Bolton blocks Darfur briefing

Via nadezhda's links, Reuters:

Ambassador John Bolton blocked a U.N. envoy on Monday from briefing the Security Council on grave human rights violations in Sudan's Darfur region, saying the council had to act against atrocities and not just talk about them.

How the man is able to talk out of three sides of his mouth always amazes me.

Bolton said he had objected to the briefing to make the point the council should be "talking more about the steps it can take to do something about the deteriorating security situation" in Darfur. He gave no new proposals.

"How many officials from the secretariat does it take to give a briefing?" he said, noting the council had just concluded a briefing on Darfur from Hedi Annabi, the assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations.

Mendez, who visited Darfur for a week in late September, later briefed reporters on his findings. He said Sudanese officials were taking only cosmetic steps to prevent systematic human rights abuses there that might amount to genocide. crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Let's take a moment to remember what kind of "action" Bolton prefers in the face of atrocity and genocide.

Update: Steve Clemons weighs in; also has more links. Meanwhile, Darfur backslides into chaos. The Boston Globe and Washington Post have more on what Mendez wanted to tell the Security Council.

Steve reminds that this is certainly vindication for Senator Russ Feingold, whose disgust at Bolton's "passivity" towards genocide solidified his 'No' vote.

[Poster from Catedral]