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CNN
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Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, of Great Britain, [in his Tuesday] speech defended U.N. peacekeeping missions in 18 places round the globe. He criticized the United States for voting against the creation of a new Human Rights Council. It was joined by just three nations, with 170 countries voting for the body.
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He acknowledged that the U.N. desperately needs an overhaul -- in the Security Council, over its budget, and even the headquarters building itself, which hasn't been renovated for decades. But the U.S. tendency to criticize the United Nations and to take "maximalist positions," rather than seeking the middle ground, has made other nations suspicious of its intentions, Malloch Brown said.
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In the speech, Malloch Brown said the United States relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but doesn't defend it against criticism at home. That policy of "stealth diplomacy" is unsustainable, he said.
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While praising Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessors, Malloch Brown lamented that the good works of the U.N. are ignored. "Much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News," he said.
[/ QUOTE ]Apparently, American Ambassador John Bolton went ballistic with the speech. But the U.N. man was plainly speaking the truth.
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Actually Bolton was very calm in his response, I saw a video tape of it. I also saw a video tape of Malloch Brown talking to reporters asking him questions and he completely backtracked from his statements. Kofi Annan supported them however which shows clearly that Brown is nothing more than an Annan hatchet man. My understanding is that the U.S. contributes $3 billion plus to the U.N. each year. What a complete waste of money and yet we'll not hear a peep from the leftists complaining about this waste of money that could be better spent on the disenfranchised in the U.S. one would think.