Customer Reviews

Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

If you come to Surrender is Not an Option feeling that the U. N. has outlived its usefulness and is counter to the best interests of the United States, then everything you probably already believe will be reinforced by what Mr. Bolton has to say. If you feel that the United Nations is a valid and worthwhile organization, get ready to have your beliefs challenged.

Assuming John Bolton isn't an out and out liar (which I could never believe) and that he has some hidden agenda in writing this book, the information contained here is earth shaking. That it comes from someone who actually went to work there for over a year makes what he has to say even more believable.

Surrender is Not an Option is an indictment of crooked world leaders and a system that works to enslave, not free. It is a must read for all those that blame America for everything.

I highly recommend Surrender is Not an Option.

Just when you thought that another book on international relations would be too arcane and narcoleptic to be noticable to the general population, think again. Ever read an article in the press about why the Bush administration opposed controls on biological weapons, and wonder what were they smoking? Bolton deftly slices through the falsifications authored by the Ministry of Information at the New York Times and CNN, and reveals how, through diabolical skill, certain European and Third World advocates incrementally seek to cut the heart out of American sovereignty and right to defend itself. Bolton's discussion regarding the ABM treaty is particularly engrossing. Not unexpectedly come well-known critiques of the stultifying State Department bureacrats who are more concerned with appeasing ill-tempered (and often corrupt) world "community" diplomats than defending their own country, which by the way pays their mortgages in Fairfax and Arlington counties.

Even more interesting are the perhaps inevitable episodes of acrimoniousness among super-achievers such as Rice, Powell, and Rumsfeld. President Bush remains above the fray and like a dad coming home from work, comes to find his kids aren't playing so well together. Another interesting fringe benefit from reading this book is that one comes away with a deep education in the art of surviving a bureacracy - be it government or private sector. The lessons are palpable and wholly applicable to any sphere.

"Not an Option" is not a meditation on the fine points of multipolar international political theory. Rather, it is an unsentimental yet reflective, just-tell-me-the-facts-ma'am work of what actually happened when Bolton was in the shark tank. Whether you are writing a doctoral thesis for your Ph.D. in international relations or you drive a delivery truck in Chicago, you'll find this book entertaining and very satisfying. You'll want to keep the light on the nightstand on a little bit longer with this one.

Adam Goldman
Lake Mary, Florida

A bold testimony and un-deniable evidence on the uselessness of the United Nations and US State Department. Loss of Mr. Bolton as the ambassador to that world body was/is a big loss for those people who deeply care about the freedom and security of the western world. The book is a must read for those who think positively about the United Nations. It'll change your view about that corrupt international organization which Mr. Bolton desperately tried to salvage. Good Book!

I am no wide-eyed neocon. I am your typical middle of the road type. I have to say that given my political leanings, I wasn't expecting to be impressed with this book. I wasn't, not at all. But reading this book gave me a new appreciation for the hard work Bolton undertook as our representative to the UN. Bolton faced an extremely difficult battle trying to ensure that the UN would give American interests a fair chance. For too long, our country has paid the bills for this corrupt organization and got little in return for our efforts. Well, I guess we get scorn and mistreated at the hands of others, but that's really about it. Bolton illustrates how this worked out during his tenure. He also points out why giving into world opinion will prevent the world from achieving its highest purposes. In the process, it becomes clear that we should rethink our involvement in this body, for it cant work to protect our interests.

No slight intended when I say it is a difficult book to read. Difficult because it, to quote Glenn Beck "makes blood shoot out of your eyes;" difficult because it made me want to vomit; and difficult because I felt I was trapped in a time warp where one continually repeated the same scene with only the names and dates changed--perhaps a simple description of life at the UN.

Bolton exposes Kofi Annan as a little tyrant, the secular pope. Then he debunks the "oil for food" program--which in reality was Saddam's "oil for palaces" program.

Ambassador Bolton clearly demonstrates the UN is a useless organization, a hole in New York City into which the U.S. pours billions of dollars a year.

Bolton's analysis of the U.S. State Department is insightful: another department with an out of control bureaucracy that requires a total overhaul. As Bolton says on page 448, "... what happens at State, where too much of the permanent bureaucracy thinks it is responsible not just for implementing policy, but for setting it, no matter what the president of the moment thinks, ... ."

For those readers who become overwhelmed, do not put the book down, skip to chapter sixteen. This chapter is worth the price of the book.

Well done, John!

There are basically two groups of people in this country, when it comes to the big topic of relations with allies, the UN, and US global diplomacy.

One group feels we need to "reach out" to allies and listen to them before formulating policy (or, perhaps just do what they want, so they'll stop hating us), respect and follow "international law", and for the most part, subordinate our considerable power to international institutions, which mostly means the United Nations.

The other group believes there is no such thing as "international law", it being a catchy buzzword for a collection of politics, largely unenforceable treaties, and anti-US "norming" by non-state actors; no such thing as an "international community", an absurd construct that implies a a global "consensus" which doesn't exist but from which we're constantly accused of being "isolated"; that yes, of course we should have allies and friends but pleasing them should not come before defending and promoting our own national interests, and that the UN is a corrupt and unaccountable bureaucracy which oscillates between "total uselessness" and "serious liability to the United States" - an organization that, if we're going to continue participating in at all, should at least be forced to serve as a useful tool of American interests, as was clearly the intent at its founding.

Of course, those are opposite ends of a continuum, and there are many people in the middle.

