Thursday, May 9, 2019

"I Only Hire The Best People" - John Bolton Edition


Right.  Let's take a look at the "Best 27th United States National Security Advisor Hire Ever!"

John Bolton. 

John Bolton is the reason I shaved my mustache off in 2005 after Bush (W.) nominated him to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations. The mustache of  war. I couldn't believe that this angry warmonger was chosen for that post.


John Bolton is a man who sees all diplomatic problems as a nail and he holds the hammer.  He seems to have been obsessed with Iran since the hostage crisis after the 1979 coup.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Bolton condemned the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran as a “massive strategic blunder”—then went further. American policy, he wrote, “should be ending Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution before its fortieth anniversary,” next February. “Recognizing a new Iranian regime in 2019 would reverse the shame of once seeing our diplomats held hostage for four hundred and forty-four days. The former hostages can cut the ribbon to open the new U.S. Embassy in Tehran.”

Bolton began his federal service in the administration of Pres. Ronald Reagan, holding positions in the U.S. Agency for International Development  -  they provide development assistance to partner countries. I can't imagine him at this post. The first of many positions he seemed so temperamentally unqualified to hold. While working for USAID, Lynne Finney, a legal adviser for the agency, alleged that Bolton threatened to fire her for refusing to lobby for the deregulation of baby formula in developing nations. What a guy.

His history is one of confrontation and he is known for his abrasive behavior.
During Bolton’s nomination hearing for the UN job, Carl Ford, an intelligence official and assistant secretary of state, as well as a self-described conservative Republican, testified that Bolton bullied an intelligence analyst over evidence about Cuba’s suspected weapons programs, prompting an intervention from Powell. Bolton is a “kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy” who “abuses his authority with little people,” Ford said at the time.

The list of diplomatic fails goes on and on like a rainy day. Over the years he has repeatedly urged military action in Iran and North Korea, which he has called “two sides of the same coin.”

Fired from his UN post. Unwanted in even in the Bush cabinet. He has found a home with the Trump administration where he is advocating for war with Venezuala and regime change in Iran. Although he may be wearing out his welcome there as well.

In Trump's Bizzaro World of cabinet appointments, he fits right in!




Wednesday, May 8, 2019