US infuriated by UN official's speech

US infuriated by UN official's speech
No. 2 at United Nations criticizes US

The Associated Press (apwire)

Published 2006-06-08 00:06 (KST)

The United States demanded Wednesday that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan repudiate a speech in which his No. 2 official broke with tradition and accused the United States of undermining the United Nations.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called the speech by Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown a "very, very grave mistake" that could undermine Annan's own efforts to push through an ambitious agenda of reform at the world body.

"I spoke to the secretary-general this morning. I said 'I've known you since 1989 and I'm telling you this is the worst mistake by a senior U.N. official that I have seen in that entire time,'" Bolton told reporters.

snip

In the speech, delivered Tuesday, Malloch Brown said that the United States relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but does not defend it before critics at home, a policy he called unsustainable.

He lamented that that the good works of the U.N. are largely lost because "much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News." The speech was delivered at a daylong conference sponsored by two think tanks, the Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation.


snip


http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?no=297246&rel_no=1

or we'll destroy you!

Or have we downgraded the state to a simple person with emotive responses? Boy, how far backwards can we go?

Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

I thought that U.S. Ambassador John Bolton was the one that said destroying the top 10 floors of the U.N. building would be a good thing? That is why he was a recess appointment and the Senate would not confirm his sorry ass!

he failed to get confirmed by the Senate, so Bush put him in during one of the Congressional breaks. So in answer to your question, only Bush seems to approve of him.

PB

with little pointy ears like an elf. But have you noticed?...Lately they're morphing into ass's ears. Hmmm.. :evilgrin:

PB

The Republicans still pander to the anti-UN conspiracy theorists on the right. Bolton needs to shut his trap.

quit acting like it isn't.

The neo-Cons have been advocating abolishing the UN for years. It's hardly a secret what this administration thinks about it.

coming to an end. The rest of the world doesn't give a damn what we want or think anymore. They've seen the bush** administration for what it really is. A damn bunch of bullies who've shot their wad.

for them.

The US "demands", "very, very grave mistake", hmmmm, no threats here. So, one can assume if the UN doesn't bend over and take Bolton's crap, the US, via it's ambassador, will take it's ball and go home?

"Waaaah. You're all just a bunch of poophead meanies!"

or I'm telling my daddy on you! WAAAAAHHHHH!"



:headbang:
rocknation

guess not.

....."screw you" attitude about Iran or something else. This could be the first step toward pulling out of the UN - I don't like the sound of this.

the U.S. not being sincere with the American people about the need for the U.N. Bolton barks back insults with his usual arrogance, one keeps forgetting how brilliant Bolton is and he knows better than most how sorry the U.N. is and doesn't hesitate to let them all know he works for the King. (sarcasm) And yes, this could be just what the bushies want to get things started in Iran.

no kidding. the US government NEVER does anything to undo the damage done by oxy rush and faux.

"If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference. "

John Bolton

And better yet, left a mark.

And the fact that the architect of this UN bashing, Bolton, had the nerve to call out Anan over this is just beyond belief.

They're still breathing and talking back to BushCo.

The UN Secretariat should remove Bolton's credentials -- which they can do, see, http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00020.htm -- and throw his fat ass out the back door into the East River.

.. office the U.S. pulled out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia, scuttled a protocol to the biological-weapons ban, ousted the head of the organization that oversees the chemical-weapons treaty, watered down an accord on small-arms trafficking and refused to submit the nuclear test-ban treaty for Senate ratification.

At this point it is clear that the world Bolton has left us four years later is one that is more dangerous. He can only do more damage from a position of greater power."

Who Is John Bolton?
by Brooke Lierman
March 7, 2005
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=252671

he didn't get to go after Iran. It looks like things may settle down now....

unlike him.

"I spoke to the secretary-general this morning. I said 'I've known you since 1989 and I'm telling you this is the worst mistake by a senior U.N. official that I have seen in that entire time,'" Bolton told reporters.

Someone must be doing something right to get this response from Yosemite Sam Bolton.

He knows whereof he speaks.

The irony, of course has competely escaped him.

good.

un being undermined. what a joke!

Look at the hand Mr. Bolton. lol.

... because all right-wingers are the same, and they all have it.

They can talk shit, and talk shit, and talk hyperbolic over the top shit 24/7, but if anyone dares to say ANYTHING back, they start whining like a toddler deprived of his candy.

Bolton, guess what - everything the man said is true. If the truth hurts, you can surely imagine how the lies you and your ilk spill at every opportunity hurt also.

I'm waiting for the day when the rest of the Democratic party takes off the rhetorical gloves, I like watching gasping, shocked Republican sissy douchebags get a taste of their own bitter medicine.

I can't wait to see that pig run out of our government and into a career specializing in road rage and spousal abuse, two activities which seem to match up with his personality almost perfectly.

