Neocon Diplomacy

Our belligerent, self-imposed alienation from the world community continues:



In a critical speech Tuesday, UN Deputy Secretary-General Malloch Brown accused Washington of failing to stand up for the UN against domestic critics and observed that it was using the world body as a "diplomatic tool."

"On a very wide number of areas, from Lebanon and Afghanistan to Syria, Iran, and the Palestinian issue, the U.S. is constructively engaged with the UN," said Malloch Brown, the number two official at the United Nations. "But that is not well known or understood, in part because much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to [the UN's] loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News."

US Ambassador John Bolton, a self-styled ultra-nationalist who is known for his feverish ideas in support of the U.S. stance on unilateralism, called the remarks, "a very, very grave mistake," and asked UN chief Kofi Annan to repudiate his deputy's speech, which Bolton branded as anti-American. "Otherwise I fear the consequences, not just for the [UN] reform effort, but for the organization as a whole," Bolton said.

Kofi Annan stood by his deputy's remarks, according to a UN official, who said Malloch Brown had been appealing for "engagement" from Americans.

"'Engage here, engage consistently, and go out and engage with the American public to say the UN matters'; for the life of me, I cannot understand how that can be construed as an anti-American speech," Malloch Brown told reporters Wednesday.

Why couldn't we have put a charming, diplomatic American in that seat? Someone like, say, Michael Bolton.