dagblog - Comments for "Trump removes H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing him with John Bolton"

That is an excellent point.

moat — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 13:35:52 +0000

In reply to What if Bolton can’t get a

That is an excellent point.
His past monkey business with classified materials has got to have an effect on his overall score.

What if Bolton can’t get a

CVille Dem — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 12:28:47 +0000

In reply to Here's Juan Cole boiling over

What if Bolton can’t get a security clearance...I’m not sure he can.

Trump Brings "Christmas For

artappraiser — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 04:49:56 +0000

In reply to Trump removes H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing him with John Bolton

Trump Brings "Christmas For Neocons"

Welcome to the Donald Rumsfeld–Liz Cheney restoration.

@ BuzzFeed.com, March 26

George Will may well be

moat — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 17:05:23 +0000

In reply to Trump removes H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing him with John Bolton

George Will may well be correct that thinking of Trump as someone with convictions to contradict (by hiring John Bolton, for instance) is a "category mistake."
On the other hand, Trump now has the quiver of arrows he started when he was flanked by Micheal Flynn.and Steve Bannon.
Bolton provides the apocalyptic narrative Bannon used to deliver and Pompeo has the means to get the party started.

BYOB.

Here's Juan Cole boiling over

artappraiser — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 23:28:15 +0000

In reply to Julian Borger @ TheGuardian

Here's Juan Cole boiling over, mentions the MEK ties, along with many other things:

Let’s call Bolton what he is, a War Criminal with Terrorist Ties, not just “Hawkish” @ juancole.com, March 23

Not to be conspiratorial, but

artappraiser — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 23:24:43 +0000

In reply to Julian Borger @ TheGuardian

Not to be conspiratorial, but....meanwhile Mr. Cybersecurity Advisor-to-Trump Rudy Giuliani has been in Albania visiting MEK (radical Iranian kook organization always working for overthrow of the Iran regime, among other things) membership for Nowruz:

Close Trump Ally Calls For Iran Regime Change Policy

By Heshmat Alavi , Contributor @ Forbes.com, March 21

[....] As this momentum builds up Tehran’s concerns, Rudy Giuliani, the acclaimed New York mayor during 9/11 and now Trump’s cybersecurity advisor, paid a visit to Albania, home to the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

The occasion was the Iranian New Year, “Nowruz,” meaning a new day, on Tuesday.

“America’s Mayor” on Sunday met with Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, President of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the coalition best known for blowing the whistle on Iran’s clandestine nuclear program back in 2002.

And on Tuesday, Giuliani spoke before several thousand PMOI/MEK members, emphasizing how the MEK plays such a crucial role in ongoing protests.[....]

In what capacity and who is paying for it, I dunno. Must admit he made "foreign policy" trips to all kinds of places when he was mayor. (Famous ego problem himself.) Here's Forbes' photo:

Rudy Giuliani, cybersecurity advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump,
meets with Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi. Credit: NCRI

WaPo editorial this afternoon

AmericanDreamer — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 21:34:58 +0000

In reply to Julian Borger @ TheGuardian

WaPo editorial this afternoon, also expressing alarm: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/john-boltons-ext...

Throw in the trade war that Trump may be triggering and a potential constitutional crisis if Trump fires Mueller and the human vanity exhibit on display in the WH seems to be aiming for a trifecta of sorts.

Pulitzer Prize-winning WaPo editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has a new book out called "Trump's ABC". She gave a talk about it in late January that C-SPAN recorded: https://www.c-span.org/video/?440199-2/trumps-abc During her 30 minute or so event, mostly audience questions and her responses, she reads the book in toto--this takes maybe 3-5 minutes as there is very little text--and the cartoons for each letter are projected on the screen so the viewer can see. Interesting stuff, also poignant near the end when she talks about being assaulted in broad daylight in DC not long ago, as a woman now in her late 50's. She says to try to mitigate her sleeping issues she doesn't take in news after the evening news. Even so, when she gets up in the morning she needs to pick up a pen and start drawing.

Julian Borger @ TheGuardian

artappraiser — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 20:59:58 +0000

In reply to Trump removes H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing him with John Bolton

Julian Borger @ TheGuardian.com, March 23: John Bolton: foreign policy radical who backs war with Iran and North Korea

Trump’s new national security adviser will drive the White House down a more confrontational road in two crucial regions

Donald Trump has hired an unwavering and radical advocate of war against both North Korea and Iran to oversee his administration’s national security policy.

John Bolton has made a career of deriding diplomacy as a sign of weakness, and has disparaged both the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, and even the current administration’s use of sanctions as means of pressuring the North Korean regime to give up its nuclear arsenal.

Instead, the soon-to-be national security adviser has repeatedly argued, nuclear disarmament in both cases is best achieved through regime change delivered by US military might.

“A close look shows he’s genuinely one of the most extreme, irresponsible, and dangerous voices in the country,” said Adam Mount, a senior fellow and nuclear weapons policy expert at the Federation of American Scientists [....]

And Robert Mackey @ TheIntercept.com, March 23:

Here’s John Bolton Promising Regime Change in Iran by the End of 2018

[....] Rob Malley, who coordinated Middle East policy in the Obama administration, observed that Bolton’s appointment, along with the nomination of Iran deal critic Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, seemed to signal that the agreement would most likely be “dead and buried” within months. Trita Parsi, leader of the National Iranian American Council wrote on Twitter: “People, let this be very clear: The appointment of Bolton is essentially a declaration of war with Iran. With Pompeo and Bolton, Trump is assembling a WAR CABINET.”

Their alarm was understandable. Bolton has not only demanded that the Trump administration withdraw from the nuclear deal, he also previously advocated bombing Iran instead. Bolton has spent the better part of a decade calling for the United States to help overthrow the theocratic government in Tehran and hand power to a cult-like group of Iranian exiles with no real support inside the country [.....]

When Republicans Rejected

artappraiser — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 20:53:05 +0000

In reply to Trump removes H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing him with John Bolton

When Republicans Rejected John Bolton

Op-Ed by Antony J. Blinken @ NYTimes.com, March 23

He was feared for twisting intelligence to back his bellicosity and for trying to remove anyone who objected.

[....] in 2005, the extraordinary refusal to confirm his nomination to be President George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations by a Republican-controlled committee is worth revisiting for what it revealed about Mr. Bolton and what it may portend for our national security.

One moment singularly derailed his nomination. Testifying before the usually staid Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 2005, Carl W. Ford Jr. — the former assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research — called Mr. Bolton a “kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy” and a “serial abuser” of people beneath him in the chain of command. Mr. Ford — a self-described conservative Republican and Bush supporter — made vivid an emerging portrait of Mr. Bolton as a bully who repeatedly sought retribution against career intelligence analysts with the temerity to contradict him.

Back then, I served as the Democratic staff director of the Foreign Relations Committee [....]

Also the Times' Editorial Board says

Editorial: Yes, Bolton Really Is That Dangerous

[....] 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 [....]

Must read from @mattwaxman1

artappraiser — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 17:15:28 +0000

In reply to Trump removes H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing him with John Bolton

Must read from @mattwaxman1 “The John Bolton I Knew” https://t.co/eKkDp5VhMw
— Steve Clemons (@SCClemons) March 23, 2018