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

• Revealing to the max.....

  
  By A23US54A0OILE4 on 2007-11-07
  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.
  
  

• Excellent and Bold

  
  By A2QIC03Y5W50S8 on 2007-11-06
  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!
  
  

• A very special great man

  
  By A2BZCXR71CT6H2 on 2007-11-07
  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.
  
  

• Truth is the only option!!!!!!!!

  
  By A2G8D1VN3MVB6F on 2007-11-08
  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.
  
  

• A great patriot tells it like it is. Recommended.

  
  By A3U4FCEAT75XLS on 2007-11-23
  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.
  
  
• Still a Dangerous Place
  By A2446QJGH8MTIC on 2007-11-30
  Patrick Moynihan entitled his memoir of his years as Ambassador to the UN "A Dangerous Place." John Bolton (Ambassador in 2005 and 2006) shows that little has changed.
  
  During his tenure at the UN and his prior service as Undersecretary of State for arms control and international security affairs, Ambassador Bolton dealt with issues such as the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, the UN "Oil for Food" scandal, the election of a new UN Secretary General and efforts to reform broken parts of that organization, of Darfur and the war in Lebanon. These issues, and the challenges at making and implementing policy both within the US government and through interactions with allies and adversaries, are detailed in Bolton's memoir.
  
  Making policy, and dealing with diplomats from other nations, involves interacting with people of differing, sometimes naïve, worldviews. Amusing (if it did not reveal the insularity of UN leaders) is the episode in which the President of the General assembly at the time lectured the recently reelected President Bush on how American public opinion viewed the world (and the UN). Distressing is the conclusion of many UN diplomats that the embezzlements in the Oil for Food scandal were properly addressed by adopting resolutions and changing the subject, instead of changing the structure.
  
  Bolton takes the UN seriously, as a place where words have meaning and where the nuances of phrasing in resolutions can promote or retard national policy. In a world where entropy is the natural order, where the natural end of any negotiation is perceived, even by many of our allies, as reaching an agreement by consensus, which means be surrendering any principled position in order to meet the lowest common denominator --- usually the party causing the problem. But Bolton shows how seeking agreement for compromise sake fails either to address US national interests or to address serious, and dangerous, threats to peace throughout the world.
  
  "Surrender is not an option" is a professionally written book, not a "tell-all" memoir in which the author seeks to even scores for his adversaries in the policy making process by ad hominen, personal attacks upon his rivals within the government. While Bolton's traditional candor animates his writing, he treats his disagreements with others as arguments over policy and tactics. The result is more than a personal memoir; it is a study on how policy is made in our democracy and at the UN. Whether readers will find the result reassuring or disturbing may turn on the illusions the reader brings to the work,
  
  For myself, I look forward to Bolton's memoir of his next period of public service.
  
  
  
• How socialists in the US State Department and the UN undermine world safety
  By A19NZJH7XHOUB4 on 2007-11-19
  John Bolton's book, "Surrender is Not an Option," provides a detailed, some might say mind-numbing, insider look at the inner workings of the State Department and the United Nations. The mind-numbing aspect is the number of repetitious efforts the few conservatives at State, as represented by Bolton and others, to implement the reasonable policies of a conservative US president were obstructed and defied by Marxist-oriented bureaucracies at that agency and the UN. These traitors torpedoed all efforts at implementing foreign policy initiatives favorable to the US and then criticized Bush when his policies failed (this certainly includes the Marxists in the Democratic Party leadership in and out of Congress and the Senate). Bolton documents these processes with a detailed report of his knowledge of such chicanery in a book that I could hardly put down because it was so interesting and revealing. For example, conservatives and Republicans will be interested in the vignettes regarding General Powell and the contrast in Rice's views between the 1st and 2nd terms of "W's" administration, as well as the descriptions of Annan and others at the UN.
  
