Originally appeared on strategic-culture.org
The departure of John Bolton as US National Security Adviser is a good step towards decreasing international tensions by the Trump administration. But a lot more is needed from President Donald Trump to indicate a serious pivot to normalizing relations with Russia, Iran and others.
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When Trump gave Bolton his marching orders earlier this week, the president said he “strongly disagreed” with his erstwhile security adviser over a range of foreign policy issues. Trump had also expressed frustration with Bolton’s incorrigible militarist tendencies.
There is no doubt Bolton was an odious figure in the White House cabinet. One of our SCF authors, Martin Sieff, wrote this excoriating commentary on Bolton’s nefarious record of warmongering dating as far back as the launching of US wars in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, when the mustachioed maverick served then as a chief neocon ideologue in the GW Bush administration.
One wonders why Trump brought such a war hawk into his administration when he appointed Bolton as NSA in April 2018. Perhaps, as another of our writers, Robert Bridge, surmised in a separate commentary this week, Trump was using hardliner Bolton as a foil to deflect opponents from within the Washington establishment who have been trying to undermine the president as “soft on foreign enemies”. A ruse by Trump of keeping “your enemies close”, it is averred.
Bolton certainly did his best to hamper Trump’s seeming attempts at scaling back US foreign military interventions. He opposed the plan to withdraw American troops from Syria. The reckless Bolton also wound up a policy of aggression and regime change against Venezuela, which Trump has latterly seemed to grow wary of as a futile debacle.
In regard to Russia, Bolton carried heaps of Cold War baggage which made Trump’s declared intentions of normalizing relations with Moscow more difficult.
The shameless warmonger Bolton openly advocated for regime change in Iran, which seemed to contradict Trump’s oft-stated position of not seeking regime change in Tehran, despite the president’s own animosity towards Iran.
The former NSA also opposed any attempt by Trump to engage in detente with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Reportedly, it was Bolton who derailed the incipient efforts at opening up dialogue with Pyongyang.
It is also thought that Bolton used his influence to impede Trump’s recent bid to host Taliban leaders at Camp David earlier this month which was aimed at trust-building for a proposed peace deal to withdraw US troops from that country after nearly 18 years of disastrous war.
That said, however, President Trump has not shown himself to be exactly a dovish figure. He has overseen countless sanctions being imposed on Russia, the abandoning of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, and ongoing military support for the anti-Russia regime in Kiev.
Too, it was Trump who ordered the US collapse of the 2015 international nuclear accord with Iran in May 2018 and the re-imposition of harsh sanctions on Tehran. So, it would be misplaced to paint Bolton as the sole malign actor in the White House. Trump is personally responsible for aggravating tensions with Iran, as well as with Russia, Venezuela and others.
Nevertheless, it is to be welcomed that an inveterate war hawk like Bolton no longer has the president’s ear. Perhaps Trump can be freer to act on his instincts as a pragmatic deal-maker. One thing that the president deserves credit for is his unconventional style of engaging with nations and leaders who are designated as foes of America.
Russia this week gave a reserved response to the sacking of Bolton. The Kremlin said it would make assessments of a positive change in US policy based on actions, not mere announcements, such as the firing of Bolton. Time will tell.
It seems significant that immediately after Bolton was relieved of his post, Trump hinted to reporters that he was considering lifting sanctions off Iran if such a move persuaded Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to hold a face-to-face meeting with Trump at the United Nations general assembly in New York later this month.
Iran has repeatedly stated categorically that there will be no talks with Trump unless his administration revokes sanctions and returns to abiding by the nuclear accord. If there is a serious pivot to normal diplomacy by the White House, then what Trump does about sanctions on Iran will be a litmus test.
The same can be said about US sanctions on Russia. If Trump is earnest about a genuine reset in bilateral relations, then he must get rid of the raft of sanctions that Washington has piled on Moscow since the 2014 Ukraine crisis amid the many spurious allegations leveled against Russia.
Bolton banished is but a small step towards a more diplomatically engaged US administration. But it would be unwise to expect the departure of this one figure as being a portent for progress and a more peaceful policy emerging in Washington.
