Bolton, bye bye

L’étonnant et exotique John Bolton, survivant de la race en voie d’extinction des néo-conservateurs, actuel ci-devant ambassadeur des USA aux Nations-Unies, a toutes les chances (?) de devoir quitter son poste au 1er janvier 2007. Le Congrès démocrate (janvier 2007) n’en veut pas et les démocrates feront tout pour bloquer sa confirmation d’ici la fin de l’année. Par ailleurs, même les républicains ne sont pas unanimement pour sa confirmation.

Ainsi que le note The Independent :

«The beleaguered George Bush looks certain to lose another senior appointment — his controversial envoy to the United Nations, John Bolton.

»The administration's only real hope of reconfirming Ambassador Bolton lay in securing the support of the Republican senator Lincoln Chafee, a moderate from Rhode Island who lost his seat on Tuesday and will stand down at the end of the year. But Mr Chafee has said he will not support Mr Bolton's appointment.

»Mr Chafee said he believed that the American public had sent a clear message and that he was obliged to listen. “To confirm Mr Bolton to the position of UN ambassador would fly in the face of the clear consensus of the country that a new direction is called for. I have long believed that the go-it-alone philosophy that has driven this administration's approach to international relations has damaged our leadership position in the world,” he said.

»Mr Bolton, a former under secretary of state accused by critics of falsely making the case for war against Iraq, was appointed on a temporary basis by Mr Bush in the summer of 2005. His confirmation had been vehemently opposed by Democrats who launched a filibuster that prevented the issue coming to a vote. Mr Bolton's temporary appointment expires in 2007. It is unclear what the White House now intends to do.

(…)

»As it stands, the Republicans are three votes short of the 60 they need to force a vote on the issue.

»Senator Joseph Biden, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and the man who will become its chairman next year, told the Associated Press: “I see no point in considering Mr Bolton's nomination again in the Foreign Relations Committee because regardless of what happens there, he is unlikely to be considered by the full Senate.”»

Le cas Bolton est un exemple de plus, même s’il est involontaire dans ce cas, d’une situation où le renversement de majorité aux USA, loin d’apporter une nouvelle politique, contribuera surtout à une confusion et à une paralysie de l’actuelle politique. Le remplaçant de Bolton, nommé dans des conditions évidemment difficiles, arrivera au milieu de dossiers essentiels en plein développement — l’Iran, la Corée du Nord, etc. — pour lesquels les consignes seront pour le moins incertaines, entre les pressions du Congrès, la tendance modératrice du département d’Etat et la tendance maximaliste du cabinet Cheney.

Mis en ligne le 11 novembre 2006 à 15H48