John Bolton

On Monday I went to a special event at UD that was a speech by the US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. I've disagreed with alot of what Bolton has said over the past couple of months. However, I found this talk to be very enlightening. Two of the main issues that Ambassador Bolton sees facing the UN right now - 1) Iran and its nuclear program, and 2) the current genocide occuring in the Darfur region of the Sudan. I was very pleased to see the inclusion of Darfur in this list. It's a big problem and the US isn't doing anything about it. I understand the problems with doing anything in a country where the government doesn't want any intervention, but the horrors that are occurring there are insane.

Anyway, I found this talk to be very good. I learned alot about Bolton's perspective on the UN, which I think is the same position as the current administration. Bolton views the UN as one tool in the arsensal of US foreign policy. If the US wants to do something and the UN could get to that goal, we'll do it that way. If not, we'll do it some other way. It's just another tool in the toolbox.

Now to agree with that point of view, you need to accept that the US has a solution to almost all of the world's problems. And you have to accept that we're right and we'll do what we know to be right no matter what method we take. Now that's not the perspective I tend to take when thinking about world affairs. But I do now understand John Bolton's perspective and, based on that understanding, I understand alot of what he has said publically alot better.

Good talk, Ambassador Bolton. Thank you for being so frank and so honest. It is very refreshing. I don't agree with all of your prespectives, but I understand where you are coming from alot moreso than before.