  However, the overall mood that overcame me after concluding the book was one of depression and near despair at the way strong foreign policy efforts to protect ourselves and our allies were repeatedly defeated and watered down to nothing but stale platitudes by both our many enemies (inside our own government as well as at the UN), and our "allies" (China, Russia, France, Germany and the UK), leading inexorably to the possession of nuclear weapons by Saddam (See "Shattering Conventional Wisdom About Saddam's WMD's" by John Loftus, FrontPageMagazine.com, 11/16/2007 for the evidence of Saddam's nuclear program, stored in huge vaults under the Euphrates river and removed to Syria by the Russians as the allies invaded Iraq). Other nuclear nations include North Korea, Iran, and Syria all sponsoring state terrorism. There can be no doubt but what many of these regimes are perfectly willing to sell nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems to terrorists and that they have already been engaging in such weapons sales throughout the Clinton and Bush 43 administrations. Bush 43 tried valiantly to stop these practices, with some notable successes, but again, many of his initiatives were destroyed by the State Department and the Democrats in Congress.
  
  For conservatives, the State Department and UN are issues that should be addressed by any presidential candidate in 2008 and in a very serious way. Bolton provides a chapter of recommendations regarding the destructive cultures of both that should be read and reread by anyone concerned about US foreign policy and US initiatives to make the world a safer place (Bolton's discussion of the difficulties of getting out of the ABM treaty of 1972 provide insight into how "W" has been attempting to protect the US). In Evan Stanton's new book, Blacklisted by History (see this authors review of that book), he presents overwhelming evidence that the State Department, since the earliest FDR administration, has been riddled with communists and Marxists - no conservative will doubt that this is largely the same culture as exists currently at Foggy Bottom as documented by Bolton where socialists and the hard left are busily chipping away at American sovereignty and like squirrel's hoarding nuts, ferociously busy at aiding our enemies. No conservative President or Congress can hope to implement any tough foreign policy and counter-terrorism measures without a complete overhaul of the State Department, which will have to consist of replacing socialists with Conservatives of either the Democratic or Republican parties. We must get a significant number of conservative voices in the State Department and its top leadership. If nothing else, this is one of the most important points Bolton makes and he deserves great credit for doing so. If we don't accomplish this task, all conservative foreign policy is largely doomed.
  
  The culture at the UN is even more toxic than that of State and this comes as no surprise to conservatives and most Americans who loath this bureaucracy and wonder why our political leaders, both Democrat and Republican continue to suck the life blood out of American Taxpayers to waste trillions on an ineffective, incompetent, destructive, corrupt institution that rather than helping citizens of the world actively seeks to subvert the industrial democracies and replace them with "global, socialized governments." As Bolton makes perfectly clear, most of the countries in the UN general assembly are anti-American and view the only role of the US in the world as to extract tax money from the American Citizen and give it to, not necessarily their countries, but to the UN Representatives themselves, who live a mighty cushy existence in New York City all the while they spit in America's face. It's no wonder that Bolton titles one of his chapters "Sisyphus in the Twilight Zone: Fixing the Broken Institution, or Trying To." My conclusion, at the end of the book, was the US would be far better off completely withdrawing all funding and involvement with the UN and creating an organization of The Industrial Democracies. The only 2008 candidate to address the UN, as far as I know, has been Rudy Giuliani, who wrote a piece for Foreign Affairs, September-October 2007 Issue, in which he didn't envision the UN as providing any significant role in the world in future years, except perhaps, for Humanitarian Efforts, although it has failed at most of those, one only has to consider Darfur, Lebanon, and Bosnia in that regard. Obviously, Giuliani has been a careful observer of the UN and, in my opinion, would resist being used by the organization, as Bush 43 has tried to do.
  
  The reader who finishes this book, may or may not agree with Bolton's recommendations, but it won't be because the arguments were not powerfully presented with endless documentation, it will be because of an a priori decision to savage the book out of a commitment to Marxism, or in the case of Republicans, globalism and "The New World Order." I highly recommend this book.
  