He needs to be gone, yesterday

He's gone. Unless he gets Senate approval or another recess appointment.

Bush will put him back in. Which mean, he'll be there until mid 2009.

we ignore them, we go around them, we embark on wars in violation of their charter (which we wrote), the republican platform is to get the U.S. OUT of the U.N.

I would say that the rebuke by the U.N. was exceedingly mild and quite diplomatic under the circumstances.

Bolten of course is still an ass, who couldn't even get confirmed in the Senate and was appointed by recess appointment.

My country embarrasses me

WHO got caught planting bugs and probes all OVER the United Nations building? Russia? No. China? Again no. Iraq? Nope. Uh, I dunno...America? DING DING! Yes, America.

Fuck Bolton, fuck Rice and fuck Dick Cheney who just says go fuck yourself and shoots you in the face!

No wonder no one likes us. :(

He's not so good at taking it.

Dear John, please look up the goose-and-gander principle. As hegemonous as your little tyrant's influence of our government is, it still hasn't dented some of the bedrock principles of the universe.

Translation: You're a thin-skinned spoiled child, Johnny.

infuriated? They don't speak for me or anyone i know. I hate it when the media presumes Bushco speaks for our country and the American people.

Second, since when is free speech and speaking your opinion about an important issue " a very, very grave mistake?" Instead of rebuttal we get belligerent threats. Some diplomacy. Perhaps they actually recognize the truth of Brown's words and fear that their faux media machine will be exposed for what it is: Republican party/corporate propaganda. They (Bolton/Bushco) are acting like cornered wolves rather than diplomats. When the truth about their methods is spoken, they can only respond with threats, tooth bearing, and arrogance to distract from the real issues or a real dialog. They growl over the truth to muscle through their agenda and protect their nefarious establishment. So who's infuriated at who?

I agree!
:dem:

US failing to aid the UN, says Annan's deputy

from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/08/wun08.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/08/ixnews.html

- more to the point, I'd say. OhMyNews seems to be pandering to an audience with their claim that the "U.S." is infuriated by this.

Nice comments in the Telegraph's article:

"Mr Malloch Brown, a Briton who was appointed to help speed up reform of the UN, also attacked the role of America's Right-wing media.

"Today on a very wide number of areas, from Lebanon and Afghanistan to Syria, Iran and the Palestinian issue, the US is constructively engaged with the UN," he said.

"But that is not well known or understood in part because much of the public discourse that reaches the US heartland has been largely abandoned to the UN's loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News . The UN's role is in effect a secret in Middle America."

NEVER!

The whole article (2 paragraphs) can be found here:



The reason why I bring this up is because Bolton is universally hated at the U.N. The only people who are glad he's there are...suprise!...the Israelis who, like the U.S., are having problems with little things like International Law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

PB

Would someone please stuff something in his piehole to glue it shut?

boltons feigned indignation pales before his OWN crusade against the UN. why not have the media broadcast a convicted pedophile's 'outrage' about a jaywalker?

And Malloch told the absolute truth about Limbaugh and Faux News.

Democrats must reject Bolton's nomination when it comes up again next year!

Washington fury over UN attack on Bush 'hypocrites'

· Annan's British deputy criticises administration
· US envoy calls comments 'a very, very grave mistake'

Oliver Burkeman in New York
Thursday June 8, 2006
The Guardian


The deputy secretary-general of the United Nations was last night accused of making "a very, very grave mistake" after calling the Bush administration hypocrites who were feeding a right-wing anti-UN frenzy in middle America.
Washington's ambassador to the UN responded with undisguised fury to a speech by Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary-general, in which he accused Washington of using the international body "almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool" while failing to defend it at home.
Washington fury over UN attack on Bush 'hypocrites'

· Annan's British deputy criticises administration
· US envoy calls comments 'a very, very grave mistake'

Oliver Burkeman in New York
Thursday June 8, 2006
The Guardian


The deputy secretary-general of the United Nations was last night accused of making "a very, very grave mistake" after calling the Bush administration hypocrites who were feeding a right-wing anti-UN frenzy in middle America.
Washington's ambassador to the UN responded with undisguised fury to a speech by Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary-general, in which he accused Washington of using the international body "almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool" while failing to defend it at home.


Article continues

-----------------------------------------http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1792767,00.html

---------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Much of the public discourse that reaches the US heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors, such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News," Mr Malloch Brown said in a speech in New York on Tuesday. Depending on the UN while tolerating "too much unchecked UN-bashing and stereotyping" was "simply not sustainable", he said. "You will lose the UN one way or another."
John Bolton, the US envoy and an outspoken critic of the UN, called the comments "a very, very grave mistake". He said he told the secretary-general, Kofi Annan, yesterday morning: "I've known you since 1989, and I'm telling you, this is the worst mistake by a senior UN official that I have seen in that entire time." He called on the secretary-general to repudiate the speech.

