Obama Appoints Ron Johnson As UN General Assembly Representative

President Barack Obama has appointed one of his harshest critics, the conservative U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, to be a representative in the United Nations General Assembly this fall.

The announcement came as something of a surprise for observers, not just because Johnson has been a vocal critic of Obama’s handling of Iraq, but also because he has spoken out against the U.N. itself, saying some of its members are corrupt.

“I don’t believe in world governance,” said Johnson in an interview following his nomination. “But I certainly believe in forums where people can come together and discuss, negotiate and try to solve things diplomatically, as opposed to letting problems fester and devolve to a situation where we’re going to have to deal with things militarily.”

Johnson’s agenda abroad includes ending violence against women and making oil-rich Arab countries pay for the costs of U.S. involvement in the fight against the Islamic State group.

“They are at greater risk — the Arab states, a place like Saudi Arabia — than we are. We’re under a threat of terrorism. They’re at threat of the loss of their regime. They’re a wealthy nation. We should be pressing them hard to foot the bill for whatever military intervention is required on our part,” said Johnson.

Johnson also said that the world needs to do more to fight the West African Ebola outbreak.

“We can’t let Ebola spin out of control. It’s almost reaching that stage right now … I’ve heard some relatively scary estimates in terms of how quickly this could grow to epidemic proportions. We can’t allow that to happen,” said Johnson.

Johnson says his appointment to the 69th session of the U.N. General Assembly won’t mean he’ll have to take time away from his duties as senator from Wisconsin.