John Bolton

"The Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday voted to send John R. Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations to the Senate floor but without the customary endorsement, dealing a public blow to President Bush but giving him time to try to rescue his pick."

"Now that John Bolton’s UN Ambassador nomination has been sent to the Senate floor, the hot question is: will they or won’t they? Will the Dems filibuster? Maybe, but more likely is they won’t, as it would all but guarantee the quick enactment of the stupidly-named “nuclear option” of ending judicial filibusters. Either way, the betting on Capitol Hill is that he will be confirmed."

"As he settles in to his new UN offices, don’t expect John Bolton to have been the least bit intimidated by the Dem’s vendetta against him, nor to lie low and not rattle anybody’s cage for a while. That’s not what GW is sending him to do at Turtle Bay. John has quite a list of cages he intends to rattle, and the first one belongs to France."

"France’s main claim to whatever remnant of international prestige and power it still possesses is its permanent seat on the UN Security Council." There are only five permanent members of the UN Security Council; and they are, France, Russia, China, the UK, and the United States. Clearly France does not belong on the council.

"There is much talk about expanding the council from its current five permanent members to 10 permanent seats." Japan wants a permanent seat along with India, Brazil, Nigeria and Germany. Some may say France vs. Germany is 6 of one and a half dozen of the other. I personally would swap Germany for France on the permanent council in a heartbeat.

Brazil and Nigeria have no business being permanent members either.

"Bolton is going to lob a Molotov cocktail into this bidding contest." His argument will be that The European Union (EU) should replace France.

"The EU is now Europe’s governing body, to which its 25 member countries have given much of their national sovereignty. 12 of them, including France, have abandoned their national currencies, replacing them with the Euro. 10 more have applied to join the Euro Zone."

"Why should France continue to have a permanent seat on the Security Council to the exclusion of the rest of Europe? If France’s response is, well, we want to let Germany in too – then, why only them? Why do all the other countries of the EU-Euro Zone not just have second-class status, but no status at all, no veto power, no permanent anything?"

You can easily see how John will pitch the fairness/unfairness angle. He is going to back Chirac’s France into a deep, deep corner. France’s only exit strategy will be to point at Britain, arguing that the UK too will have to give up its seat in place of the EU. John will finesse this by pointing out that while Britain does belong to the EU, it retains its own currency, the pound, and gives every indication it will not relinquish it for the euro.

Not belonging to the Euro Zone gives Britain a distinct status within the EU unlike France, and thus should keep its distinct Security Council seat.

At that point, France will realize Bolton and GW are not just after its Security Council seat and its international power prestige. They are assaulting the EU and the euro as well. Bolton’s proposal for replacing France but not Britain with the EU would give a tremendous boost for a “No” vote in the British referendum on the EU Constitution to be held in Spring 2006.

The EU Constitution is a ghastly dog’s breakfast. It destroys almost every vestige of British or any other member country’s national sovereignty, including citizenship – folks would cease to be British or Belgian et al citizens, and would be EU citizens. EU courts would have jurisdiction over almost every aspect of people’s lives throughout the EU Empire. While Chirac may con his fellow Frenchfolk into voting Yes this coming May 29, its hard to see how the Brits will next spring – especially with Bolton at the UN.

No wonder the French-loving Democrats desperately tried to demonize him. Destroying American sovereignty is their fondest dream. It’s going to be a lot harder to do now. The Bolton Show at Turtle Bay promises to be quite a performance.

Let's hope there is no filibuster, he gets an "up" vote, and can get started on his new duties at the U.N. There's alot of work to be done.