UNITED NATIONS, June 8 (UPI) -- An obviously outraged U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, denounced a speech delivered the previous day by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's deputy, Mark Malloch Brown, calling his criticism of Americans a "grave mistake."
"The only way at this point to mitigate the damage to the United Nations is that the secretary-general... has to personally and publicly repudiate this speech at the earliest possible opportunity," Bolton told reporters.
The secretary-general stood his ground and refused to repudiate the remarks and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric advised, "Read the speech."
At the outset of his remarks Tuesday Malloch Brown said, "I am going to give what might be regarded as a rather un-U.N. speech. My underlying message, which is a warning about the serious consequences of a decades-long tendency by U.S. administrations of both parties to engage only fitfully with the United Nations, is not one a sitting U.N. official would normally make."
Recalling the key U.S. role in helping found the world organization more than 60 years ago, and the ideals sought at the time, Malloch Brown, a Briton, recalled he had spent most of his adult life in the United States and said he hoped the speech would be taken "as a sincere and constructive critique of U.S. policy" by "a friend and admirer."
Then, he said: "The prevailing practice of seeking to use the United Nations almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable. You will lose the United Nations one way or another."
The deputy secretary-general continued: "On a very wide number of issues... the United States is constructively engaged with the United Nations. But that is not well known or understood, in part because much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as (radio talk show host) Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. That is what is meant by 'stealth diplomacy.'
"The U.N.'s role is in effect a secret in Middle America even as it is highlighted in the Middle East and other parts of the world," he said. "Exacerbating matters is the widely held perception, even among U.S. allies, that the U.S. tends to hold on to maximalist positions when it could be finding middle ground."
That was a red flag for the hard-driving Bolton.
"This is a very, very grave mistake by the deputy secretary-general," Washington's envoy said. "We are in the process of an enormous effort to achieve substantial reform at the United Nations and it is a difficult effort but it is an effort that we feel very strongly about and to have the deputy secretary-general criticize the United States in such a manner can only do grave harm to the United Nations."
Bolton was referring to management reform and a looming budget crisis, largely brought on by the United States which, as the world organization's largest contributor, pushed for a six-month budget lasting only to the end of June, instead of the usual two-year budget.
"Even though the target of the speech was the United States, the victim, I fear will be the United Nations," he said. "Even worse was the condescending and patronizing tone about the American people but fundamentally and very sadly this was a criticism of the American people, not the American government, by an international civil servant. It's just illegitimate."
Bolton made his remarks thinking about the speech overnight.
"I fear the consequences not just for the reform effort but for the organization as a whole," said the U.S. ambassador, voicing what sounded like a threat. Bolton said he told Annan: "I've known you since 1989 and I'm telling you this is the worst mistake by a senior U.N. official that I've seen in that entire time. That's why the only hope I think is that the secretary-general comes to the rescue of the organization and repudiates the speech."
His plea fell on not-so-deaf ears.
The spokesman said, "The secretary-general stands by the deputy secretary-general and agrees with the thrust of the speech."
Later, Malloch Brown talked with reporters outside the council chambers and said he wasn't criticizing, just seeking engagement.
Thursday morning, Annan himself spoke out for the first time.
"One has to read the speech simply and sincerely and get the main message, the essence," the secretary-general said. "There may be one or two things in the speech that you may disagree with, that I would disagree with, but... the fact that... we should speak out for the United Nations, I think is something that we cannot disagree with."
