With a UN Security Council resolution passed authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya, and the use of "any means necessary to protect civilians", NATO powers are getting ready to enforce the terms of the resolution. The conflict in Libya is about to enter a new phase.
In case you missed it, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice was on This Week with George Stephanopolous yesterday, talking about -- what else? -- North Korea's missile launch. Full transcript of the interview here.
(and check out Rice's interview with Politico's Ben Smith)But abstaining comes with its own costs. A permanent member's abstention invariably reflects that it failed to achieve its objectives. It also signals timidity.Included are some ruminations about other countries' foreign policies that London, Paris, Moscow, and Beijing might be surprised to learn.
Britain and France avoid vetoes for fear that if they are seen to be too hard-edged, they will be harried off of the Security Council and replaced by one European Union seat. Russia and China are motivated by other pressures. Russia is cautious because its influence is waning. China's influence is increasing, but it feels the need to tread lightly.Nowhere does Bolton give any indication that countries might vote for a resolution because they support it, or vote against it because they oppose it. Everything is part of a hard-nosed political game, one with no room for compromise (or "surrender," as revealingly Bolton terms it in his book). The idea of abstaining from a vote out of a sense of not wanting to derail an entire peace process, then, finds no room in Bolton's schema. For what is peace in Gaza when there are important objectives like flaunting American power to accomplish? (image from flickr user graney under a Creative Commons license)