The Washington establishment, the deep state and the bipartisan War Party, with its entrenched Cold War ideology, seems to have an endemic sway over policy which may thwart Trump’s efforts to direct a less belligerent US.
To illustrate the twisted nature of the US establishment, one only had to read the way sections of the American corporate-controlled media lamented the departure of Bolton. The New York Times, which is a dutiful conduit for deep state intelligence and the foreign policy establishment, actually bemoaned the ouster of Bolton, calling him a “voice of restraint”.
The NY Times commented, with approval, on how Bolton “objected to attempts to pursue diplomatic avenues with players considered American enemies. And he angered Trump with a last-minute battle against a peace agreement with the Taliban… whether it was inviting the Taliban to Camp David or cooperating with Russia, he [Bolton] was the national security adviser who said no.”
In another piece this week, the NY Times commented, again approvingly of Bolton: “Mr Bolton strongly opposed detente with Iran, and his unceremonious ouster has reignited concerns among some Republicans [and Democrats] in Congress about the White House’s declining projection of American military power around the world.”
Can you believe it? The so-called US “newspaper of record” is somehow valorizing an out-and-out warmonger in the form of Bolton, and appears to be advocating “projection of American military power around the world”. The latter phrase being but an Orwellian euphemism for imperialism and war.
The sobering conclusion is that Bolton’s departure hardly heralds a new beginning of diplomacy and engagement by Trump, if we assume to give this president the benefit of doubt for good intentions. Bolton may be gone, but there are formidable political forces in the US establishment which will work to ensure Trump’s room for maneuver remains heavily compressed. The Cold War ideology is so ingrained in Washington, it is much bigger than just one man, whether that is the vile personage of Bolton or the more flexible Trump.
The world will be a far happier place when Bolton and his ilk are all put out to grass in a cemetery :)
If the duffers don’t want me and Boltons due advises, it means they only want peace the hard anti-humanitarian violent time consuming expensive way. Pouring money down the drain!
You guys can look forward to decades of endless paperwork, hot air meetings and soft value diplomacy, and the worlds populations suffering from my and Boltons absence.
Trump is going to have a lot of trouble getting reelected. Everything that he ran on, almost all which he circular filed for the Jews once he got in office. Is going to be remembered by his base, or more accurately in many cases judging by his low approval ratings, his former base. As one of the greatest betrayals in modern American politics.
All American presidential candidates have unfulfilled campaign promises. But Trump is in a league of his own in flip flops. Because unlike most Presidents who have a few flip flops, Trump has flip flopped on almost everything. In some cases he made contradictory statements and people waited to see which way he would go. But with a lot of his platform he didn’t, and just abandoned those positions wholesale to do the exact opposite.
Pledge – Better relations with Russia. Result – Much worse relations happened.
Pledge – End the wars. Result – No wars ended.
Pledge – The deal of the century. Result – Give the Jews everything and not only not give the Palestinians anything, but attack them and let the Jews attack them with impunity.
Pledge – Stop the deficit. Result – Added to it as much as any of his recent predecessors.
Pledge – Withdraw from Syria. Result – No withdrawal, trying to implement the Yinon plan partition.
Pledge – Build the wall. Result – Hasn’t happened.
Pledge – Protect gun rights. Result – Taking away and trying to take away gun rights. Has done nothing to stop the psychiatric drug fueled mass shooting that are driving gun control efforts.
“He’s failed to deliver his promised withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria, vetoed an order to get out of Yemen, and expanded the U.S. bombing of Somalia, all while eyeing Iran.”
– Trump Is Expanding America’s Wars, Not Ending Them –
https://fpif.org/trump-is-expanding-americas-wars-not-ending-them/
IDB/TIPP was the only polling company to call the Trump victory correctly. This is their current polling:
https://www.investors.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/TIPP_Pres_apprv_090319.jpg https://www.investors.com/politics/ibdtipp-poll-presidential-approval-direction-of-country/
“national head-to-head polls do not presently show Trump to be in particularly good electoral shape. Specifically, one of the most accurate pollsters from the 2016 national election, IBD/TIPP, now shows Trump losing hypothetical head-to-head matchups with each of Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris. The IBD/TIPP poll has correctly predicted the last four presidential elections and was notable in 2016 for being the only national poll to correctly predict Trump’s shocking victory over Hillary Clinton.”
