Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium

For many Americans, the United Nations has become synonymous with corruption, mismanagement, and a blatant disregard for human rights.  The Oil-for-Food debacle, the Congo peacekeeping abuse scandal, and the failure of the UN’s new Human Rights Council, have all reinforced the image of a world body in a serious state of decline, and in need of fundamental reform.  In addition, the UN has been criticized for failing to stand up to acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing, from the killing fields of Rwanda and Bosnia, to more recently the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of villagers by Sudanese-backed militias in Darfur.

Join us as former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John R. Bolton, shares his views on the state of the United Nations, and assesses whether the UN advances or actually impedes the cause of freedom internationally.  Bolton is the author of the forthcoming book, Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad, and is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.  He served as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006, prior to which he was Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.