Monday, May 08, 2006

Bolton's UN Job May Depend on Fate of Iran Nuclear Resolution

Bloomberg

Bolton, a 57-year-old former arms-control official, is trying to win Security Council support for a resolution that would threaten Iran with possible economic, diplomatic or even military action for failing to obey. At the same time, diplomats in New York say Bolton's outspokenness, which played a role in scuttling his confirmation, has added to the Bush administration's isolation at the UN.

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The disconnect, even with European governments allied with the U.S. in confronting Iran, has shown up this year on other issues, including how to punish human-rights abusers, choose the next UN secretary-general and defuse Middle East tensions.

Bolton brushes aside such criticism and says the fact that President George W. Bush had to use a temporary recess appointment to name him to the post hasn't had an impact on his effectiveness.

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Bolton has worked hard to ingratiate himself with his fellow envoys, making a point of scheduling one-on-one meetings with more than 180 ambassadors and wishing many ``Happy Presidents' Day'' on the eve of the Feb. 20 U.S. holiday. Envoys say the approach hasn't worked because, at the same time, he has repeatedly criticized the inability of the ``geniuses'' in New York to overhaul the UN to suit U.S. views. ``He is not an easy man to get close to,'' Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis of Greece said in an interview. ``It is a matter of how you operate. Some people have the possibility to build consensus. Others operate in other ways.''

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``I don't know why they are so isolated,'' Ambassador Oswaldo de Rivero of Peru, a Security Council member, said in an interview. ``He lives in another world, with this belief that he is morally superior and the U.S. is more moral than all the countries around the world. It is a pity.'' To illustrate his point, de Rivero waved his arm to mimic someone wielding a whip, saying Bolton as Security Council president ``flagellated'' the panel's envoys.

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