PHA-Exchange> Republican Presence At UN

[Claudio]

From: "Michael Latham" <mcl6 at cornell.edu>
> >
> >At the U.N., A Growing Republican Presence
> >
> >Source : Washington Post
> >Author : Colum Lynch
> >
> >Christopher B. Burnham, the highest-ranking U.S. citizen working in the
> >U.N. Secretariat, is a rare breed here: a Republican Party loyalist and
an
> >enthusiastic supporter of President Bush.
> >
> >Burnham, the United Nations' undersecretary for the department of
> >management, is one of a handful of Bush administration supporters hired
by
> >the United Nations in recent months. They have been promoting Bush's
> >political agenda in an organization that has clashed bitterly with
> >Republican policymakers over such issues as the impact of global warming
> >and the justification for the war in Iraq.
> >
> >Burnham says he sees his purpose as furthering the mission he began as
the
> >chief financial officer in the Bush State Department: making the
> >bureaucracy he oversees more accountable. Burnham suggested that his
> >ultimate loyalty may lie with the president, not his new boss, U.N.
> >Secretary General Kofi Annan. He says he also relishes the thought of
> >working with John R. Bolton, a close friend and Bush's choice as U.N.
> >ambassador, to force change.
> >
> >"I'm not here to be a careerist," said Burnham, a former GOP fundraiser
> >and investment banker who keeps photographs of Bush, Laura Bush and
George
> >H.W. Bush in his U.N. office. "I came here at the request of the White
> >House. It's my duty to make the U.N. more effective. My primary loyalty
is
> >to the United States of America."
> >
> >The Bush administration hopes the recent appointments of Republicans such
> >as Burnham; Ann M. Veneman, the new executive director of UNICEF; and
> >others to senior U.N. positions will make the United Nations a more
> >hospitable place for conservative views. Republicans such as James T.
> >Morris, a Bush supporter who heads the U.N. World Food Program, have
> >already used their positions to underscore the humanitarian contributions
> >of prominent Republicans.
> >
> >Addressing the U.N. Security Council last month on world hunger, Morris
> >paid homage to President Ronald Reagan, a tough critic of the United
> >Nations. Morris said Reagan's decision to provide aid in the 1980s to
> >famine-stricken Ethiopia under communist rule represented the "most
> >eloquent affirmation" of the principle that food should never be used as
a
> >weapon of war.
> >
> >Veneman, who served as agriculture secretary during Bush's first term,
> >insists that she is not seeking to implement White House policies at the
> >agency. But she is promoting priorities that parallel those backed by the
> >Bush administration, which nominated her for the job.
> >
> >In her initial speeches, she has sidestepped politically sensitive issues
> >championed by her Democratic predecessor, Carol Bellamy -- such as
> >children's rights and reproductive health care -- that have rankled the
> >administration's social conservatives.
> >
> >Instead, Veneman has highlighted primary health care for children under
> >the age of 5, an area of UNICEF's work that is known as "child survival."
> >She has also advocated what she calls "child protection" themes that are
> >popular in the White House and Congress, including combating the
> >trafficking of children in the sex trade.
> >
> >"People talk about the convention on the rights of the child, nobody
knows
> >what you're talking about," Veneman said. But she said that issues such
as
> >child trafficking and the forced recruitment of child soldiers resonate
> >with audiences.
> >
> >"The issue of children, I just don't think is a Republican or Democratic
> >agenda," she said. "Virtually all of the issues are issues that people
> >universally care about. I don't see myself as furthering anybody's agenda
> >other than that of the world's children."
> >
> >Life for those few Republicans at the United Nations has been, at times,
> >awkward. Catherine Bertini, who preceded Burnham as the United Nations'
> >top management official, said colleagues were appalled by her backing of
> >Bush after his decision to invade Iraq. Bertini, who resigned in April,
> >recalled being confronted by a senior U.N. colleague who asked, "How can
> >you possibly support that man?"
> >
> >"Some people don't check their views about other nationalities at the
> >door," Bertini said. "There are several senior executives who were, as
far
> >as I'm concerned, anti-American, who made comments in meetings about
> >Americans and or talked about the United States in what I considered a
> >negative tone."
> >
> >Still, there have been signs of improvement in Republicans' standing in
> >the U.N. system. The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural
> >Organization (UNESCO), which was derided by the Reagan administration as
a
> >wasteful institution that served the interests of anti-Western countries,
> >selected first lady Laura Bush in 2003 as its honorary ambassador for the
> >U.N. Decade of Literacy.
> >
> >It also recently appointed an educator and former Republican legislator,
> >Peter Smith, as assistant director general for education. Senior Bush
> >officials, meanwhile, have praised UNESCO, likening its universal
literacy
> >initiative, "Education for All," to the administration's No Child Left
> >Behind program.
> >
> >Bush officials still believe the United Nations interfered in the 2004
> >election to the benefit of Democrats by stepping up criticism of the U.S.
> >postwar effort in Iraq during the presidential campaign. They also assert
> >that the United Nations is institutionally biased against Republicans.
> >Annan's appointment this year of former president Bill Clinton as his
> >special envoy for tsunami relief, they say, underscores a preference for
> >Democrats.
> >
> >"It's no secret that the views of many in the United Nations align more
> >directly with the views of the Democratic foreign policy establishment,"
> >said Stuart W. Holliday, a Republican who is a former U.S. representative
> >to the United Nations for special political affairs.
> >
> >U.N. officials say they have felt besieged by the Bush administration,
> >which has questioned the organization's relevance when it opposed the
> >invasion of Iraq, and by Republican lawmakers who have championed
> >campaigns to withhold funding to the world body and to force the U.N.
> >chief to resign.
> >
> >U.N. officials say that despite Republicans' criticism, they have
> >appointed prominent Republicans, including former secretary of state
James
> >A. Baker III, to carry out important diplomatic missions.
> >
> >They say they have also tried to recruit friendly Republicans into the
> >United Nations' ranks, but that they have shown little interest. Several
> >former Republican lawmakers have turned down offers to serve as the chief
> >U.N. liaison official in Washington, a post that will be filled by a
> >seasoned U.S. legislative affairs professional, William Davis.
> >
> >U.N. officials and independent observers agree that there has been a
> >dearth of Republican officials hired at the United Nations, contributing
> >to a wide communication gap between New York and Washington.
> >
> >"In recent years, my impression is the secretary general has not had
> >enough people around him who really understand more the conservative
> >political philosophy in the United States," said Edward C. Luck, a
> >Columbia University professor who specializes on the United Nations.
> >
> >"I think they have been feeding him bad advice, because he just doesn't
> >seem to get it when it comes to dealing with Washington. It's not that he
> >should be surrounded by a bunch of neocons, but he should have some
people
> >who in a very unvarnished way can sort of explain to him about American
> >perspectives."
> >
> >Luck said the fault also lies with the Republican Party, which has a
> >shortage of internationalists who care about U.N. affairs and want to
work
> >here. Those few Republicans who have been sent to New York to "shake up
> >the system" may find it hard to leaving a lasting mark. "I think the
> >system is very hard to move," Luck said. "You send someone to New York,
> >and in a couple of years they begin to sound a lot more like a U.N.
person
> >than a Bush administration appointee."
> >
> >In Burnham's case, at least, there have been no signs of a political
> >conversion. Said one senior U.N. official: "The Kool-Aid hasn't made its
> >way through his bloodstream yet."
> >
> ><< Washington Post -- 7/21/05 >>