Bolton Scolds Tardy Security Council

I couldn’t resist this news item about today’s events at the Security Council. Apparently, some Perm Reps believe in the German university “Akademische Viertel” (academic quarter) rule of promptness: so long as you arrive within fifteen minutes of a scheduled meeting, you are on time. US Ambassador John Bolton, perhaps taking the lead from his President who is known for arriving early for meetings, lives by a different, more accurate, clock. Bolton was more than a bit irked to find an empty room when he tried to open a meeting of the Council this morning:

“I brought the gavel down at 10. I was the only one in the room,” Bolton said. …”I believe in discipline. I think daily briefings constitute a form of intellectual discipline. Starting on time is a form of discipline,” Bolton told reporters. “I failed today.” “I took a list of when they (council members) came in,” Bolton said. “We started just before 10:15.”

Let’s hope this isn’t an omen (or metaphor) of things to come for US efforts at UN reform.