John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN, is the world's leading proponent of the latter camp - the UN skeptics who don't necessarily think we should ditch the UN, but who do believe strongly that we should be leveraging the UN to extend American power, and should more strenuously fight the UN's ongoing evolution into the key global collection point for anti-US propaganda and policy.

If you are already a Boltonite (as I am, obviously), you will not only find this book convincing and authentic, but hugely refreshing, too, in confirming what you believe, backing it up with facts and the "inside scoop", and articulately stating the fundamental arguments against US submission to the UN or "international community" agenda. I have so many times asked myself questions like: Why exactly do we care what Belgium thinks? What specifically is an "international community", and where does it live? What gives the UN, an unelected colony of bureaucrats who we don't get to choose, evaluate, hold accountable, or fire, the right to pass judgment on or influence the policies chosen by democratic peoples via their elected representatives (in the US and elsewhere)? Is that not completely antithetical to the basic thrust of history since the 18th century - power to free people, expressed through their elected officials? Aside from the dismal practices of the UN, even the underlying theory of the UN is such a huge step backwards: subordination and gradual erosion of the sovereignty of freely-elected governments to a secretive, unelected elite. That should bother people a lot more than it does, and is a point made very articulately and persuasively in Bolton's book. Finally, UN skeptics ask what all those UN committees, memoranda, reports, "high level groups", "special rapporteurs", etc. etc., actually accomplish - would the world be any worse off if it was all just tossed in the garbage? With so many people, worldwide and in the US, too, supporting the UN monstrosity, it's easy to feel self-doubt as a UN skeptic, because not many of us have the self-confidence and knowledge-base of a John Bolton. Well, this book will get like-minded people back on track and confident that, yes, in fact, the special rapporteurs and high level groups and UN special committees - all of it is a bunch of pointless nonsense, or worse, basically a way for second-rate European powers to regain through soft power and "norming" what they've already lost in the arena of hard power, combined with a way for thousands upon thousands of anti-US bureaucrats all over the world to come together in one place to do some serious US ankle-biting, and maybe score some gains for their own countries' or regions' interests while harranguing us for pursuing our own. All under the banner of the UN, with its post-WW2 legitimacy and grandeur which we bestowed on it, and continue to fund. And house.

If you are one of the "We need to work with the International Community" or "we need to respect international humanitarian law" (whatever that is!) crowd, you'll probably disagree with most of this book, or just plain not understand what the heck Bolton is talking about.

It's a damn shame Bolton's out of the US government. It really is. He is a unique individual with a powerful voice. Without him, the current administration is adrift. He was the antidote to the sappy, Europhile lefists running the State Department, along with a third or so of the US public, who are falling all over themselves trying to meet an impossible, insatiable global demand for apologetic regret on the part of the US for being what it is - successful, powerful, and dominant. I highly recommend this book to people who want to learn the real deal about Bolton and the incredibly tedious, and implacably obnoxious, American-power-sucking institution known as the United Nations.

P.S. I was quite taken aback by how funny this book is. Bolton has some superbly witty and humorous observations on many topics in government and diplomacy, and especially, as you'd expect, the United Nations. I literally laughed out loud at least a dozen times. Sounds strange, but it's true. There's just a level of poignant directness in this book that leads to some very amusing and telling observations about politics.

I start many, many books on current events and politics, but I rarely finish them, usually getting bored after around 100-150 pages. This book - I read every single word on every page, and I'm going to go back and reread it.

Ambassador Bolton's book provides a rational, objective, look into the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the UN. Essential reading for those who want to have a front-row seat at the making of history.

A real hero for our time. One of the very few people in government who speak the unvarnished truth. Would that he were our Senator.

Ambassador John Bolton's "Surrender Is Not An Option" (2007 488 page hardback) is an eye-opening history from his public service career with the Bush State Department and the United Nations. Although the book presents few sources (keeping it from earning all five stars) it is informative with eight pages of black and white period photographs and 29 pages of index.

Lawyer Bolton's narrative is an eyewitness account from Barry Goldwater to George W. Bush. His Reagan administration work helped to prepare him for the Bush years (beginning as an undersecretary to Colin Powell until appointment as US Ambassador to the United Nations).

The retired Ambassador describes, with precision, various people and events that shaped history from 2000 to 2006. He has immense respect for Bork, Buckley, Powell, Rumsfeld, Cheney, McCain, and Bush (disliking, particularly, Annan, Eliasson, and career diplomats). Bolton says that US's closest friends at the UN ("Turtle Bay") are Israel, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. Canada is often a go-between among hostile nations. Britain and France at home with the UN's "culture of inaction" often vote for appeasement. On all issues Russia adopts its former Soviet politics while China remains an unknown, but predictable, factor.

Bolton, at the UN epicenter, understands the Human Rights Council to be always "directed against Israel", supports Japanese efforts for Security Council permanent membership, and witnesses Kofi Annan's deviousness, incompetence, and corruption during the Food for Oil scandal. Although he supported, and worked for, Ban Ki-moon's UN Secretary Generalship in late 2006, Bolton ends the book concerned for the South Korean's ability to change the UN's determined culture of passive inactivity.

This recommended book is a good, but long, read. Hopefully, Bolton will write more history of the United Nations.

Surrender Is not An Option is well written, and at times one wonders why so much detail in Bolton's narrative, but as you get into the book you discover it is necessary to really comprehend every problem he is presenting to the reader. I knew for years the U.N. was in trouble, but Bolton brings the dark problems to fruition. If one wants to understand the frustrations the U.S.A. encounters at the UN, read this book. Hurdrey-Angus Jordan