Bolton's UN punctuality drive comes to early end

[Rose Siding]

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An unpopular punctuality drive launched in the U.N. Security Council last month by U.S. Ambassador John Bolton came to an abrupt end on Thursday when Argentina took over the council's rotating presidency.

Bolton had cracked the whip while presiding over the 15-nation U.N. body in February, starting meetings precisely on time, even with empty chairs in the room, as part of a plan to modernize council operations.

He had also called in ambassadors almost every morning of the month for closed-door briefings by U.N. staff on overnight global political and peacekeeping developments.

But Argentine Ambassador Cesar Mayoral made clear it would be a different story in March.

If ambassadors wanted to come on time, it would be up to them, he told reporters.

As for the morning briefings, "this is impossible," he said. "We aren't having a daily briefing each day."

If an ambassador asked for a briefing on a particular matter, he would try to accommodate the request. But absent that, the council work program was simply too heavy, he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030200988.html

[rodeodance]

1. US clock time meets old world/Latin America clock time.

[Beausoir]

2. What a jack-ass. Who does this guy think he is?

The very idea that these hideous creatures represent my country makes me ill.

[reprobate]

3. Bolton forgot the UN is same time Zone as Florida which is on FST.

That's Florida Standard Time. Thirty seven minutes behind everyone else. Hell no! We won't change.

[napi21]

4. He thought he was Pres for a month!

HA! Guess they all told him it was a temp job and he FAILED!

[neverforget]

5. Bolton showed them how powerful he was didn't he?

What a dipshit.

[Ron Mexico]

6. If we seperate the fact that Bolton is a dickhead from the story,

I'm not sure I am really against the idea of what he was trying here. What would be wrong with diplomats treating their jobs seriously enough to show up on time?

Sure, Bolton is crass enough of a dick to come off looking like a drill sergeant, but what if we had a UN ambassador we liked who sold it as a way of giving better value for the money invested? Presented the right way and with some degree of tact, Bolton's emphasis on punctuality is not a bad idea. It just sounds like shit coming from him.

Bolton can take as much shit as anyone wants to heap on him, I've got no problem with that (and am always happy to fling a few spoons' worth in his direction myself), but I'm no fan of the UN in its current form and am appalled that diplomats there think that punctuality is an option / inconvenience. I cannot accept the idea of "Hey, you're going to represent our country to the world, show up whenever the fuck you want."

[neweurope]

10. I might agree with you but TIME isn't the same in every country.

We Westerners have a different understanding of "time" than people in other parts of the world. That HAS to be respected (and I am a person who gets super nervous when I'm not at any given appointment ten minutes BEFORE).

I knew the former director of the Goethe Institute in Rio de Janeiro. A very good man, impressed me a lot... When he took over the job as director there they at first had a big dinner and concert with classical music, and everbody important was personally invited. It was scheduled to begin at 8 pm.

By 9 pm nobody had showed up. At 10 pm he was able to greet one single guest. At 10.30 he thought all was lost. At 11 p.m. people really started to arrive. The concerto finally began about midnight. And it was the success of successes.

We - the West - are not the world. We are the smallest part of it, actually.

----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[arewenotdemo]

14. thank you!

that makes so much sense and is so important!

[Igel]

16. But doesn't the other side, the side that

treats tardiness as disrespect and a source of inefficienty, get a vote?

Or is that gauche, since it's one of "us" that likes punctuality, and the "other" must be, well, condescended to? For lack of a more accurate term.

You're in charge, you set the rules, which means determining what counts as respect. A range of people wind up being in charge, so there's a range of cultural traditions represented. Diversity. No one tradition trumps any other.

[Spazito]

25. Hmmm, one country's opinion in the form of Bolton equates to

"the other side"? Punctuality doesn't seem to have been an issue prior to Bolton who represents ONE country among many but, I guess, the US, in some minds, is equal to all the rest of the UN member countries put together, interesting.

[Warpy]

11. Well, people from different cultures see punctuality very differently

and people might not agree that a daily briefing was absolutely necessary unless in time of massive warfare around the globe.

He was trying to run a bunch of men and women who shared his rank as though they were hired help, an office staff who were none too bright and needed the whip cracked.

He's an asshole. His demands were unreasonable. If he had called for a consensus, that might have been different, but he was an autocrat.

The phrase, "Does not play well with others," comes to mind.

[Karmakaze]

13. I disagree...

You assume that these ambassadors having NOTHING to do but turn up to council meetings, when in fact most of the real work is behind the scenes. If starting on time gets in the way of their duties, then ambassadors have every right to not show up until such time as they are ready.

