Bolton Starts Another Useful Fight Over U.N. Dues

John Bolton is at it again. After getting Security Council agreement on a resolution threatening Iran, he is preparing to push a plan to change the formula for paying U.N. dues. It would base U.N. dues on Purchasing Power Parity rather than gross national product. This sounds complicated, but it would essentially require Russia and China to start paying up.

Currently, the United States pays 22 percent of the U.N. budget, Japan pays 19.5 percent, Britain at 6.1 percent and France at 6 percent. China’s current rate is 2.1 and Russia’s is 1.1 percent.

Under the new formula, the top payers like the U.S. would essentially pay the same, but China and Russia would have to pay substantially more.

This doesn’t seem unreasonable given that both are permanent members of the Security Council. But both China and Russia are apparently furious about this new plan. But this seems like a good fight to pick. If China and Russia value the U.N. so much (and they want to keep high-payers like Japan off the Security Council), they should be willing to put their money where their mouths have been.