  
  
• Bolton for President!
  By A14A3B0B8ILB8 on 2007-11-17
  Occams' Razor is an argument which suggests that the simplest explanation for an event or mystery is almost always the explanation which turns out to be true. With this in mind, when one reads Bolton's book, one begins to see that there is such clarity here--such straightforward explanations (and solutions) for the problems which the United States faces in our dealings with other nations and the UN--that to believe any other version of events would be to invite levels of complexity and absurdity which simply do not and cannot apply.
  
  This book is a triumph of logic and reason over the forces which threaten us all.
  
  
• Affirmation of ignorance
  By AU990MWNK2C83 on 2007-12-13
  How about a review by someone who actually knows what they're talking about?
  
  This is taken from the December edition of the Economist:
  
  "SURELY even John Bolton cannot be quite as curmudgeonly as this? In a memoir devoted mainly to his nearly six years of government service under President George Bush, America's former ambassador to the United Nations has a bad word for almost everyone who dared stand up to him. This is odd. One of his attractions has always been his willingness to argue it out with his opponents: when other neocons went missing in action, he defended the cause. Yet in this book, this undeniably talented man of principle often comes across as a domineering bully.
  
  [...]
  
  He describes the State Department, where he worked for nearly ten years, as a den of dangerous "high-minded" (his worst term of abuse) liberals, "schooled in accommodation and compromise rather than aggressive advocacy of US interests." He blames successive secretaries of state, including the present one, for having ignored the root-and-branch reform which he believes the department needs even more urgently than the UN. The problem has thus been allowed "to fester and grow to the point where our capacity to advocate American interests in foreign affairs is now seriously impaired". America's foreign policy, he says, is now in "disarray".
  
  Mr Bolton is also hard on his former colleagues in New York. "Watching [Sir Emyr] Jones Parry in action," he says of Britain's ex-envoy to the UN, "I often wondered how Britain had acquired an empire." Mark Malloch Brown, the UN's former number two and once a writer for this newspaper, now a British foreign minister, also angered him. In a speech in Washington in June 2006, Lord Malloch Brown complained about America's "fitful" engagement with the UN and the distorted image it had in "Middle America" thanks to conservative detractors such as Rush Limbaugh, a television talk-show host, and Fox News. This, Mr Bolton sneers, "was a typically elitist, left-wing view of the slobs in `flyover country'."
  
  His greatest spite, however, is reserved for Kofi Annan, regarded by many as one of the finest secretaries-general the UN has ever had. Yet Mr Bolton describes him as weak, vain, power-hungry and possibly even corrupt; a man who was "simply not up to the job". Mr Annan's proposals for UN reform, published in March 2005, were "an unrealistic and pretentious grab-bag of ideas", designed to rescue his "diminished reputation" (as a result of the oil-for-food scandal) and ensure his legacy, he says.
  
  What he fails to mention is that Mr Annan's proposals were almost entirely based on those put forward three months earlier by a "high-level [UN] panel" of international dignitaries. They included Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser under presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush senior, and chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in 2001-05.
  
  Yet, for all his bluster, Mr Bolton seems curiously insecure. He apparently feels a need to report every honour he has ever received, every round of applause and every kind word, however trivial. "You're absolutely right," he carefully notes Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state as telling him on one occasion. "I'm for him," said Arlen Specter, a senior Republican senator, at Mr Bolton's (second) confirmation hearings: "I think he's done a good job. He's smart, he's industrious and he's cantankerous, and those are good qualities." But not sufficient.
  
  On many issues, Mr Bolton fought the good fight at the UN. He failed because he went about it the wrong way. Intelligent, energetic and witty he may be. But in an organisation where nothing gets done without a readiness to make friends, form coalitions and accept compromises, Mr Bolton put almost everyone's back up.
  
  The publishers describe this as an "explosive" book that is "sure to become required reading for everyone interested in international affairs". It is not. Although there is some amusing tittle-tattle, it reveals little about America's recent foreign policy that was not already widely known--or at least strongly suspected--and aired in the press. A pity."
  
  Score, game, you're silly.
  