Behind the scenes is where the deals are made and the problems sorted out, not on the floor where grandstanding and playing for the media is the order of the day. In fact the council floor is really only for the public dissemination of the agreements made behind the scenes. What is the point of being on the floor when no deals have been made or problems solved?

Hell, no government parliament or house has 100% attendance or total punctuality - that would be form over function and detrimental to the proper running of government.

[rooboy]

17. Are you kidding me?

in a ROTATING presidency, the last thing you do is try to act like a dictator over the other countries. UN ambassadors have to confer regularly with their own countries. By enforcing these meetings, Bolton was effectively telling other nations' leadership that they could not instruct their ambassador at that particular time.

It's breathtaking arrogance and stupidity. Way to win friends.

[Jack Rabbit]

20. I agree that starting meetings on time is a good thing

We might wonder if a respected diplomat might have had more success than did Bolton.

[Swamp Rat]

7. Ambassador Cesar Mayoral should make Bolton to stand in a corner

:dunce:

[Mandate My Ass]

8. Heh, I bet he didn't get February by accident

:rofl:

[meegbear]

9. BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I was thinking that myself.

[MGKrebs]

12. I wouldn't want a "briefing" by him either.

He's up to his neck in the fabricating intelligence business so why should anybody listen to him? Couldn't trust anything he said anyway, unless you had independent verification, in which case why would anybody torture themselves by going in to listen to him in the first place?

[xchrom]

15. bolton poisoned the well from the get go.

his contempt for all things u.n. isn't how get any job done there.

business in diplomatic circles is done in a very out of the sight lines way.

meetings are very good -- the keep lines of communication and information flowing -- but so do one on one coffee clatches in ambassadors offices.

in all kinds of ways.

plus i don't assume that these guys haven't hugely heavy calendars.

i imagine they are all extremely busy.

[KT2000]

18. Something tells me that

NO ONE would show up on time with Bolton issuing edicts - I bet for some it was " the later the better." Bet there were more empty chairs as time went on.

Bolton does not know how to get along and has no intention of learning. He went in there like he owned the place after expressing his contempt for the institution in the first place.
Typical bush administration arrogance that results in failure.
But they will never get it.

[arewenotdemo]

27. Good point

In retrospect they all should have simply boycotted any meeting run by that swine.

[Ben Ceremos]

29. In other words,

John Bolton is as big a failure as many had foreseen him to be. Character is destiny, it seems.

[mbperrin]

19. OHNO! The trains aren't running on time???????? Horrors!!!!!

I think I useta know a guy who could get that done...........

[BlueManDude]

21. It's all that sex they're having (except for Bolton).

[VegasWolf]

22. Bolton? Who? WTF? The clown that can't even get congressional

approval?

[truthisfreedom]

23. wow. just wow. look at how much he got done. absolutely nothing.

what a worthless sack of sh*t. the thugs must be thoroughly embarrassed.

[Spazito]

24. Delicious, positively delicious

Bolton was going to show those diplomats how the world REALLY works according to Bolton and the diplomats quickly showed Bolton the actual facts of the matter.

Hmmmm, shouldn't his recess appointment as Ambassador to the UN be over soon? Doesn't he have to be approved by Congress in order to get back to the world-shaking importance of enforcing punctuality?


:rofl:

[MGKrebs]

26. "Sir, this just goes to prove that those top 10 floors can be axed."

I mean, if they can't even show up to a meeting on time, how can they be expected to operate the machinery of the world?

How dare they try to experience their lives without a strict schedule!

[HuffleClaw]

28. bolton's tactic backfired bigtime, serving only to demonstrate

what a cheap and petty sandbox bully he is. its nearing the time for them to declare the un 'irrelevant' once again, so he has to do his best to alienate everyone there.

[CJCRANE]

30. It's not a question of different cultures -

I read that Bolton was annoyed that some of the ambassadors were up to 15 mins late. Anyone who's worked in a big organisation knows that important people are sometimes gonna be late due to other meetings over-running etc. It's not really a big deal, you jut take it in your stride.

[hippywife]

31. Wouldn't it be great

if they all just started showing up on time now that he isn't in the council president's seat? }(

[coffeenap]

33. Oh--I love it!

}(

[johnfunk]

32. Another defeat for AMBASSHOLE Bolton

I like that word. "Ambasshole." Suits Bolton.

[paineinthearse]

34. "Bolton had cracked the whip..."

Bolton sure knows about discipline.

Whatever happened to the charge by his ex-wife that he forced her into unwanted anal sex?