WASHINGTON -- The United Nations is a mess. Often corrupt and venal, always inefficient and wasteful, frequently captured by the worst political interests, and commonly motivated by the most extreme ideological impulses, the organization is anything but "the last great hope of mankind." If anyone can push it toward real reform, it is John Bolton.
Bolton, nominated by U.S. President George W. Bush to be America's ambassador to the world body, is perfectly qualified for the job. He served as assistant secretary of state for international organizations in the first Bush administration and as under secretary of state for arms control and international security since 2001.
He has written knowingly (and scathingly) about its failings. Further, Bolton is more concerned about protecting Western security and prosperity than undertaking abstract global crusades. Finally, Bolton is famously blunt-spoken. A decade ago he declared: "If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a difference."