Ambassador Bolton: Let me start with Ethiopia/Eritrea. Obviously we’re faced with a demand by the government of Eritrea that certain designated military observers be withdrawn. I am going to meet with the Secretary-General this morning and we’re going to decide what to do.

Obviously the government of Eritrea is acting unacceptably in making the peacekeeping force UNMEE part of the problem. But, of course, one reason we’re in this dilemma is that the government of Ethiopia has never complied with its obligations under the 2000 agreement and the 2002 border demarcation.

So this is a situation I think we should take as an example of what happens with the Security Council is not able to bring an international solution with the UN peacekeeping force to a prompt conclusion consistent with the wishes of the parties. And I’m not sure exactly what decision we’ll take here and obviously it is because of the unacceptable actions of Eritrea.

But I think there is a larger point here that I want to emphasize, as perhaps applicable to other peacekeeping operations as well about the Council’s unwillingness or inability to confront Ethiopia’s three-year long refusal to adhere to the very agreement in made in 2000.

So I’m sure there will be lots of questions about Ethiopia/Eritrea, which I will take first. 

The United Nations. Marginal, incremental reform won't improve the U.N. The best hope for improvement lies with making contributions voluntary. Those parts of the U.N. that rely on voluntary contributions work much better than those that don't because they are under financial pressure to perform. The U.N. recognizes this and so it's trying to develop independent sources of funding through what amounts to taxes (The Law of the Sea Treaty represents one example). Trying to form a new organization made up of democratic states won't work because the Europeans won't join us. It's a better idea to expand existing organizations. For example, we might be able to expand NATO membership beyond Europe.

The State Department. It needs a revolution that will produce a culture of advocacy for U.S. interests, rather than a culture of accommodation under which we take our cues from other governments. The bureaucracy perpertuates the accommodation culture by persuading weak Secretaries of State to focus on "the big picture" while leaving "administration" to the bureaucrats. Only a strong Secretary can turn things around, and it won't happen in just one administration.

Bolton added that his book is devoted not to just asserting the problems with the State Department bureaucracy, but with demonstrating them fact-by-fact in specific instances.

>> Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations (Hardcover)
By John Bolton

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