Friday - August 26, 2005

John Bolton: First Strike

John Bolton has already launched the first strike against the chattering monkeys at the UN. Bolton has thrown a monkey wrench into the UN’s latest proposal with 750 requested changes to the UN’s draft reorganization plan. The UK’s Guardian (notoriously liberal) has some decidely biased language in their coverage but one thing I find interesting is Bolton’s refusal to just go along with several very bad provisions. One of which is the proposal to force all developing nations to donate at least 0.7% of GDP to developing nations.

The US currently donates 0.2% of GDP, while several Euro-nations (like Norway) donate 0.7% and more. The problem I have with that is that Norway’s GDP is $183 billion, which means the Norwegians donate $366 million. The US GDP, on the other hand is $11.75 trillion and 0.2% of that is $23.5 billion, which is more than the entire GDP of half the nations in the UN (source: CIA World Factbook).

(GUARDIAN - UK)—John Bolton, Washington’s new ambassador to the United Nations, has called for wholesale changes to a draft document due to go before a UN summit next month aimed at reshaping the world body.

Mr Bolton, a long-standing UN critic who was given a temporary appointment by George Bush three weeks ago after the United States Senate failed to agree on his nomination, has proposed 750 amendments to the draft and called for immediate talks on them.

The 29-page document has been drawn up by a committee under the UN general assembly president, Jean Ping of Gambia, over the past year, during which time several drafts have been circulated.

Critics complained that the US objections had come towards the end of the drafting process, with only three weeks to go before the summit.

But Benjamin Chang, a spokesman for the American team at the UN, said Mr Bolton had simply been restating long-held US opinions. “Those are not new positions; surprise positions,” he said. “We’ve been engaged in this process, since the first meeting.”

The Bolton amendments, published in the US press, seek to play down the emphasis given to alleviating poverty, and expunge all references to the millennium development goals, including the target for wealthy countries to donate at least 0.7 % of national income to the developing world. America currently gives less than 0.2% in such aid.

The changes would also scrap provisions in the draft calling for action against global warming, and remove endorsements of the international criminal court and the comprehensive test-ban treaty - both of which are opposed by the Bush administration.

Instead, Washington is pushing for more emphasis on international measures against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/26/2005 at 06:20 AM   
Filed Under: • United-Nations •  
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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