John Bolton

Fire of Liberty

Though a few Democrats like John Kerry, Joe Biden and Susan Rice might have their reservations about President Bush's nomination of Secretary Bolton's to become our next UN Ambassador, there are a considerable amount of supporters out there in the press today. First, here's a bit of an editorial in today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review supporting Bolton's tough as nails approach to the tyrannies throughout the World:

"Revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine once said that "a diplomatist is a sort of unconnected atom, continually repelling and repelled." John Bolton is just that kind of independent and no-nonsense voice. His services are sorely needed at the United Nations."

Secodly, here's a piece by Nile Gardner, a fellow in Anglo-American security policy @ The Heritage Foundation, in The Boston Globe. Here's a sampling:

"The nomination of Bolton as the next US ambassador to the United Nations should be welcomed by all who are serious about transforming the UN from a poorly managed bureaucracy into a streamlined multilateral institution for the 21st century. Bolton will do what needs to be done at the UN: challenge the conventional wisdom, forcefully advance the US national interest, and lay down markers for UN reform.

Above all, Bolton will be a powerful force for change in an institution that has largely lost the confidence of the American people."

Finally, here's a piece by Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post. Here's a sample:

"The trouble with many U.N. defenders is that they refuse to see this fundamental problem, and demand a constantly expanding role for the United Nations without explaining how its lack of democratic accountability is to be addressed. The trouble with many U.N. detractors, in Congress and elsewhere, is that they see the corruption and nothing else. But there is a role for U.N. institutions -- in Afghanistan, or in international health -- as long as that role is limited in time and cost. And there is a desperate need for U.N. reform. In defense of John Bolton: He may, if he can get confirmed, be one of the few U.N. ambassadors who has thought a good deal about how to set such limits and make such reforms. And if he isn't invited to a few cocktail parties along the way, at least he won't mind."