According to the New York Times, UN diplomats seem relieved that US ambassador John Bolton has thrown in the towel. The concencus seems to be that Bolton did not play well with others and, in the process, alienated potential friends and undercut his country's influence.
“'No comment, he said with a smile,' Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary general, said over his shoulder to reporters who pursued him as he hustled through the corridors of U.N. headquarters on his way to a meeting.
"Mr. Malloch Brown angered Mr. Bolton this summer by accusing the United States of “stealth diplomacy” — turning to the United Nations when Washington needed it, while continuing to publicly disdain the institution’s value and to encourage its harshest detractors.
"At the time, Mr. Bolton demanded a personal apology from Secretary General Kofi Annan, but did not get it.
"Mr. Bolton’s relationship with Mr. Annan was also marked by testiness. He repeatedly ducked opportunities offered by reporters to praise or commend Mr. Annan, usually by changing the subject or by saying, as he did on one such occasion last month, “I’ll pass.”
"A year ago, Mr. Annan startled Security Council ambassadors at one of their monthly luncheons by chastising Mr. Bolton for trying to “intimidate” him.
"Security Council ambassadors said they respected Mr. Bolton personally and that they thought he represented the United States well, but they said his manner — often described as abrupt and confrontational — alienated traditional American allies and undercut American influence."
Now, let the games begin. A weakened president has to nominate a new ambassador who will pass muster with a Democratic congress. Who will it be? How much will that candidate resemble a neoconservative?
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