  
• A good book about the UN from a recent US ambassador to it
  By AU7ND6NOCX9IA on 2007-11-18
  
  John Bolton has written an interesting book about his adventures at the United Nations. Of course, he's a conservative and I am a liberal, so I found plenty of places where I disagreed with his views. But I still like the book.
  
  As an example of where I disagree with the author, Bolton says that the Supreme Court, "quite correctly, as a matter of law" ended the 2000 election in Bush's favor. But it is very difficult to believe that the Supreme Court would have made a decision anything like that had the political situation been reversed! I think this shows a side of advocacy that is counterproductive in the long run.
  
  Bolton did try to defend American interests at the UN, and he did try to encourage some reform there. One idea that he strongly favors is "voluntary funding," which would indeed reduce some of the less useful UN programs.
  
  The author tells of some of the problems he encountered in trying to get the UN to respond reasonably to threats from an Iran which is building nuclear weapons as well as delivery systems for them, from North Korea, and from the Sudan (which is engaging in genocide in Darfur). In addition, he tells of the new Human Rights Council, a failed attempt to reform the disgraced Human Rights Commission. As Bolton says of the US State Department as an institution, it likes the UN but does not "like it enough to fix it."
  
  Bolton argues that the United States ought to stay in the United Nations and that we ought to try to advance our interests there. I think that is a long-term error, and I think it shows a fundamental error of conservative thinking to try to turn such a counterproductive organization into one that might benefit us.
  
  I know that my liberal counterproposal may appear more extreme than anything Bolton (or possibly anyone else) would dream of. And it may take centuries to fulfill. But here it is.
  
  The United Nations is not a world government, but it does represent the opinions of some people. In a sense, it represents what ought to be the Decent Opinion of Mankind, but is in fact more like the Indecent Opinion of Mankind. It's out of line, and if a world government were based on it, that government would quickly degenerate into a counterproductive global tyranny.
  
  What does one do in such a situation? Well, we can, in effect, disobey the UN, sometimes by using our veto in the Security Council and sometimes by simply defying it. But in the long run, it will not work to break rules that are voted for by the majority of a group we appear to endorse. I'd prefer to use diplomacy to make our use of the veto unnecessary.
  
  Another option is to withdraw from the UN, but even then, we would appear to accept the UN as expressing some sort of decent opinion of Mankind, even if by our non-membership, we were not bound by it. In the long run, we would still have to submit to most of what it decreed. We would still look as if we were breaking international laws, whether we were a member of the UN or not.
  
  My choice, even if it takes a very long time, is to outlaw the UN. Only in such a manner do I think we can get away from being regarded as criminals for simply behaving ourselves. I know that it will be decades or centuries before there is the slightest hope of accomplishing this, but for the sake of human civilization, I think it needs to be done.
  
  In spite of my fundamental disagreement with Bolton about what our long range goals ought to be with respect to the UN, I think he does make some good points in this book:
  
  1) The United States Mission to the United States is supposed to report to Washington on what the United Nations is doing, not to argue the UN's case.
  
  2) There is a serious problem among diplomats involving advocacy (sometimes great advocacy) of the interests of the country or region for which the diplomat is responsible. Again, the UN is not the client of the US mission to the UN; the US itself is the client.
  
  3) The UN is unable to agree on a definition of terrorism, in part because so much of it approves of terrorism against Israel.
  
  4) We should take the words of the UN seriously.
  
  5) "In the UN world resentment is actually much more likely against the country that is reasonable rather than the opposite. After all, if you can't pressure the unreasonable country, why not pressure the reasonable one?"
  
  6) In the absence of two superpowers which the Third World could play off against each other, "accumulating goodies in the process," kicking Israel has become "one of the few enjoyable pastimes left."
  
  7) Diplomacy always entails benefits and costs. The costs of engaging in diplomacy include "legitimizing outlaw regimes and giving them political acceptability and increased opportunities for propaganda and disinformation." Should the US have engaged Arafat? Bolton tells of Colin Powell asking "Who else am I supposed to talk to?" Bolton's reply is "Sometimes, the answer is `silence is golden.'"
  
