Bolton Watch: "Public officials cannot be responsible for the opinions of the people who interview them. But they can be judicious with whom they choose to grant interviews. It is therefore a wonder why Ambassador John Bolton would grant an interview to Pamela Oshry, proprietor of the anti-Muslim hate website "Atlas Shrugs."

Glenn Greenwald: "U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, on Saturday, in the middle of the most pressing crisis the U.N. has faced since he was appointed to that position, decided to sit for an hour-long, one-on-one "interview" and chose as his journalistic interrogator . . . LGF commenter Pamela "Atlas" Oshry of the blog AtlasShrugs, whose views are so far outside of what is mainstream, in equal parts inane and despicable, that it would be impossible to describe fully."

Think Progress: "'Violence against women in Afghanistan is widespread and mainly happens inside victims' homes,' according to a report from the U.N. Development Fund for Women. 'Acts of violence (against women) are happening with impunity,' the report said."

Coalition for Darfur: "From WFP - WFP has urged the international community to help end the misery in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where almost half a million people are now cut off from emergency food aid because of fighting and attacks."

Liberty and Justice: "It seems that Rice is becoming less of a hawk every single day or so. According to USA Today, Rice said that it's not up to the UN forces to disarm Hizbullah -- that must be done by the Lebanese government, so she says."

From the UN Foundation:

Our post-tsunami water and sanitation reconstruction partnership with The Coca-Cola Company has been selected as a finalist for the US Chamber of Commerce's "Partnership Award." After the tsunami, the UN Foundation partnered with The Coca-Cola Company to find ways to contribute to longer-term recovery efforts, with a focus on community-based water and sanitation needs. Working in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme UNDP), the partnership is responding to long-term water and sanitation needs in remote, tsunami-hit areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand. To learn more about the partnership and to vote click here: http://www.unfoundation.org/features/tsunami_partnership.asp

"Senate Democrats unleashed a sharp volley of criticism of President Bush's foreign policy yesterday, arguing that John R. Bolton has done more harm than good as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and does not deserve an extended term. If Bolton's style were less divisive, they said, he might have achieved more reforms at the United Nations and tougher sanctions against Hezbollah and North Korea." [Full story]

Bloggers weigh in:

FDL
Washington Note
Think Progress

From Media Matters: "During his July 20 interview with U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly repeatedly lashed out at the U.N., putting Bolton in the position of defending the U.N. and its Security Council. O'Reilly called Security Council actions "a joke," accused the U.N. of not being "able to do anything," and declared that "I just think the whole place [the U.N.] is a rat's nest." In response, Bolton -- who, before being appointed ambassador to the U.N., had made comments that were harshly critical of the organization -- criticized some U.N. actions but defended many others, attempting to explain what was "worthwhile" about U.S. involvement with the U.N."

"Every day 1,200 people, half of them children, are killed in the conflict-hit Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because of violence, disease and malnutrition, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report issued today.

The report, Child Alert: DRC, also states that more children under age five die each year in the African country than in China -- a country with 23 times the population. It draws attention to the appalling fact that the total countrywide death toll every six months is similar to that for the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people in 12 countries." [More]

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

FP Passport: "Afghan and U.N. officials fear that a persistent drought could soon add 2.4 million more people to the 6.5 million Afghans already suffering from hunger. And that development, in turn, could add to the ranks of the Taliban, magnifying the problems faced by the shaky government and the Western troops helping to hold it together."

Suzanne Nossel: "Getting Security Council agreement to bulk up UNIFIL, the existing UN operation in Lebanon, may be tough, but it will be easier than it would be to establish an entirely new operation and mandate."

Mahablog: "[President Bush] told Blair he felt like telling U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who visited the gathered leaders, to get on the phone with Syrian President Bashar Assad to "make something happen." In other words, Bush is whining that Kofi Annan should do something. The righties ought to love that."

Security Watchtower: "On Saturday the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose weapons-related sanctions against North Korea in response to a series of recent missile launches by the reclusive communist nation. The consensus within the council was reached when Russia and China agreed to support a resolution that wasn't binding (chapter seven). The resolution calls on North Korea to suspend "all activities" related to its ballistic missile programs, and requires UN member nations to prevent import and export of missiles and materials related to weapons of mass destruction."

ODPI: "Reuters has this article, entitled "US defends rights record to United Nations panel," on today's first appearance by the US before a high-level UN human rights panel in eleven years."

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

PSD Blog covers World Refugee Day: "UNHCR, Nike, Microsoft and Right to Play chose World Refugee Day to launch ninemillion.org, a campaign "to create a global community dedicated to giving the world's refugee youth the chance to learn and play." The elegantly designed website features personal refugee stories and a 30-second public service announcement from Brazilian soccer star, and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, Ronaldo. Nike has donated 40,000 soccer balls specially designed to endure harsh conditions at refugee camps."

Mcjoan at Daily Kos asks if Sen. Santorum trumped UN inspectors in Iraq.

