by Ian Williams

The Nation

03/08/05

The nomination of John Bolton to be US ambassador to the United Nations is a resounding declaration of American contempt for the organization and the rest of the world. When Condoleezza Rice forced Bolton out of his niche at the State Department, it was taken worldwide as a positive indication of the prospects of multilateralism in Bush's second term, in some measure compensating for the retirement of Colin Powell -- not least since no one was sure how much of a multilateralist Rice is. Some playful souls scared colleagues by suggesting that Bolton could end up as UN ambassador, but the consensus was that not even Bush could be that crassly insouciant about the views of the rest of the world. This week showed that once again, the world has underestimated the President...

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050321&s=williams


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp