Trump nominates ultra hardliner on steroids as national security adviser - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14899177
If you still think that Trump doesn't really mean it, then give up all hope.

I'm sure Trump's followers don't care about consistency, it nevertheless ought to be pointed out that Trump won by claiming that Hillary is a warmonger and he himself had always opposed the Iraq war. If that had every been true, he would hardly have nominated Bolton, who is one of the architects of the Iraq war.

We enter an age of total meaninglessness. Words no longer mean anything. We all have the right not just to our own fake news but even to our own facts.

Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

Yes, John Bolton Really Is That Dangerous

Yes, John Bolton Really Is That Dangerous
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMARCH 23, 2018

The good thing about John Bolton, President Trump’s new national security adviser, is that he says what he thinks.

The bad thing is what he thinks.

There are few people more likely than Mr. Bolton is to lead the country into war. His selection is a decision that is as alarming as any Mr. Trump has made so far.

Coupled with his nomination of the hard-line C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, as secretary of state, Mr. Trump is indulging his worst nationalistic instincts. Mr. Bolton, in particular, believes the United States can do what it wants without regard to international law, treaties or the political commitments of previous administrations.

He has argued for attacking North Korea to neutralize the threat of its nuclear weapons, which could set off a horrific war costing thousands of lives. At the same time, he has disparaged diplomatic efforts, including the talks planned in late May between Mr. Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. He not only wants to abrogate the six-party deal that, since 2015, has significantly limited Iran’s nuclear program, he called for bombing Iran instead. He has also maligned the United Nations and other multilateral conventions, as Mr. Trump has done, favoring unilateral solutions.

Over a 30-year career in which he served three Republican presidents, including as United Nations ambassador and the State Department’s top arms control official, Mr. Bolton has largely disdained diplomacy and arms control in favor of military solutions; no one worked harder to blow up the 1994 agreement under which North Korea’s plutonium program was frozen for nearly eight years in exchange for heavy fuel oil and other assistance. The collapse of that agreement helped bring us to the crisis today, where North Korea is believed to have 20 or more nuclear weapons.

While Mr. Trump’s criticism of the Iraq war during the campaign raised the possibility that he might take a less aggressive stance on foreign policy, no one was a more vociferous proponent of that disastrous invasion than Mr. Bolton, a position he has not renounced. At the time, Mr. Bolton said Iraqis would welcome American troops and the United States’ military role would be over quickly as Iraqis exercised their new freedom from Saddam Hussein and established a democracy. It was the sort of simplistic and wrongheaded position he takes on most policies.

Mr. Bolton will replace H.R. McMaster, the three-star general who had cautioned against jettisoning the Iran nuclear deal without a plan for what came next, among other policy differences with the president. Mr. Bolton would be the third national security adviser in Mr. Trump’s 14 chaotic months in office.

[RELATED: During negotiations for a nuclear deal with Iran, John Bolton wrote an op-ed in 2015 calling for military action to cripple the country’s nuclear program.]

While General McMaster never had a smooth time in the White House, Mr. Bolton already has a relationship of sorts with Mr. Trump since he has met with the president a number of times and is a commentator on Fox News, which the president spends much of his time watching.

He campaigned hard for the job, even after Mr. Trump previously rejected him for both that position and secretary of state, in part because the president didn’t like his bushy mustache — seriously.

The national security adviser is the person who makes sure the president hears the views of all the national security agencies, including the State Department and Defense Department, and drives policy toward a decision. It is hard to see Mr. Bolton playing the honest broker. Mr. Bolton is known to play a ruthless inside game as he maneuvered to win bureaucratic battles and freeze out people he thinks crossed him. He has been such a lightning rod that he couldn’t get confirmed as United Nations ambassador in 2005 so President George W. Bush gave him a recess appointment, and he stayed in the job about a year. It was considered unlikely that the Senate could have confirmed him as secretary of state, but the national security adviser job doesn’t require confirmation.

