On the Scene

WHILE MOST eyes here were focused on the crisis in Lithuania or the Administration’s China policy, a little-noticed but far-reaching decision came out of the State Department: the United States had reviewed its 1984 withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and decided against re-entry. In a press conference on April 17 the assistant secretary for international-organization affairs, John Bolton, said that “little if any true reform had taken place” since the U.S. left, and released an exhaustive 43-page study backing up the charge.

“When we first withdrew from UNESCO their expectation was that they would get rid of [Director General] M’Bow, make some cosmetic changes, and that after a year the U.S. and Britain would declare victory and come back,” says Mr. Bolton. “But it hasn’t worked out that way.”

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William McGurn

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WHILE MOST eyes here were focused on the crisis in Lithuania or the Administration’s China policy, a little-noticed but far-reaching decision came out of the State Department: the United States had reviewed its 1984 withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and decided against re-entry. In a press conference on April 17 the assistant secretary for international-organization affairs, John Bolton, said that “little if any true reform had taken place” since the U.S. left, and released an exhaustive 43-page study backing up the charge.

“When we first withdrew from UNESCO their expectation was that they would get rid of [Director General] M’Bow, make some cosmetic changes, and that after a year the U.S. and Britain would declare victory and come back,” says Mr. Bolton. “But it hasn’t worked out that way.”