  8) UN officials may have made some mistakes, but one of the worst was a speech by Mark Malloch Brown, who attacked the American people in a rather undiplomatic manner (and, I would add, topped this by demanding more money from America).
  
  I found this book fascinating and I recommend it.
  
  
  
  
• John Bolton is a brilliant man.
  By A680RUE1FDO8B on 2007-12-18
  What a pity that this nation's left-wing is do determined to see the United States fail that it does all it can to keep men like John Bolton from serving the nation.
  
  Bolton is a lifelong conservative. He worked on the Goldwater campaign as a young man. Interestingly enough, he found a wallet on the Yale campus when he was a student there and turned it in. The wallet's owner was another student who was trying to reconcile his radicalism with what seemed to be the commonsense taught him by his grandfather. That student's name is Clarence Thomas. The two have remained friends.
  
  Bolton left a successful private sector legal career to become involved in government.
  
  Here he recounts his service in negotiating with the Soviets, "following the yellow cake [uranium] road on North Korea", his early encounters with the left-wing, helping defeat Al Gore's effort to steal the election in Florida with a recount in only four counties instead of the entire state and so forth until what he is best known for, his contentious confirmation hearings as the nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
  
  With good reason. Bolton's view of the United Nations is unfavorable. As a result the left-wing did its absolute best to smear him as they have smeared other decent and honorable men such as Clarence Thomas. There were no limits for the left-wing. As Bolton puts it "[f]inding that there was simply no substance to the allegation that I had tried to distort intelligence, they [the leftists] shifted the debate to whether I was a nice person, thereby inviting every person in government whom I had ever defeated in a policy battle, of whom there were many, to turn the issue into one of personal disparagement . . ."
  
  Bolton's confirmation was defeated, but President Bush used a recess appointment.
  
  What pity Bolton could not serve throughout the remainder of Bush's term.
  
  Bolton is unsparing in his criticism of the United Nations. His critique is rich . . . almost too rich . . . with details of why the UN is ineffective, why the left's naive belief in it is unfounded and dangerous to the United States (and all of humanity, for that matter), why assessments for dues should be voluntary and much, much more. Only the totally naive could read Bolton's critique and not wonder why the US bothers with the UN at all.
  
  Bolton is even more devestating at deconstructing the United States State Department. I personally fear the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies which have entrenched staffs that have become unelected policymakers. Weak secretaries and directors like Colin Powell and Condi Rice are unable to impress their wills on the bureaucracies. The United States, unfortunately, left behind the idea of dedicated civil servants who served the nation and executed the directions of the President.
  
  Bolton is a clear writer. One problem with Bolton, however, is his mastery of detail. I found myself wishing that Bolton had written a 50 page precis of his indictment of the United Nations and the State Department. This superb book will only keep the interest of those who are truly interested in the survival of the United States, which is at the heart of Bolton's message, as you might gather from the title being "Surrender Is Not An Option".
  
  But there is a much larger audience that Bolton will not reach: those who need things explained in bite-sized chunks.
  
  John Bolton is a patriot. He is an extremely intelligent man and the left-wing's character assasination and blocking of his nomination is a loss to the United States. "Surrender Is Not An Option" is no mere biography. It is, indeed, the journey of one man through some interesting aspects of modern history such as arms negotiations. More importantly, it is a blistering and accurate indictment of the United Nations and our own State Department and the dangers they represent to our nation.
  
  It is must reading for those seriously concerned with the destiny of the United States. But I do hope that Mr. Bolton produces a much shorter summary that would attract the attention of those who need a more easily digested wakeup call.
  