– The Latest On Trump’s National And State-By-State Approval Ratings. –
https://www.tipponline.com/news/presidency/1090-will-trump-win-the-latest-on-trump-s-national-and-state-by-state-approval-ratings-2
Joe Biden night cause Pennsylvania to change from red to blue. Plus Florida is now a swing state? It appears that some votes for Trump where a vote against Hillary, and people hoping for positive change. Trump may be in trouble for 2020 vote.
Trump has alienated a lot of people in both parties and the rolls may be reversed now with a lot of people voting for anyone but Trump. Even his primary landslides from from last election may be tough to repeat. When the conventional wisdom is that the incumbent is a shoe in for the nomination. He’s good at cutting other people down. But he’s given his competitors so much ammunition to attack him with that that tactic will be a lot less effective this time around. And once bitten twice shy will be a factor in both the primaries and the general election.
Many people overlooked his flaws last election based on the strength of his America First drain the swamp message that they liked even if they were leery of the messenger. With his blatantly Israel join the swamp performance. His credibility deficit is going to work against him. With a lot of people saying that we like the message. But Trump is a bait and switch fraudster who isn’t going to deliver it and is one more swamp dweller.
There are times, as right now, I wounder, are people blind, deaf and mute, and the writings I read this days are more like the 100 Monkeys narrative, an endless row of nonsense, fighting nonsense, and debate nonsense, while the bed sides are in flames. I read somewhere the ugly truth, that Bolton wasnt the problem, Trump claimed that Bolton hold Him back, I belive that, and as RD, here in SF comented it, what have He then done, in an sense nothing, other then been a president of the Kosher Nostra, and the reason for me to go silent is just that, we are loosing, period, the endless chucking dont help, solves nothing when we all know whom is behind it all.
Some ex.
The drivel about AfD whom I consider to be an idiotic joke ( aka Syriza), an controlled oposition witch eventually dont and wont do anything, pimps an idiotic meme about Making Germany great again, when the problems isnt even tutched, wars, banking, to imigration, and the issues are hiden because people are to coward to talk, complying to the asult coming from an MSM we all know never acsepts anything else than what they pimp as the agenda to day, no matter what anyone else say their attacks will never the less be in the same track as before, anyone complaining is an Neo-nazi, racist, when blacks even in Sweden openly advocated genoicide, whipe white people out, the Sweds exuses this man, the MSM refuses to cover it, etc, to the insane level of violence, even in Norway just as we speak, they came up with statistics, to prove that the refugess, so called, are peacelfull and dont do anything wrong. They hate us, and even when its glearingly obvious, nothing is done. They claim its humanism, I claim its our own doom as an race, europa is dying wacked from within.
Trump is just another insane evil american president, the same rethoric was used to cover Obamalama while this man started more wars than any other UssA president in their history sorry more correct, criminal record, and Trumpstein is on the same track, even the stupid Saudis is learning the lesson, the UssA do what they want, and uses others as mere whores, and when they are done, just throw them away, and now attacked. I read insane amount of propaganda this days, Iran/Hezb/Palestina, blamed for everything, apart from the weather, witch is Putins fault, and the hasbaRats are flowing into the stage in unpresedented numbers, nice yellow faces attached to, and their lies are stil the same, but the problem is just begining, never ever trust the Americans, never, because once Trump have His second term, He will winn in an land slide mark my words, and then, because the people are idiots, survelance etc will be more and more “all seeing”, Guns confiscated, and narratives raped to be an exuse more wars. Like the latest, socialism aka Veezuela/Cuba ( Zero H just one ex.), is right now the “axis of evil”. To be honest, I see abolutelly nothing that is making, or going to make anything better, nothing.
And, yeah, I am one of the so called POD people someone likes to label us/me, People on Drugs, because some of us is hard core truthers, and to then think this changes anything is delutional thinking, since we are not the problem, the WPPEs are, witch I label several sites and people, aka Well Pissers Par Excelance, and right now, even famous sites are slowly showing their real faces, and I done even care, because the day comes when the purge will be an fact, only then will people awake, but then, dumbf….. its to late. https://911planeshoax.com/ WRH can go an f…. Him self, stupid old man and I am not that intrested in going into much more details, most is here, anyway.
