,“ writes the Christian Science Monitor. The UN Security Council is “one of the few international forums where we are one of many. We feel we need a distinctive, pointed voice there," remarks Thomas Carothers from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the same article.

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Defined tags for this entry: Bolton, Public Diplomacy, United Nations

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