  Jerry
  
  
• John Bolton is great; as he loves to say
  By ARBIOPPKKA3H on 2008-02-06
  What an exercise in egotistical self-promotion. Bolton bungled everything he touched in the State Department and the UN because of his colossal vanity. Here he documents his failures using the ludicrous excuses of his 'toughness' and 'uncompromising integrity.' In reality, he compromised American welfare time and time and time again in his efforts to make himself a cult figure and bully. He's the most self-serving character since Clarence Thomas and his tedious, didactic book shows it. I was given a review copy, not only is his book a waste of your time, but you will be contributing to the delinquency of an immature gangster by seeing your money go to Mr. Bolton. The right wing, the lying radio commentators and the crooked Publicans have made a career of exploiting American politics and the American people because they stand for nothing and advance a culture of destruction and self-promotion. Mr. Bolton and his book proclaim the moral bankruptcy of this position in his own words. Reading his book is like smelling a rotting corpse.
  
  
• Bolton meets the billing...
  By A1SXLXG4C4JTE6 on 2007-11-30
  John Bolton's memoirs meet his billing as a "gray battleship" that keeps firing.
  
  Bolton's advocacy for America, more human freedom and voluntary UN contributions clearly makes the book at least somewhat agenda-driven, but unsurprising for an in-again, out-again, back-in American Enterprise Institute (a major conservative think tank) fellow. That said, this book allows a full portrait into the messy UN Bureaucracy.
  
  Also, like with many bureaucratic organizations (I've worked with and in public service bureaucracies), Bolton realizes for reform he must not be the lone wolf but on the synergy with other perm reps to the UN. Bolton wasn't out to take out 10 stories of the UN HQ when Ambassador... he was out to weaken the then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who considered himself a "Secular Pope" who could have (and had) bit the hand of America that pays over 20% of the UN's bills and streghen member nations' voices in the UN.
  
  Ultimately, I really felt this book gave me an education in the nature of the UN as well as how to reform bureaucracies and have already given one as a Christmas present to a pen pal. Hence the 5 stars. A must have for any conservative or watchdog of the United Nations.
  
  
• Idiocy beyond belief
  By A252LBXRXWDQ1N on 2007-12-25
  John Bolton is a petty, mean-spirited insecure little man. This book is just a litany of every tiny slight and every word of praise from any other Neo-Con non-entity. Dull, poorly written and unrevealing of the realities of how the UN works or how the US dominates its actions (while permanently sniping at it). The UN and other global institutions such as the World Bank were created by the US to serve its interests and they do that to this day. There are problems there but Bolton never made any real effort to reform them. He was a dog in the manger during the reform attempts under Kofi Annan and is now a whining, ignorant man who has been wrong about everything.
  
  
• Duty
  By A3AML0WQWCKC3G on 2007-11-26
  I put off reading Surrender Is Not an Option as I had much reading in front of me when your book came out. I always hoped our country would dump the UN in the dust bin of history and I didn't need to provoke my anger reading about that sewer. Finally, deciding the read was a duty of citizenship; I started the read yesterday and finished this morning. I couldn't put it down! I haven't encountered so many slim balls since I flushed my pet rabbit's crap down the toilet as a kid. And I thought America Alone was the best book I read this year! Thank you John Bolton!
  
  
• John Bolton is a national treasure...
  By A3S06M3MHTIDXP on 2007-12-12
  The fact that President Bush needed a recess appointment to give him a job tells you all you need to know about the current crop of idealogues on the left. Thank you for your service to the nation, Mr. Bolton.
  P.S. Why isn't Kofi Annan behind bars?
  
  
• Tells it like it is!
  By A2XD88X4HY035A on 2008-01-30
  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.
  
  Lee Boyland, author of two techno-thrillers dealing with current events: The Rings of Allah and Behold, an Ashen Horse.
  
  
• An absolute shambles of a book
  By A11L1Q5BAPC5GR on 2008-03-13
  John Bolton is an unabashed apologist for the Bush administration and its multi-layered failed policies, and when he realized the Bush party was losing ground he stepped off like a pouting child and left his ambassador position (so much for the courage of personal convictions). His biases have crept into every facet of this book. It cannot be considered impartial or apolitical. Bolton himself is extremely suspect and one should read this book with a great deal of skepticism and be ready to do some fact checking. Bolton bloviates and blusters but amidst the smoke there is very little fire. I slowed down and read thoughtfully, hoping that he would have something substantial to contribute to the record now that he has stepped down, but I was disappointed. Bolton may have a lot to offer someday, but for now he is just another political mouthpiece for the administration still in place. I do not suspect that history will just this book well when placed in the fuller historic context.
  
