Stephanie
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2004
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By Irwin Arieff
Mon Sep 11, 7:20 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States should give the United Nations until the end of the year to reform and then consider cutting back on its U.N. dues if the changes fall short, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said on Monday.
"Is good management and lack of corruption too much to ask for?" he asked, calling the United Nations "severely challenged from a management and accountability point of view."
Bolton made his comments in response to a question after addressing a symposium on the future of the United Nations sponsored by the conservative Hudson Institute.
The United States, one of 192 member-nations, now pays about a quarter of the U.N. budget. Conservative members of Congress have threatened spending cuts for the past two years.
Bolton said Washington had set a goal of "complete concentration on the reform process" through the end of 2006.
"So I think what we need to do is wait until we reach the end of the year and then make an evaluation. And I think our determination and our objectives are very clear to all of the other U.N. members, and I think they can calculate the stakes if reform does not succeed."
A survey released at the symposium found that 57 percent of Americans believe the United Nations should be shut down and replaced if it cannot be made more effective.
But the same poll, by Luntz-Maslansky Strategic Research in Arlington, Virginia, also found that 73 percent want Washington to "take a more active role" in the United Nations because "it is the best way for us to influence world affairs."
The poll relied on telephone interviews with 800 people and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent, meaning actual results could vary by that much in either direction.
In naming Bolton as his U.N. ambassador, President George W. Bush, called on him to lead a major overhaul of the world body following findings of widespread mismanagement and corruption in the now-defunct oil for food program for Iraq.
But reforms adopted in the year since his appointment -- which bypassed the Senate -- have been weak -- due at least in part to his unconventional and often abrasive style. ( yeah right! Now where have I heard THAT before...)...
Leading a loose coalition of rich nations, Bolton pushed aggressively for more ambitious steps, antagonizing poor nations that make up the majority of U.N. members.
U.N. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson, speaking on the final day of the assembly's 60th session, acknowledged that "our work is not finished" even as he praised the body's score-card on reform as "a good one."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060911/pl_nm/un_reform_dc
Mon Sep 11, 7:20 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States should give the United Nations until the end of the year to reform and then consider cutting back on its U.N. dues if the changes fall short, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said on Monday.
"Is good management and lack of corruption too much to ask for?" he asked, calling the United Nations "severely challenged from a management and accountability point of view."
Bolton made his comments in response to a question after addressing a symposium on the future of the United Nations sponsored by the conservative Hudson Institute.
The United States, one of 192 member-nations, now pays about a quarter of the U.N. budget. Conservative members of Congress have threatened spending cuts for the past two years.
Bolton said Washington had set a goal of "complete concentration on the reform process" through the end of 2006.
"So I think what we need to do is wait until we reach the end of the year and then make an evaluation. And I think our determination and our objectives are very clear to all of the other U.N. members, and I think they can calculate the stakes if reform does not succeed."
A survey released at the symposium found that 57 percent of Americans believe the United Nations should be shut down and replaced if it cannot be made more effective.
But the same poll, by Luntz-Maslansky Strategic Research in Arlington, Virginia, also found that 73 percent want Washington to "take a more active role" in the United Nations because "it is the best way for us to influence world affairs."
The poll relied on telephone interviews with 800 people and had a margin of error of 3.5 percent, meaning actual results could vary by that much in either direction.
In naming Bolton as his U.N. ambassador, President George W. Bush, called on him to lead a major overhaul of the world body following findings of widespread mismanagement and corruption in the now-defunct oil for food program for Iraq.
But reforms adopted in the year since his appointment -- which bypassed the Senate -- have been weak -- due at least in part to his unconventional and often abrasive style. ( yeah right! Now where have I heard THAT before...)...
Leading a loose coalition of rich nations, Bolton pushed aggressively for more ambitious steps, antagonizing poor nations that make up the majority of U.N. members.
U.N. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson, speaking on the final day of the assembly's 60th session, acknowledged that "our work is not finished" even as he praised the body's score-card on reform as "a good one."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060911/pl_nm/un_reform_dc
