If john bolton, intellectual scourge of A woolly multilateralism, became America's ambassador to the United Nations, it would be a signal that George Bush wanted to lower the scandal-ridden body into its grave. That was the general view at the UN when Mr Bolton's name was first mooted. Now that the shock of his actually being nominated for the job on March 7th has started to abate, some senior UN types are beginning to argue that such a conservative heavyweight could, if properly handled, prove rather useful. A similar reassessment has happened in some American circles about the idea of UN reform. In September 2003, when Kofi Annan, the UN'S secretary-general, declared that the ageing world body had reached a "fork in the road" and set up the usual panel of international dignitaries to recommend reform, there was considerable scepticism in Washington, DC. Now that the panel has come up with relatively bold ideas (at least by UN standards) and Mr Annan has embraced them, America no longer seems quite so hostile.
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