  
• Protecting America
  By A3YWKDKT6UAMY on 2008-03-27
  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.
  
  
  
• Excellent insdier insight
  By AQEFCVAXGT1C on 2007-12-17
  I love this book, I read it over the weekend. Bolton's details his experiences in his various positions throughout his career and reveals insights about our recent history that has made me really understand recent events better. I like his views and wish he was still working for the government, we do not have enough John Bolton's and that is why are government is so lame at times. I wish he would run for public office!
  
  
• Good man... Good book
  By A2KTHWATLTB4RE on 2007-12-24
  Bolton should still be U.N. Ambassador. He's a sharp guy... much sharper than the liberals who vote against him for purely selfish and partisan reasons. It is good to hear the facts straight from Bolton and not "spun" by the liberal press.
  
  
• Great Book From a Great American
  By A2JQ3OFWOH6KX4 on 2007-12-06
  John Bolton was America's greatest UN Ambassador. I'll never forget how he stood up to the North Korean terrorists and laid down the law on the UN floor, despite the appeasement pleadings coming from linguine-spined liberals. In this book, Bolton continues telling the truth no matter what the cost.
  
  You may be shocked and offended to learn that terrorists are actively trying to destroy America, but John Bolton doesn't care. This book is full of facts that may make the appeasers want to cry, that is what makes it so great. Surrender is NOT an option as long as George W. Bush has strong men like John Bolton working for America.
  
  
• Ignoring This Book is Not an Option.
  By A26MRXO66QNVVD on 2008-02-19
  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
  
  
• Clever read
  By A17X73TFZFWTJO on 2007-12-18
  Normally, I would be bored to death with the inner workings of the UN. Mr. Bolton has managed to express with some wit and some humor about exceedingly dry subject material. I also learned more of his politics and why he rose to become the necessary foil to the enemies of the us around the world. We would hope that President Giuliani hires him on as Secretary of State.
  
  
• An Insider's View of U.S. Diplomacy at the U.N.
  By ARL35GGIG8OU1 on 2008-01-31
  This well documented book is fascinating reading and an eye-opener. Recommended for readers of all political persuasions.
  
  
• Brave Bolton
  By A1FS7GE1B07ENC on 2008-04-13
  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
  
  
• NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT IS WRITTEN ON
  By A361KNRIUTBD7 on 2008-05-05
  thank god I did not pay for it. ANOTHER NEOCON who did not take TWO english classes in college. SAVE YOUR MONEY.
  
  
• A fully documented career
  By ARYY84WIKKLXD on 2007-12-20
  The detail could be too exhaustive for many potential readers. But in the final chapters the author does rise above the detail and get into a more general discussion about diplomacy, politics and what he believes. I give the author five stars for taking all those shots but still plowing ahead trying to do the right thing for this country.
  
  
  
• Loved this book
  By A314ZZZ5XDVNJA on 2008-02-03
  You really have no idea how much goes on behind the scenes. I love the fact that John Bolton is out there leading the charge for us in the world. Someone need a running mate?
  
  
• A True American Hero
  By A2IIT3G5PI3S4U on 2008-02-19
  Mr. Bolton has proven the UN is a waste of time and money. But that's not what this book is about.
  
  Mr. Bolton shows how Bush won the greatest military victory in history in Iraq, thus saving the world from destruction by a madman with WMD.
  
  Karl Rove proved liberals would rather talk than fight, showing that only war can solve problems. But, John Bolton takes that a step further by showing we must use pre-emptive war, like in Iraq, to defeat the enemy. He shows how that war has been such a success and smart decision.
  
  And don't believe the liberals when they say only diplomacy ends wars. It isn't true, and John Bolton proves it.
  
  God Bless America. Long live George W. Bush, the greatest president ever.
  
  
  

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