It’s not easy to make Jesse Helms stand up and applaud the United Nations.

For Richard… It’s not easy to make Jesse Helms stand up and applaud the United Nations.

For Richard Holbrooke, who arranged a multiparty agreement to bring the United States back into good standing with the United Nations, it’s all part of the job.

Holbrooke, a businessman and American diplomat who served at different times as assistant secretary of state for Europe and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, spoke to a full audience at Heinz Hall Wednesday night. His speech was a part of the Pittsburgh Speakers Series, presented by Robert Morris University.

Confessing that he did not prepare a speech because the situation in Iraq is changing daily, Holbrooke spoke optimistically about the war and emphasized his concerns for the future.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think there’s any question that the U.S. and its allies will prevail,” Holbrooke said. “The question is, what happens then?”

Holbrooke defended the United Nations against criticism for the breakdown of diplomatic negotiations with Iraq, pointing out that the United Nations can only function as well as its members.

“The U.N. is just a building where countries send their delegates. It’s not a coherent institution,” Holbrooke said. “Blaming the U.N. for what happened in Iraq is like blaming Madison Square Garden for the New York Knicks.”

“The U.N. is flawed. It’s a bureaucratic mess, but it’s essential,” Holbrooke said, describing himself as a “passionate supporter” of the United Nations. “It takes tremendous work. Giving up on the U.N. would be a very self-defeating thing.”

“Institutions grow and they always have to confront situations that their creators did not foresee,” Holbrooke said, adding that such development and growth has occurred throughout history. “Weakening the U.N. weakens the United States; strengthening the U.N. strengthens us.”

Reconciling with European allies like France and Germany will be one of the major problems facing America after the war, Holbrooke said, expressing hope that diplomacy will help improve international relations.

Responding to the suggestion that much of the world’s population hates America, Holbrooke proposed that people in other countries do not harbor feelings of anti-Americanism so much as “anti-American policy-ism.”

“People appreciate America’s ideas, its strength and its culture,” Holbrooke said, using Germany as an example of a country with a foreign policy at odds with America’s, but where Americans are still welcomed and treated well on an individual basis. “After this war is over, we have very, very high stakes in restoring allied relations.”

“If we and the Europeans live on different planets, who’s living on our planet with us?” Holbrooke said in response to Robert Kagan’s “Of Paradise and Power; America vs. Europe in the New World Order,” a new book in which Kagan suggests Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus. “Leadership is not just supported in communications or military technology – it’s economic leadership, political leadership, leadership in the battle over ideas.”

“Even if you opposed the war before it started, I hope you’ll realize that nothing will be achieved if we prolong the war,” Holbrooke said, emphasizing at the beginning and end of his speech the need for unified support of American troops in Iraq. “Our goals are not evil; we need to ban together. These stakes are about as high as anything we’ve lived through in memory.”

Holbrooke suggested that other countries have not always supported military action by the United States in the past, but that the view of American intervention is often more favorable in hindsight.

“Like Milosevic, this man and his regime had crossed the line,” Holbrooke said, adding that he while he agreed with the Bush administration’s objective of regime change, he wished the plan had been carried out with more diplomatic sensitivity. “[Hussein] was a threat not only to his people, but he’s also a regional threat.”

“Countries didn’t urge us to get into Kosovo – we took leadership and turned that around,” Holbrooke said of the conflict in which he served as a special envoy.

Looking beyond relations with European countries, Holbrooke said future relations with the Arab world would be the biggest concern in United States foreign policy in the future.

“Even in Arab countries where the government is pro-American, the general population has turned very hostile,” Holbrooke said.

“If it turns into a holy war, then we’re going to have a very different situation on our hands, and this is something that the Bush administration understands very well,” Holbrooke said, describing the international world as a “much more dangerous place” for Americans if the conflict spreads along religious lines.

Impressed by the modern capabilities of news stations to report on the war and placement of “imbedded reporters” alongside American troops, Holbrooke warned that American viewers not rely completely on television coverage.

“The view from the foxhole is not necessarily the big picture view,” Holbrooke said, warning that viewers should watch news coverage knowing that they can see things only from the reporter’s perspective. “I think the coverage has been extraordinary so far, but if you’re really interested in the war, read the papers, look at the maps, then draw your own view.”