New U.S. envoy ruffling feathers at the UN
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By Bob Deans Cox News Service - Published: September 9, 2005
UNITED NATIONS - Are you talkin' to me?
To hear his critics tell it, that classic New York movie line pretty well captures the confrontational diplomatic tone being set by the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who assumed the post last month.
He introduced himself to the diplomatic corps of the UN's 191 member nations with a series of letters taking aim at a policy statement others had been working on for months. The 39-page white paper is intended to address fundamental issues such as development, anti-terrorism measures and nuclear nonproliferation.
Bolton proposed about 700 changes, throwing into near chaos what had been expected to be the usual last-minute tweaking of a document meant to be the centerpiece of this week's UN World Summit.
"He has been the bull in the china shop," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, a New York based research and advocacy group. "He has simply flexed his muscle and started swinging away."
The UN diplomatic community viewed Bolton with suspicion well before his arrival in New York. Bolton, a conservative whose appointment by President Bush set off a blistering partisan battle on Capitol Hill over his confirmation, once said if the UN headquarters building in New York "lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
Thus, in the halls of the United Nations, his appointment was regarded a bit like sending an atheist as an envoy to the Vatican. Bolton, 56, replaced the statesmanlike John Danforth, a former U.S. senator from Missouri who is an ordained Episcopal minister.
But Bolton's irreverence for the institution is one reason Bush sent him here.
In an Aug. 30 "Dear Colleague" letter, one of a series he sent out to fellow UN envoys, he outlined a point-by-point strategy for bringing "integrity and competency" to the United Nations, which has been wracked by charges of corruption, scandal and ineptitude.
"Business as usual," will no longer do, Bolton asserted in the letter, calling for sweeping reforms and "strong oversight and accountability mechanisms" to watch over the United Nations and its agencies.
Roth said Bolton's approach is setting the stage for a backlash.
Momentum for creating a new UN human rights council was slowed, Roth asserted, after Bolton intervened, putting in jeopardy the prospects for replacing the widely criticized UN Human Rights Commission.
"There had been tremendous progress toward a consensus in creating a human rights council," Roth said. "That consensus has now been damaged because Bolton picked up the pages of the draft document and threw them into the air."
But Bolton, former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, has drawn praise from conservatives for hitting the ground running in New York.
He shows up for work at 6:30 a.m. at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, with a staff of some 120. He expects press clippings from morning papers around the world to be on his desk when he gets to work, and he insists that important U.S. officials be ready to get to business when he arrives.
"It may be the first time that the word 'rock 'n roll' is being used in a UN context," quipped Ruth Wedgwood, professor of international law and diplomacy at John Hopkins University, of Bolton's charge-ahead style.
Bolton typically does not return to his official residence at the posh Waldorf-Astoria hotel until well after 8 p.m.
As he assumed his post, Bolton's Washington critics called him damaged goods, saying the bruising confirmation fight over the spring and summer had left his credibility in tatters. The confirmation process, was dominated by charges from State Department officials - most appointed by Bush - that Bolton was an intemperate bully who tried to intimidate intelligence analysts who disagreed with him, a characterization Bolton refuted.
Senate Democrats, and one Republican, blocked a confirmation vote on Bolton, making him the only U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ever to assume the post without Senate approval.
While Bolton's reputation and aggressive style have some diplomats expressing their dismay in private, the public line is, well, diplomatic.
"It had no impact," said UN Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor. "The situation in New York is not affected one jot by" Bolton's partisan troubles in Washington.
Ambassadors come to the United Nations with only one credential, he said, "and that's the confidence of the government that sent them."
From Bush, at least, Bolton has that in spades.
"That's all they need to know to deal with him," said Tharoor. "He's being treated with respect in that regard."
Bolton's eleventh-hour input on the summit document "was a bit of a jolt," Tharoor conceded.
He quickly added that the recommended changes have had at least one positive effect: "It's galvanized a very good debate."
ENDIT Story Filed By Cox Newspapers For Use By Clients of the New York Times News Service
NYT-09-08-05 1908EDT
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