Bringing on the fiery Mr. Bolton now, at a delicate moment with North Korea, is a terrible decision. While Mr. Trump has often threatened North Korea with military action, he accepted Mr. Kim’s invitation to a summit, brokered by South Korea’s president, who is eager for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis.

Mr. Bolton, by contrast, told Fox News earlier this month that talks would be worthless and has called South Korean leaders “putty in North Korea’s hands.” On February 28, he insisted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “it is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current ‘necessity’ posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.”

Last summer he wrote in the Journal, “The U.S. should obviously seek South Korea’s agreement (and Japan’s) before using force, but no foreign government, even a close ally, can veto an action to protect Americans from Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons.”

On Iran, Mr. Bolton and the president are in sync, with both arguing that the United States should withdraw from the nuclear agreement by a May deadline. In March 2015, he argued in a New York Times op-ed that only military action like Israel’s 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq or its 2007 destruction of a Syrian reactor “can accomplish what is required.”

Going to war in either of these cases would not only create unnecessary bloodshed, it would be disastrous for the United States and its allies, South Korea and Japan. The Iran deal has substantially halted the nuclear program and needs to be maintained. Negotiations between the United States and North Korea, given a new impetus by Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim, need to be tested.

Mr. Bolton’s position on Russia, that NATO must have a strong response to the Kremlin-linked poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, is somewhat better than Mr. Trump’s. But his rejection of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and endorsement of a book by the anti-Muslim activist Pam Geller are unacceptable positions for a top American official.

Mr. Bolton is certain to accelerate American alienation from its allies and the rest of the world. Congress may not be able to stop his appointment, but it should speak out against it and reassert its responsibilities under the Constitution to authorize when the nation goes to war.
#14899301
What the neo conservative hawks President GW Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, President Donald Trump and soon National Security John Bolton have in common? Those brave patriots were all draft dodgers during the Vietnam War. And I am afraid that the Secretary of Defence, General Mattis will have a lot to do to avoid another disastrous war or wars.

Mr. Bolton has been a detestable hawk from the Iraq war era but who knew that he was also abusive and ready to discredit anyone who disagreed with him.There is no way he can be a National Security Advisor if he deals in conspiracy and questionable information and will not handle accurate data.This means that he may endanger the security of the country by ignoring or twisting intelligence.This is very, very scary.

He should get along fine with Donald. They are both liars, assholes and bullies.
#14899306
If I may formulate another view here ?
The "soft" approach of Obama and his predecessors has obviously not turned out well with the Iranians, the Arabs and the North Koreans. They have become quite obnoxious, belligerent and arrogant. A harder approach may be more successful in showing them the wrong of their ways.
I think that wars are not necessarily needed because the enemy apparently answers better to strength than to weakness.
So let's see.
And the way things are going John Bolton might be fired before he can start his first war.
Let's wait and see.
#14899308
Mr. Bolton, by contrast, told Fox News earlier this month that talks would be worthless and has called South Korean leaders “putty in North Korea’s hands.” On February 28, he insisted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “it is perfectly legitimate for the United States to respond to the current ‘necessity’ posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons by striking first.”


Bolton once described North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as a "tyrannical dictator" and he doesn't mince words just like President Trump. Bolton supports attacking North Korea but I don't think he gets in the way of the North Korean deal that is in the pipeline.

Last edited by ThirdTerm on 24 Mar 2018 04:56, edited 1 time in total.
#14899336
jimjam wrote:What the neo conservative hawks President GW Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, President Donald Trump and soon National Security John Bolton have in common? Those brave patriots were all draft dodgers during the Vietnam War.

They only have one loyalty: their money. They need all that jingoistic shit to fool the masses.

Fun fact, the ancestor of our great Drumpf was a Bavarian draft dodger. When he tried to return to his native Bavaria he was deported because of that. So he went back to the US to run a brothel instead. That's when you guys ended up with him. Real sorry about that, but better you than us. :D

And I am afraid that the Secretary of Defence, General Mattis will have a lot to do to avoid another disastrous war or wars.

