FAILED REFORMS.A fight over a controversial nomination for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. A congressional threat to stop payments to the UN. We have seen this movie before. It played to large audiences during the Clinton years and has made a comeback during the first half of the second Bush Administration.
But an indie film is quietly making its debut. Newt Gingrich signs onto a report mandated by Congress whose principle conclusion is "the firm belief that an effective United Nations is in America's interest." George Mitchell, Gingrich's Democratic co-chairman on the task force, describes the results of the September UN reform summit in New York as "disappointing" and a source of "frustration." Or there's this admonition against jumping to conclusions about the failure of the UN to undertake reforms: "While it is easy to blame the UN as an institution for some of the problems we confront today, we must recognize that ultimately it is member states that must take action, and therefore bear responsibility." Was that John Kerry? No, it was John Bolton in recent testimony before the House International Relations Committee. In the same hearing, Ambassador Bolton relayed the Bush Administration's opposition to withholding payments to the UN, which would be required by legislation adopted by the House and sponsored by HIRC Chairman Henry J. Hyde himself.
