Burma and Bolton

Over the summer -- like Steve Clemons, Jeremy Dibbell, and many other bloggers out there -- I wrote a great deal about John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. (and his subsequent recess appointment when said nomination stalled in the Senate).

I vehemently opposed Bolton's nomination (see here) and I objected to his recess appointment (see here). (Links to all my Bolton-related posts may be found here.)

But when his appointment was announced, I stepped back, took a deep breath, and said that we should "all pay close attention to how Bolton conducts himself in his new job".

Well, let's give him some credit for this significant (and promising) development:

The US has persuaded the UN Security Council to hear a briefing on whether Burma is destabilising the region.

The hearing -- the first of its kind -- is expected in the next two weeks. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, said the step was "significant"...

Mr Bolton wrote to the Security Council on Tuesday to request a briefing on Burma, or Myanmar, citing "the deteriorating situation" there.

He pointed to Burma as a source of regional instability because of its poor record on drug trafficking, widespread human rights abuses and stalled transition to democracy...

"We think it [Burma] does amount to a threat to international peace and security," he said.

He said Burma's "internally repressive policies" had contributed to large flows of refugees out of the country.

We don't much think about Burma here in North America, and likely not in most other places around the world, but Bolton's absolutely right about this. The situation in Burma, from everything I've read recently, is a horrible one, and the U.N. would do well to do something about it. There may be a number of different options short of actual intervention, and those options ought to be addressed, but the first step, as always, is to acknowledge the problem, raise awareness, and begin the conversation.

The U.S., of course, is occupied elsewhere, rightly or wrongly, but the U.N., with America's leadership, is in a position to halt the deterioration before Burma turns into yet another insoluble problem that lies beyond the U.N.'s reach.

Whatever his flaws as a diplomat, and whether or not he was the right man for the job, John Bolton has done well.