In the surprisingly supportive piece that Mark cites below, the conservative Boot urges his “compatriots on the right put aside their reflexive-and usually well-justified-antipathy to all things UN and think about how we can improve this organization’s capacity.”
I would disagree with the “and usually well-justified” element of that advice, of course, but the rest seems rather sensible. Supporting and improving the UN so that it can succeed in endeavors that the United States would be loathe to take on itself — huge projects like providing peacekeepers in DR Congo, yes, but also the lower-profile, but equally important, aspects of the UN’s work, from promoting gender equality and providing vaccines all the way to regulating the flight paths of airplanes — is very clearly in the United States’ interests.
Yet if you title a blog post, “If You Trust The U.N. On Anything You’re A Fool,” it’s pretty clear that you are demonstrating just the sort of reflexive tarring of “all things UN” that Boot is cautioning against. Regardless of the validity of Marty Peretz’s specific objections, this kind of blanket statement can’t be anything but a patent exaggeration. Let’s just hope that, for his own sake, Marty can muster up some tiny smidgeon of trust for the UN at least when he steps on a plane.