Bolton Supporters Finally Get Honest:: It's about blowing up the UN

[housewolf]

Bolton Supporters Finally Get Honest: It's Not About Reforming the U.N. but Really about Blowing Up U.N. over North Korea and Iran

Whereas much of the support for Bolton has had the veneer of being about United Nations reform, what Bolton proponents really want is a ferocious show-down with Iran and North Korea through the United Nations -- not because the U.N. is a good venue for such a battle but because the weaknesses of the U.N. and the problem of getting Security Council unity behind resolutions may allow Bolton to kick apart the institution.

As reported today in the Financial Times:
Conservative hawks backing John Bolton as the next US ambassador to the United Nations are looking forward to their champion taking on North Korea and Iran in the Security Council as the Bush administration takes the next steps to deal with their nuclear programmes.

<snip>

Now that we know that Frank Gaffney, David Frum, Gary Bauer, and others at ConfirmBolton.com are worried about North Korea and Iran -- what is their strategy -- other than sending Bolton to the U.N.?

The fact is that they have no strategy -- that is apparent to TWN yet -- on how to credibly confront and/or preempt the further creep of North Korea's and Iran's nuclear pretensions.

<snip>
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000623.html

[Carolab]

1. Of course it is. Bolton is known as "JINSA John".

Oh, dear.

[mahina]

3. What's that?

Just wondering...

[Carolab]

4. Read this article. All of it.

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/analysis/2004/0410isirannext.php

[Starfury]

5. Scary article - must read for everyone!

I had no idea of the depth of relations between the neocons and Israeli hardliners. For example:

"JINSA, a neoconservative organization established in 1976 that fosters closer strategic and military ties between the United States and Israel, also has its sights on Iran. At a JINSA policy forum in April 2003 titled “Time to Focus on Iran—The Mother of Modern Terrorism,” Ledeen declared, “The time for diplomacy is at an end; it is time for a free Iran, free Syria and free Lebanon.”"

(Note: Ledeen works in Douglas Feith's Office of Policy in the Pentagon, which in turn came up with our rationales for attack Iraq. He is also described as a "close friend" to Lawrence Franklin, who is currently being investigated by the FBI for leaking classified documents to Israel regarding Iran. Also note the date of Ledeen's presentation - April 2003. We'd just attacked Iraq and he's already publicly pushing for invading Iran and Syria. Oh, and Lebanon too. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?)

Carolab's article gives much more information on the neocons and Israelis. If anyone still has doubts that the neocons aren't going for broke, this should convince them.

[Carolab]

7. Yes, and this paragraph:

JINSA, along with CSP, serves as one of the main institutional links to the military-industrial complex for neoconservatives. Ledeen served as JINSA’s first executive director and was JINSA’s “Godfather,” according to Amitay. Amitay is a JINSA vice chair. JINSA board members or advisers also include former CIA director James Woolsey, former Rep. Jack Kemp and the AEI’s Joshua Muravchik. After he joined the administration, Feith resigned from JINSA’s board of advisers, as did Vice President Dick Cheney and Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton.

And, from the link in this article to Bolton's background:

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/bolton/bolton.php

<snip>

Since the 1970s Bolton has aggressively and stridently attacked multilateral institutions and international treaties. At the same time, however, Bolton has been a firm supporter of multilateral entities and coalitions that the U.S. controls--such as NATO, the “coalition of the willing” in Iraq, and the anti-rogue Security Proliferation Initiative led by Bolton.

<snip>

Bolton has long dismissed the legitimacy of the United Nations--a multilateral organization that the United States played a key role in creating--not as a pet organization but as a international organization dedicated to “collective security.” A longtime activist with the Federalist Society, Bolton has used this right-wing association of lawyers, judges, and legal experts as a forum to lash out against the United Nations. In a 1994 speech at the liberal World Federalist Association, Bolton declared that “there is no such thing as the United Nations.” To underscore his point, Bolton said. “If the UN secretary building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

<snip>

"Along with other Bush administration officials, Bolton was on the board of advisers of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs before joining the administration. JINSA supports a “peace through strength” policy to support Israel and works to build “strategic ties” between the U.S. military and U.S. military contractors with Israel. Other administration figures associated with this militarist organization that aims to strengthen the military-industrial complexes in both Israel and the United States are Richard Cheney, Douglas Feith, and Paul Wolfowitz.

Two months prior to the Iraq invasion, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton traveled to Jerusalem to meet with former Prime Minister Netanyahu and Prime Minister Sharon to discuss strategies for “preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.” No mention was made of the widely accepted fact--although never mentioned by the United States --that Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. Instead, the undersecretary for disarmament affairs focused on the Bush administration’s disarmament targets following the planned invasion of Iraq. Bolton in February 2003 said that once regime change plans in Iraq were completed, “it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran, and North Korea afterwards.”14

<snip>

(Read the whole Bolton biography too, if you want to get the whole picture here. It gives essential detail on Bolton's ANTI-UN sentiments and "achievements".)

[ReadTomPaine]

2. Subvert or destroy, that's been the plan from the start, clear as day.

Otherwise why pick this freak at all? It's not like they don't already know all about his "management style". These "qualities" are precisely what they are seeking in a blunt instrument to beat the UN with.

[indepat]

6. If W supporters finally get honest: it's about blowing up social security

[Eloriel]

8. I think you ought to post this in GD Politics.

It REALLY deserves more readership than it'll get here, and please include the link back to this one.