http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5057684.stm
JUNE 8th 2006
So, what's all
this really about?
The UN's deputy
Secretary General, Mark Malloch Brown, has said in a speech what a pity
it is that (I paraphrase) the average American's idea of the United
Nations is what gets spewed out by the right-wing nutters of Americam
local broadcasting, and that it would be nice of the US Government,
whose participation and support for the UN is absolutely critical,
would do more to explain to the American public what the UN does and
why and why it must be supported (and by all means reformed and
updated).
John Bolton (who
is a conventional old fashioned brain whose understanding of the world,
admirable and widely experienced though it is in many ways is, how
shall I put it, limited in ways he is not aware of), has taken great
offence. He no doubt sees himself, and President GWB, as ever so
subtley targeted as representing that great band of Americans we think
of as just a bit short of a workable set of neurones. They get confused
over their own religion, let alone other people's, and don't understand
why things go wrong with their foreign policy.
Now there was
absolutely nothing in Malloch Brown's speech that could possibly give
that understanding. But it is probable that John Bolton, who has spent
most of his life shrouded in an invincible cloak of high self-esteem,
has recently detected that there is a lack of respect for his
intellect, which he feels implies a lack of respect for his very
correct, honest, old-world view of things. He is, as you may have
detected, a man who takes himself and his country very seriously. I do
too. They are not a joke. But he and his President have forced a lot of
people to regard them as one as the only way maintain their sanity.
John Bolton
rather likes to threaten people. He believes that the US is not just
the hope of the world but the only hope and the only country capable of
controlling the word's economy and technological development. Since
they have imported the world's best brains over the last century,
having a whole new continent to play with, this has been to some extent
true. But he has taken offence, and he wants an apology. This is
difficult, as it is not clear who to apologise too and what for.
Personally I thought Malloch Brown was about as polite as it is
possible to be in the circumstances.
Today, Bolton is saying Malloch Brown's speech was 'a very, very
serious mistake'! Bush and Bolton have made nothing but mistakes,
particularly in what they have said, even more than what they have
done. When challenged on this, Bolton does not deny it. He admits the
mistakes. Compared to them, Malloch Brown's is (a) trivial and (b)
exists in the brain of the man who has taken offence rather than
anywhere else.
I have been
quite dismissive from time to time of Noam Chomsky. But I would like
John Bolton to understand the world as seen by Noam as well as from his
own point of view. Best would be to put them on an island together and
let the rest of us get by without either.