The dust-up caused by Amb. John Bolton’s reaction to UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown’s speech has brought attention to the simmering crisis among UN members, already cited in this blog, over UN reforms and the US approach to winning them. This is dangerous bluster, argues the Post’s Sebastian Mallaby.

Today things look worse, not better, for achieving important measures and resolving the debate without a budget crisis in the next few weeks.

This crisis will give some in Congress an excuse to start withholding US dues to the UN, which would impact its headquarters and touch on everything from monitoring sanctions against terrorists to planning the UN mission in Darfur. The House has such legislation ready to go. 

Does the US have a domestic constituency that can’t stand the UN, as suggested by Brown (which then offended Bolton)? Yes, absolutely, and Members of Congress know it. The campaigns come and go, but they are constant. Recall those convinced by interest groups that the UN will steal private property from landowners in the West; will prevent you from spanking your child; and will impose a tax on American citizens. 

Before you shrug that these ideas are silly (which they are), they all have led to Congressional proposals and legislation. The political clout behind the groups that advocate such positions is sizeable – especially when no one offers another view. 

Indeed, the National Rifle Association is now running a campaign against UN efforts to reduce the flow of small arms into the hands of rebels and would-be militias, the cause of millions of deaths in conflicts worldwide. The NRA asks its members to write Bolton to stop the so-called UN gun ban. The Economist could barely contain itself in coverage of a recent NRA book launch on this campaign.

Usually such anti-UN campaigns do not spill over into having a real impact. But the US may let political bluster become policy if a new focus is not offered in New York fast. One glance at the UN’s own news ticker is a swift reminder of serious issues (e.g., Lebanon, WMD proliferation, tsunami warning system, war crimes in Darfur), that deserve more attention than a dispute over whether US domestic views of the UN affect our policies toward it. Let’s get back to work.

Related posts:

1. Goodbye to 2009: The year in review