At this stage it's more a question of when and where rather than if. My bet is on Iran. The Europeans want to keep the Iran deal, but there is so much the US can do to cause trouble. Short of quitting the Nato alliance, I don't see how anybody can refrain the US.

Mr. Bolton has been a detestable hawk from the Iraq war era but who knew that he was also abusive and ready to discredit anyone who disagreed with him.There is no way he can be a National Security Advisor if he deals in conspiracy and questionable information and will not handle accurate data.This means that he may endanger the security of the country by ignoring or twisting intelligence.This is very, very scary.

He should get along fine with Donald. They are both liars, assholes and bullies.

So true!
#14899382
Atlantis wrote:At this stage it's more a question of when and where rather than if. My bet is on Iran. The Europeans want to keep the Iran deal, but there is so much the US can do to cause trouble. Short of quitting the Nato alliance, I don't see how anybody can refrain the US.

The military industry complex must be fed on a regular basis. The gala feast they put on with Vietnam was squashed by the drafting of tens of thousands which resulted in a massive domestic back lash. They learned well, dumped the draft in favor of a pumped up volunteer army. Now they fight smaller conflicts against real and imagined threats all around the globe. This has now been going on for decades with no end in sight. The era of endless war is upon us.
#14899388
Ter wrote:If I may formulate another view here ?
The "soft" approach of Obama and his predecessors has obviously not turned out well with the Iranians, the Arabs and the North Koreans. They have become quite obnoxious, belligerent and arrogant. A harder approach may be more successful in showing them the wrong of their ways.


What on Earth are you talking about???

The "predecessor" of Obama invaded Afghanistan, Iraq and started the process to toppling the governments of Ukraine and Syria. But in your view that is being too dovish? .... I'm speechless!

How could we have taught Saddam to be less "obnoxious, belligerent and arrogant"? Should we have quartered and feathered him before execution? This is getting hilarious, honestly Ter, ... I don't know what to say.

But I thing I understand what you are trying to say. Let's put the fear of god into those people and they'll be just like putty in our hands. Let Donny boy do his horse trader's trick and ask for 1,000 bucks for the horse that's worth no more than 10 bucks. If we'll get 100 bucks in the end, that will vindicate the great deal maker.

Even in business, things don't work like that. Donald's bankruptcies stand witness. But in diplomacy ... I don't know where to start in the face of such ignorance.
#14899412
Atlantis wrote:This is getting hilarious, honestly Ter, ... I don't know what to say.

Ter flows with the Zionist mainstream, on PoFo at least, he's just more careful with his manners and image, so thus he's taken more seriously than the others and some may even believe he does all this in good will. Sure, let's see how a hawkish turn in US foreign policy will end, in the Middle East especially. Messing with Iran must be good and end well, Obama must have made a bad deal with them anyway. Trump deserves a chance, he seems to know what he's doing and Tillerson just hindered him.

Atlantis wrote:Donald's bankruptcies stand witness.

Bankruptcy is the Donald's profession. This is his last big rally probably, after which he can enjoy his well-deserved retirement in Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower.
#14899452
Atlantis wrote:What on Earth are you talking about???

The "predecessor" of Obama invaded Afghanistan, Iraq and started the process to toppling the governments of Ukraine and Syria. But in your view that is being too dovish? .... I'm speechless!

How could we have taught Saddam to be less "obnoxious, belligerent and arrogant"? Should we have quartered and feathered him before execution? This is getting hilarious, honestly Ter, ... I don't know what to say.

But I thing I understand what you are trying to say. Let's put the fear of god into those people and they'll be just like putty in our hands. Let Donny boy do his horse trader's trick and ask for 1,000 bucks for the horse that's worth no more than 10 bucks. If we'll get 100 bucks in the end, that will vindicate the great deal maker.

Even in business, things don't work like that. Donald's bankruptcies stand witness. But in diplomacy ... I don't know where to start in the face of such ignorance.


