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AYDINLIK TÜRKİYE'NİN HABERCİSİ |
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Bitter realities
"How cute!"
This was the thought that came to mind when I saw John Bolton marching towards me. Considering that I was standing in the pavement of Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, he was rather marching towards the hotel to attend the grand reception thrown by George W. Bush, his boss. Then suddenly I realized that Mr. Bolton was surrounded by an army of bodyguards, three in front three in the back, and the thought in my mind changed.
In my five days in New York, the only other curious situation I eyewitnessed was when I saw a procession of cars with U.S. guards in full attention, guns in hand and eyes roving. There were three cars in front and three cars in back, in between an official limousine carrying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
I understand why the U.S. has given a full coterie of guards to Iranian president to protect him in its territory, but I find it very hard to understand why Mr. Bolton has been under the same kind of protection in his own territory.
John Bolton epitomizes everything the Bush administration stands for. He is arrogant, never relenting even for diplomatic expediency. He finds a way of winning at the end of a hard day by getting the powers of his boss who is ready to bypass the "division of power" rule, as was the case with the Senate's ratification of his ambassadorship. He has his own agenda for how to use U.S. might to overpower the world, and this private agenda brought him to the notice of the neocons long ago. Now they've been doing everything to achieve the desired end. He does this in the UN, they do it in the rest of the world.
The U.S.' mission at the UN covers a vast area of interest for the neocons, and Mr. Bolton might surmise that his job is more important then his comrades in arms and he may try to show this by extracting the impossible from the UN administration and from those countries with completely different expectations.
All the relevant reports show clearly that the world's problems stem from hunger, poverty and disease. The UN as a political body representing the entire world should do something to eradicate these problems. Rich countries can pay the bill for the misery of poor countries, and only $3 per person per year would suffice to save 10 million in Africa who lose their lives every year from poverty. The war against malaria and AIDS is as humanly important as the war against terror, but whereas countries sacrifice a huge amount of their resources for wars with guns, they are reluctant to spare anything for wars with syringes.
Before even I set foot on New York for the UN summit I was hoping in my heart of hearts that the most important country in the world, which has generously given its territory for UN use, would accept drastic changes to the effect that the world would be more just. The root of my hope was the fact that the U.S. has experienced the harshest reality of poverty and injustice in New Orleans. The non-blacks escaped the catastrophe and left the non-whites to their black destiny. If the uprooted American masses in New Orleans didn't remind the Bush administration of the misery being experienced in remote places of the globe everyday, what could?
I hoped this UN summit would have been different, but to no avail.
The Turkish delegation in the summit headed by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan claimed a victory over the definition of "terror." In a new mandate for the UN, even the basic terminology is being reconsidered. According to our delegation, if there were no courageous attempt to include acts against armed forces and the police in the definition of "terrorist acts," then only acts against civilian targets would be considered terrorism. John Bolton might have liked our delegation's efforts enormously, since the U.S. armed forces and police are also targeted globally.
I want for Turkey to exert all its power to generate a positive atmosphere for a more just world, which is the real cure for all the miseries humans experience today, including terror. In today's world, the cheapest thing to ease one's suffering is for him to take up arms and resort to terror. As long as hunger, poverty and illness prevail, this suffering will never end, and so the terror. Whoever claims to be determined to fight against terrorism and does nothing to eradicate hunger, poverty and illness, they are not sincere in their claim. The only way to wipe terror from the face of the earth is to open up a war against suffering.
The John Boltons of the world will never accept this reading of the present situation.
Although it ended in a way that made me unhappy, the UN summit might be a turning point in UN history. The U.S., thanks to John Bolton, has accomplished a lot on its "to do list." He had stripped nuclear disarmament out of the draft document long before the UN summit convened. He was able to have some proposed remedies for world poverty postponed too. Until he gets rid of some last obstacles, like Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general who is under investigation for corruption, and replaces him with somebody who would carry out his agenda, Mr. Bolton will not stand still.
At the next summit, John Bolton will probably be protected by eight bodyguards; the world after this UN summit has not become less dangerous, you know.
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