Wednesday, September 13, 2006

John Bolton understands the UN

This past week, as the newly-elected president of the Creighton College Republicans, I and some other members went down to Lincoln to see Ambassador John Bolton speak at the Univ. of Nebrasa about the UN. Great speech and one great point he made. The 50 or so member nations that voted for extensive UN reform to right the wrongs done by Oil-for-Food and other scandals (essentially the U.S., western and eastern European countries, Australia, and Japan) voted for the reforms, while 120 other nations voted down the reforms. These 120 other nations only contribute about 12 percent of the entire budget of the U.N., while the small group of 50 mostly western nations that voted for the reforms contribute about 80 percent of the U.N.'s overall operating budget. The numbers are just staggering. But of course, anyone who thought that reform in the UN would take place within a year is utterly clueless...

Bolton is doing his best to push reform through. Perhaps one of his greatest quotes during the speech occured when someone asked him why he thought he was always right. Bolton replied with a whiff of confidence, "I was one of the few philosophical conservatives at Yale. I was right then and I believe I'm right now."

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