Mar.18.- If speaking out of both sides of your mouth is a virtue, and if trying to be all things to all people is a wise diplomatic strategy, then Secretary Rice's stance on the U.N.'s new Human Rights Council was masterful. On Wednesday, the U.S. decided to vote against the adoption of the council in the U.N. General Assembly. The vote was 170 in favor, 4 against (U.S., Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau), and 3 abstentions (Belarus, Iran, Venezuela). The proposal had numerous and serious flaws, bound to have a detrimental effect on the United States, Israel, and the protection of human rights.

The U.S. had an opportunity to make an important statement about the terrible failures of the current Human Rights Commission and the inevitable detrimental consequences for human rights that would result from the new council. Instead, Rice told Ambassador John Bolton to vote no, and then advised Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns to explain to the U.N. General Assembly president and the rest of the world that this vote meant nothing.

Burns spoke to a reporter from the Washington Post at about the same time Ambassador Bolton was voting: "We have very high standards for human rights at the United Nations, and won't be able to support the proposal because the new institution falls short of those standards. But we also want to see the U.N. succeed...So we'll look for ways to support with the aim of strengthening it." ...
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