Michelle Malkin repeats conservative canards about the United Nations Small Arms Review Conference.

Mojo has more on the UN, the NRA, and small arms: "the NRA tends, quite often, to stoke and inflame conservative fears that the UN really is plotting to erect some sinister world government or other that will take away all our guns."

In case you missed these:

Strained relations between U.N., U.S. are bad for everyone

"During the late 1990s, congressional conservatives led by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., vowed to starve the U.N. unless it acceded to a long list of "reforms." In September 2002, President Bush asserted that the United Nations would become "irrelevant" should it fail to join the U.S. in disarming Iraq. You have to wonder why the U.N. is still in business. The short answer is: Because the United States can't do without it.

John Bolton's latest teapot tempest

"The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, last week petulantly aimed a blast of verbal buckshot at U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown. In his blast, he grotesquely distorted what the U.N. official had actually asserted in public criticisms of the Bush administration and some Republican-friendly media."

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

Air America Radio notes renewed calls for Guantanamo's closure.

CJR Daily discusses the "Elephant in the Newsroom" known as Guantanamo: "A quick Lexis-Nexis search for "Guantanamo" proves just how inadequate newspapers have been to the task of telling this story. Nearly every article that appears is a breaking news story about a new hunger strike, a court battle over forced feeding, or an organization like the UN voicing concern about the detainees."

Coalition for Darfur links to an AP piece describing "thousands of civilian deaths" documented in Darfur.

Joshua Landis writes: "The new UN investigation into Rafiq Al Hariri's murder is expected to indict Syrian leaders."

Paper Chase says that "UN rights experts call on Egypt to preserve independent judiciary."

Unrest in Dili. © UNHCR/S.Martins

"The international community should not have pulled out of East Timor so quickly, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday. Mr Annan earlier announced plans for a major new mission to the troubled nation.

But a UN mission substantially larger than the 2000-strong Australia-led force would take at least six months to prepare, Mr Annan said.

"The sad events of recent weeks reflect shortcomings not only on the part of the Timorese leadership, but also on the part of the international community in inadequately sustaining Timor-Leste's (East Timor's) nation-building process," Mr Annan told the UN Security Council. [Read more]

Also read this letter to the editor from the International Herald Tribune:

Losing East Timor

Who lost East Timor? Jeff Kingston, in "Nation rebuilding" (June 10-11) says "The United Nations bears responsibility for leaving before it finished the job." That's not correct, and we need to make sure the record is set straight before this becomes part of the received wisdom.

Decisions on a UN operation of this kind are the responsibility not of the whole United Nations but of the Security Council or, if you prefer, the five permanent members, who each have a veto.

The Security Council took the decision to terminate the UN military presence in East Timor, against the wishes and in spite of the pleas of Secretary General Kofi Annan that a small military force be left in place. Had he been listened to, the tragedy now taking place could have been avoided.

Frank Peel, Geneva

Media Matters: "In response to recent remarks by Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, who criticized "U.S. administrations of both parties" for allowing the U.N.'s "loudest detractors, such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News," to define the international organization for the "U.S. heartland," Limbaugh and various other Fox News media figures smeared Brown, referring to him, in turn, as a "pointy-headed, elitist liberal" and "a phony."

Sebastian Mallaby: "Last month President Bush issued a rare apology. "Saying 'Bring it on,' kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal," he confessed. "I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted."

Well done, Mr. President, you've understood that bluster can backfire. Now how about sharing this insight with your ambassador to the United Nations?"

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

Armchair Generalist writes, "The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) has released a historical summary on Iraq's chemical weapons program that documents its start in 1971 and follows the work conducted through the 1980s and 1990s.

At the Washington Note, Jeremy Kahn posts an interesting entry about "non-verbal politics".

Treehugger covers the UN's World Environment Day: "This year they chose to highlight something we don't hear about often enough: Natural deserts and drylands also need to be protected. These areas that most people consider to be almost "dead" are in fact vital ecosystems."

Michelle Malkin posts another anti-UN diatribe with a headline that tells you everything about her level of discourse: "Hey, U.N.: Boo-Freaking-Hoo."

A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary

Tony Ferguson previews World Environment Day.

Steve Clemons suggests that "Iran will continue to try and split the five UN Security Council members."

Abhi at Sepia Mutiny blogs about AIDS in India.

Derek Chollet discusses Tony Blair's "far-reaching" ideas for UN Reform.

Captain's Quarters, a leading conservative blog, uses a standard anti-UN tactic: make gross generalizations about UN peacekeepers from a few bad examples. Captain Ed might want to take a look at this RAND study (pdf) which suggests the UN is better suited for peacekeeping missions than the U.S., finding it not only more efficient but also more effective.

Instapundit links to a Max Boot piece rebutted here by UN Dispatch's new featured blogger, Mark Goldberg.

Spork in the Drawer has more on Boot: "Boot conveniently fails to note that mercenaries don't fall under any laws or rules." (Hat tip: Busy, Busy, Busy)