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Steamroller Bolton at the U.N.
By Mike Whitney
03/09/06 "ICH" -- -- Watching John Bolton bulldoze the United
Nations is mesmerizing. In a matter of months, he’s savaged the
system that distributes power more equitably and transformed the
institution into a fiefdom for western elites and American
corporations. Under the banner of “reform”, the blustery Bolton has
coerced a number of changes that will forever alter the composition
of the UN; removing the institution’s last vestiges of international
legitimacy.
In a year or so the United Nations will be just another American NGO
doing the bidding of the world’s multinational corporations. That’s
good news for Bolton and his friends at the American Enterprise
Institute, the ideological headquarters for America’s ongoing
incursions into the third world.
By enlisting Secretary General Kofi Annan, Bolton has advanced an
agenda for “radical reform” including “more financial oversight,
simplified hiring and reporting procedures, staff buyouts, and a
modern information system.” (Al Jazeera) The intention is to staff
the organization with like-minded people from the business and
banking establishment who will cater to the needs of their corporate
overlords. This will allow funds to be siphoned off to the usual
suspects (Halliburton, Bechtel, Flour etc) who continue their
relentless colonization of the developing world.
The New York Times has played a pivotal role in hyping the
reform-project. Staff writer, Warren Hoge, has done most of the
heavy-lifting (although he was assisted at one point by NYT icon
Judith Miller) carping about the fictitious “oil for food” scandal
and extolling Bolton’s ax-wielding activities. The Times critique of
UN failures reads like an extended passage from the “Rubaiyat”;
great reading, but mostly hot air.
Kofi Annan, however, agrees with Bolton about the need for change:
“Just as this building after 50 years of ad hoc repair and
maintenance, now needs to be fully refurbished from top to bottom,
so too our organization, after decades of piecemeal reform, now
needs a thorough strategic refit.”
So, what’s the bottom line?
American plutocrats and corporate big-wigs are looking for an
organization that is more responsive to their needs. The UN provides
the legitimacy they need as cover for their “humanitarian
interventions” (re: wars of aggression) and reconstruction projects,
(Sluicing money to the major corporate players) but it requires
fine-tuning to better serve their interests.
Bolton has recommended structural changes to the Human Rights
Commission so the UN can beat up on the weaker nations while
exempting the US from charges of flagrant and systematic prisoner
abuse or war crimes. The broader objective is to transform the
United Nations into a rubber stamp for American foreign policy.
To that end, Bolton is pushing for a new post of “Chief Operating
Officer”. This job will be filled by a political-loyalist who can
override the decisions of the Secretary-General and ensure that the
organization makes prudent, business-friendly decisions. Right now,
it looks like the job will go to Mark Malloch Brown, who did a stint
with the World Bank; proving he has the proper pedigree for his next
assignment.
It appears that the job of Secretary-General will become a
meaningless ceremonial role much like that of the President of the
United States. Undoubtedly, it will be filled by someone who is
capable of expressing great warmth and humanity while carrying out
the imperial-mandate.
Does the name Bill Clinton come to mind?
Bolton has worked hard to rebuild the UN from the ground up ignoring
the criticism of those who don’t share his vision of a less
democratic institution. Dismissing their ridicule as sour-grapes,
Bolton said triumphantly, “This work is too important to be caught
up in procedural wrangles in this body.”
Bolton obviously prefers his “one man” version of democracy.
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