.
Just a reminder how worthwhile Bolton was as Undersecretary of State, in regards to solving the North Korean issue on nuclear research and building of nuclear energy plants as was agreed on by Madeleine Allbright.
Especially the wild accusations, uttered by a bull(y), when the world knew AQ Khan of Pakistan has been dealing in nuclear materials for decades. How serious will Bolton be seen by the international community and the UN, with such a poor track record. The hardliners from NeoConservatism, are being sidelined and parachuted in UN and Worldbody Institutions like Wolfowitz into the World Bank. The Bush regime changes in a manner a poorly managed corporation rids itself of risky and failed managers, by promotion to an outpost, like a Siberian office for PR & customer relations.
John Bolton, an elephant in a chinaware cabinet. Be careful, jump the fold …
SEOUL, South Korea, August 29, 2002 (AP) — North Korea is the world’s foremost vendor of missile technology and has “one of the most robust offensive bio-weapons programs on earth,” the top US arms negotiator said Friday, echoing President Bush’s warnings about the communist state.
US Undersecretary of State John Bolton called North Korea “an evil regime that is armed to the teeth, including with weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.”
“President Bush’s use of the term ‘axis of evil’ to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea was more than a rhetorical flourish — it was factually correct,” Bolton said in a speech to a group of South Korean government officials and scholars. “There is a hard connection between these regimes — an axis along which flow dangerous weapons and dangerous technology.”
The chief US arms-control negotiator was in Seoul for a three-day visit that included talks with South Korean officials on the communist North’s arms proliferation. He discussed the same topic with Japanese officials in Tokyo earlier this week. His comments come at a sensitive time, as the two Koreas try to revive stalled reconciliation after months of tension. South Korea wants Washington to open dialogue with Pyongyang about the arms issue.
Bolton stressed that such overtures will depend on whether the North will stop developing and exporting missile parts and technology to “notable rogue state clients such as Syria, Libya and Iran.” North Korea is “the world’s foremost peddler of ballistic missile-related equipment, components, materials, and technical expertise.”
[Why no mention of Pakistan? – Ed]
Dr. AQ Khan Research Laboratories – KRL website.
Bolton also warned that a 1994 deal to provide North Korea with two power-generating nuclear reactors will be “in serious doubt” unless North Korea quickly allows UN inspections of its suspected nuclear weapons program.
[Bold face emphasis is mine – Ed]
Five years gone, and we have continued the stalemate in diplomacy thereby encouraging North Korea to enrich their nuclear fuel to weapon grade plutonium and build their first nuclear devices. Guess Bush | Cheney see Bolton as a raw bolster that needs to be in a job, where no harm to the US can be done. The Florida bully effect has worn thin, and is John Bolton now perceived as a liability to the State? Ask Jack Straw.
Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot “does not quite understand” why newborn multilateralist George Bush picked John Bolton as his man at the UN. Minister Bot recently described Bolton as being ‘anti-UN’ and thought his nomination was at least ‘peculiar’ if not worse, reports the Dutch Elsevier Magazine on April 11th.
The Dutch however always believed that in the end Bush would choose, or be forced to choose, multilateral solutions to international problems. Not only has Bolton always been very skeptical towards the UN, he has also been a fierce opponent of the International Criminal Court of which The Netherlands are the proud hosts. Minister Bot must fear that with Bolton at the UN, the ICC might once again come under heavy pressure.
BTW the above link to CBS website is excellent for IN DEPTH reading on the North Korean issue and history.
ANY OTHER REACTIONS FROM FOREIGN FOE OR FRIEND?
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité