Will Senate let Kofi Annan sabotage a Senate process?
The US Senate is finding itself in the strange situation of allowing the United Nations to sabotage the confirmation of the American ambassador to the world body.
The Senate is close to setting a precedent to allow the UN Secretary General to sandbag the Senate confirmation of an American ambassador.
Kofi Annan has it out for Ambassador John Bolton, who has been exposing UN inefficiencies, ineffectiveness and corruption and demanding reforms.
Columnist Robert Novak reports today how Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is playing into Kofi Annan's hands by blocking the Bolton nomination from reaching the Senate floor.
The lead Senate opponent of Bolton is Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who's biggest gripe - predictably - is that Bolton opposes Fidel Castro. Throughout his Senate career, Dodd has done more than most to further Castro's goals, helping the Sandinistas, the FMLN guerrillas in El Salvador, and most recently fighting to normalize relations with the dying regime.
The anti-Bolton campaign "can be directly traced to a determined Democratic senator [Dodd] and the vengeful UN Secretariat," Novak reports.
Annan has waged a "stealthy sabotage" campaign against Bolton, "executed by his deputy, Mark Malloch Brown," according to the columnist.
"Bolton's ordeal provides a cautionary tale for any foreign policy conservative who wants to serve his country in Washington. . . . some of Bolton's colleagues in the State Department (where he was an undersecretary in George W. Bush's first term) were backstabbing when the president named him UN envoy. Bolton's overriding defect was his anti-Castro views, which collided with Dodd's goal of 'normalizing' relations with Communist Cuba. Dodd was able to mobilize Democratic colleagues ino a deadlock - creaing demand for execuive branch documents involving Bolton," Novak continues.
Annan's deputy Mark Malloch Brown, at the UN, has been orchestrating a campaign for foreign ambassadors to pressure the Senate to block Bolton.
If the Senate allows that to happen, it will be abdicating its constitutional responsibility. The UN Secretariat will have established a precedent to intervene in Senate deliberations and veto an American president's choice of ambassador.
If the Senate allows the UN to interfere in the constitutional "advise and consent" procedure of confirming ambassadors, it will be opening the door to further UN intervention in American politics.
The Senate is close to setting a precedent to allow the UN Secretary General to sandbag the Senate confirmation of an American ambassador.
Kofi Annan has it out for Ambassador John Bolton, who has been exposing UN inefficiencies, ineffectiveness and corruption and demanding reforms.
Columnist Robert Novak reports today how Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is playing into Kofi Annan's hands by blocking the Bolton nomination from reaching the Senate floor.
The lead Senate opponent of Bolton is Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who's biggest gripe - predictably - is that Bolton opposes Fidel Castro. Throughout his Senate career, Dodd has done more than most to further Castro's goals, helping the Sandinistas, the FMLN guerrillas in El Salvador, and most recently fighting to normalize relations with the dying regime.
The anti-Bolton campaign "can be directly traced to a determined Democratic senator [Dodd] and the vengeful UN Secretariat," Novak reports.
Annan has waged a "stealthy sabotage" campaign against Bolton, "executed by his deputy, Mark Malloch Brown," according to the columnist.
"Bolton's ordeal provides a cautionary tale for any foreign policy conservative who wants to serve his country in Washington. . . . some of Bolton's colleagues in the State Department (where he was an undersecretary in George W. Bush's first term) were backstabbing when the president named him UN envoy. Bolton's overriding defect was his anti-Castro views, which collided with Dodd's goal of 'normalizing' relations with Communist Cuba. Dodd was able to mobilize Democratic colleagues ino a deadlock - creaing demand for execuive branch documents involving Bolton," Novak continues.
Annan's deputy Mark Malloch Brown, at the UN, has been orchestrating a campaign for foreign ambassadors to pressure the Senate to block Bolton.
If the Senate allows that to happen, it will be abdicating its constitutional responsibility. The UN Secretariat will have established a precedent to intervene in Senate deliberations and veto an American president's choice of ambassador.
If the Senate allows the UN to interfere in the constitutional "advise and consent" procedure of confirming ambassadors, it will be opening the door to further UN intervention in American politics.
posted by JMW at 9:04 AM
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