You can start with knowing Bush invaded Iraq and Afghanistan…
#14899486
@Atlantis
I admit I was thinking mainly about Iran when commenting about Bolton's appointment.
Nobody can deny that Iran is a major sponsor of terrorism groups (like Hetzbolla) and they have repeatedly announced that they will "destroy the Israeli regime".
Iran has local geopolitical aims to increase its sphere of influence up to the Mediterranean (Lebanon).

I personally believe that Iran is grandstanding just like North Korea, and they are doing that successfully because the EU and everybody else is afraid of them. The EU only knows how to appease and history taught us that appeasement is not always a good idea. Sometimes one has to stand up to a bully.

Have you noticed that Iran stopped harassing American and allied ships in the Gulf since Trump is President and Mattis is his Secretary of defence ? I think they would like to hold on to their war ships a little while longer.

Now that Trump is threatening to withdraw from the Iran accords, Iran started threatening everybody on a daily basis. Threatening to close the shipping in the Gulf, threatening to attack Israel, Saudi Arabia, and so on.

We are mere observers with an opinion : let's see what happens next. It does not necessarily has to come to a war, North Korea is caving without violence.
#14899495
I think John Bolton should be sectioned, since he is an obvious psychopath, unlike his colleagues who can at least hide that aspect of their personalities.

Ter wrote:...and they have repeatedly announced that they will "destroy the Israeli regime".


This is propaganda. All that was said was that zionism as an ideology ought to be erased, since it's a fucked up ethnosupremacist ideology imposing apartheid on millions of people, you know like how the same was bad in South Africa and how it was considered that it should end and how that happened eventually. It was a fair comment, I agree with it, since I support equality over supremacy.
#14899502
skinster wrote:This is propaganda. All that was said was that zionism as an ideology ought to be erased, since it's a fucked up ethnosupremacist ideology imposing apartheid on millions of people, you know like how the same was bad in South Africa and how it was considered that it should end and how that happened eventually. It was a fair comment, I agree with it, since I support equality over supremacy.

Yes, OK, we know that you support Iran. A bit surprising because you descend from a Sunni family, but I guess your hatred for Israel Trumps (pun intended) everything else.

Be that as it may, one has to question the reason why Iran is developing ballistic missiles and purifying radioactive components used in nuclear bombs. They say they want to use the uranium for energy production but being as they float on an ocean of oil and gas, that is hardly believable.

I am personally not very worried about the fate of Israel, they have adequate intelligence and ways and means to counter whatever Iran might try. Iran also has other enemies in its immediate Region. Saudi Arabia is now cooperating closely with Israel and so is Egypt and most of the Gulf States. We could in fact credit Iran for bringing Israel together with many of its most ardent yesterday's foes. Yesterday by the way Saudi Arabia allowed an Air India plane destined for Israel to use Saudi air space, a first.

And so it goes. Let's see how belligerent Iran will be facing Trump, "crazy" Mattis and John Bolton. We live in interesting times.
#14899504
Ter wrote:Be that as it may, one has to question the reason why Iran is developing ballistic missiles and purifying radioactive components used in nuclear bombs. They say they want to use the uranium for energy production but being as they float on an ocean of oil and gas, that is hardly believable.


More baseless propaganda from you. Dealt with well, here:
#14899506
skinster wrote:This is propaganda. All that was said was that zionism as an ideology ought to be erased, since it's a fucked up ethnosupremacist ideology imposing apartheid on millions of people, you know like how the same was bad in South Africa and how it was considered that it should end and how that happened eventually. It was a fair comment, I agree with it, since I support equality over supremacy.



Look, I totally agree. Equality, acceptance and tolerance is the way to go. Dominating ideologies should be overthrown and caste aside. This is why Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan all need Jewish leaders. After all, SJWs like you and me couldn’t stand idly by whilst religious bigots oppressed minorities, now could we?

So here is what I propose. We both get together and travel to Palestine and join the cause just as soon as the above mentioned countries all have Jewish presidents. Then we can fight shoulder to shoulder for a righteous future.

What do you say?
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