Tensions between the UN and George Bush's White House have been simmering since the war in Iraq, but they also encompass deep splits over the international criminal court and the new human rights council, whose formation the US was one of only four states to oppose. But the diplomatic tradition according to which UN officials do not publicly attack specific member states has a longer history still.

Washington was angered by Mr Malloch Brown's references to middle America, and the influence upon it of conservative commentators such as Mr Limbaugh. Mr Bolton said the speech demonstrated a "condescending, patronising tone about the American people. Fundamentally and very sadly, this was a criticism of the American people, not the American government, by an international civil servant. It's just illegitimate."

The deputy secretary-general, a Briton who was previously head of the UN development programme, called his speech "a sincere and constructive critique of US policy toward the UN by a friend and admirer". But he may have felt liberated to speak his mind: his term of office ends in December, at the same time as Mr Annan's, and he is understood not to be planning to stay at the UN.

As speculation over Mr Annan's successor mounts, some reports have suggested Tony Blair is angling for the job - and that a speech he gave at Georgetown University two weeks ago, in which he outlined his ideas on UN reform, constituted a job a

So Sue me!

Poor middle America, they (we) are getting a poor reputation world wide. They no doubt are talking about the red States that are the followers of the bush cult.

What did Malloch Brown say that was not true about UN bashing on Fox News.
Fugg Bolton. Someone better stop these fascists.

And the "US" wasn't infuriated.

It was loose cannon John Bolton and his fellow travelers who were infuriated.

UN: "Grow up."

I fail to see anything else this administration can do to deteriorate further our status in the world. We tend to forget it because we are in the thick of it and because we need to cope on a daily basis with high levels of humiliation.

We used to be front and center at the UN. Now with bolden at the helm, we only deserve the back row.

Karma's a bitch.

"Retract it, damn you!"

"very, very grave mistake" sounds like there will be retaliation.

Two things:
1. The UN used the Bush administrations own tactic of "shut up or you undermine us" on them. It is funny, actually.

2. And think about it. Rather than considering the comments and adjusting--they threaten.

I only hope the UN has the guts to stick with their beliefs.

I got home from work and heard it on little Wolfy blitzer's show.
Calling out Limblob and Fox is great in my book.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/07/us.un.ap/index.html

"Fundamentally and very sadly, this was a criticism of the American people, not the American government, by an international civil servant," Bolton said. "It's just illegitimate."

And he KNOWS illegitimate!

The rest of US are outraged at the outrate at the outrage.

rather that a direct criticism of the American PEOPLE as Bolton suggested through his crooked oceanic web mustache spin.

I didn't even read the post and found myself agreeing with the UN. Very sad state of affairs indeed....

simplified, but...

It's the bush administration, the repuke congress, corporate, military, and oil elites, say 1000 people,
along with their fox/clearchannel brainwashed RW nut gallery and one side, say 25 million people(sic)

and the US moderates and LW, UN nations and the rest of the world's citizens on the other. 6 BILLION people

We've got them outnumbered, but not out gunned or outspun.

Or replace Bolton with somebody that has been APPROVED properly by congress.

Or wait till the Democrats controll our government once again, and return justice and peace to the table.

:nopity:

Or it has to wait until after November 2006 (and see what will happen then).

He was hired to invent a reason for the United States to evict everyone in the UN building, cancel their visas, and turn the place into a giant TGIFridays/Starbucks.

Hell, it might be more convenient for the world body to just pack up and move to the Hague now.
That way they'll be in close proximity when the BushCo™ war crime trials start.

<snip>

Full article: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-06-07T230616Z_01_N07264609_RTRUKOC_0_US-UN-USA.xml

It's well past time, imo, when Bolton and the bush cabal hear the truth over and over again. Let Bolton have his little temper tantrum, from all accounts he has them all the time anyway.

These people, with an ideology and a set of mind like dingbats, are accusing normal, reasonable, intelligent people for being idiots.

It's so .... rude. Any investigation into Bolton's past would disclose events that - if we were living in a democratic world - should have him immediately locked up, at the nearest mental hospital.

But no, he isn't. Instead he's talking about traditions, UN traditions. That's what's implied by 'grave mistake'. This dogshit wouldn't recognize a mistake if it fell on his head, because he's an extremist. Pig farmers of the world unite - there's a new breed coming.

He's got a tiger by the tail, and once he loses his grip on his power, it all comes tumbling down.

It's hard to keep up.

It saves time. Insult 'em all and let God sort it out.

:dilemma:

His appointment was a recess appointment.

what the status is at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if we were behind on our contributions at the moment since that's what we did in the past when we didn't get our way.

The very fact Bush appointed Bolton to the UN is proof of our efforts at undermining.