Tuesday
At least the Black Helicopters won't be a problem
Reasonable people object to the faith that some liberals put in the UN because the UN is an inefficient, scandal-ridden, bureaucracy. The UN has shown itself unable to prevent genocide in Darfur and other terrible turns of events. According to Yglesias, John Bolton, the Bush Administration nominee for UN Ambassador, objects to the UN for the opposite reason. He's worried it might work, and thinks that a functioning system of international law is a net negative for the United States, the world's only super power. So he will represent the U.S. interests in trying to make the UN as inefficient, bureaucratic, and scandal-ridden as possible.
This is a remarkably short sighted view, since it's premised on the idea that we'll always remain the world's only super power (also that there are no ethics in international relations, only realpolitik). Many intelligent people seem to think that China and India will be quite powerful in the course of the coming century, and the United States might want a robust system of international law to constrain their actions. But apparently Bolton isn't one of those people.
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This is a remarkably short sighted view, since it's premised on the idea that we'll always remain the world's only super power (also that there are no ethics in international relations, only realpolitik). Many intelligent people seem to think that China and India will be quite powerful in the course of the coming century, and the United States might want a robust system of international law to constrain their actions. But apparently Bolton isn't one of those people.
