Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Bolton Likes It

The United Nations General Assembly today approved a draft document to be adopted by 149 world leaders attending the 2005 World Summit, which begins tomorrow in New York. The Guardian (London) describes the document this way:

This final draft, to be presented to the leaders for publication on Friday, fell far short of ambitious proposals for an overhaul of the UN which was set out earlier this year by Kofi Annan, the secretary general.

Development campaigners expressed disappointment at the lack of progress on aid, debt and, particularly, trade. Ambassadors at the UN, who have been engaged in tortuous negotiations for weeks, made one final push yesterday to find consensus but soon abandoned the attempt.

According to the story, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton "said he was pleased with the final draft."