Never apologize Europeans, never ever do that, what happened 300 years ago, was 300 years ago, sucking our welfare and whine, and demands us to lie down and die. https://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2019/07/highly-unlikely-conspiracies.html Hehe, the video is an master piece, hats of and amen to everything.
I know our enemy is the MSM and the politicians they control, corporatism is the name of the game. Until this are either hanged, jailed or thrown out, replaced with sanity and balls, I am afraid darkness is all we will get. WE better start kicking asses, or we will be kicked.
peace
His poll #’s went down immediately once he fired the little firecracker.
Not sure what people are cheering for…..
*if you don’t get it.
Same poll numbers that told us that Killary is entitled to win presidency? Some people think that poll numbers reflect public opinion when in reality those are just another tool used to influence that public opinion.
Absolutely, if it’s on TV or in the papers, it’s suspect. The game coming out of DC is the same as always. I am continually amazed that there are still those that entertain the notion that somehow Trump would be a good guy if only the bad guys would let him. That and he would also make deals good for everyone. Sure…he has yet to make a deal of any kind with anyone, including allies, whose arms he is continually twisting, there were no compromises and no deals, just threats. Just watch and see who he selects next, that will tell all. Guarantee you it will be yet another swamp creature. But, he’s trying….Yeah.
You missed the point – Entirely.
In that you basically expanded on what I was getting at (To an extent).
Everyone that follows this stuff – knows 101ingly – that poll #s are often well rigged…
Trump is no different from Bolton, same scum
Side show. The real money gets made when people die and bombs go boom. This real money, snicker, has accumulated and it buys real politicians “loyalty”. Morality, sanity and reason be damned.
I can naively hope that our new masters will not go nuts from the holocaust they have suffered so long and wind up using their revenge to do the same old to a new third world which we, the west, are rapidly becoming.
In plain language the Chinese could go Israeli on us. But then who has suffered as much as our Zionist friends. sarc The tens of millions who died in Russia deserve no credit for turning back the Nazis because that wasn’t the plan? Now if they had gotten on the trains and went to the camps we might have some sympathy for them, but no the fuckers had to fight and now they deserve to pay for that. Right!
As a white guy raised in this pernicious culture I have no good excuse for not rising up and demanding some accountability from my masters. It’s hard trying to emulate Hollywood heroes when your personal role models are fragile drunks, with empty pockets and hollow ambitions. Still in my guts, it never felt right, even when I was trying to be a cold war “warrior”.
When the military coup against JFK went down and we barely whimpered we sealed our fate. The treasonous bastards who have consolidated their power even more since then are rousing the whole world to rise up against them. The best way to end propaganda is to stop looking at it and stop fighting among ourselves. There are bigger fish to fry.
Side show. The real money gets made when people die and bombs go boom. This real money, snicker, has accumulated and it buys real politicians “loyalty”. Morality, sanity and reason be damned.
I can naively hope that our new masters will not go nuts from the holocaust they have suffered so long and wind up using their revenge to do the same old to a new third world which we, the west, are rapidly becoming.
In plain language the Chinese could go Israeli on us. But then who has suffered as much as our Zionist friends. sarc The tens of millions who died in Russia deserve no credit for turning back the Nazis because that wasn’t the plan? Now if they had gotten on the trains and went to the camps we might have some sympathy for them, but no the fuckers had to fight and now they deserve to pay for that. Right!
As a white guy raised in this pernicious culture I have no good excuse for not rising up and demanding some accountability from my masters. It’s hard trying to emulate Hollywood heroes when your personal role models are fragile drunks, with empty pockets and hollow ambitions. Still in my guts, it never felt right, even when I was trying to be a cold war “warrior”.
When the military coup against JFK went down and we barely whimpered we sealed our fate. The treasonous bastards who have consolidated their power even more since then are rousing the whole world to rise up against them. The best way to end propaganda is to stop looking at it and stop fighting among ourselves. There are bigger fish to fry.