The latest news out of Syria is the chemical-weapons assault by the Assad regime on the town of Douma, and the resultant airstrikes by a Western power on a central Syrian airbase. (Observers had narrowed it down to three possibilities: the US, France or Israel. It looks increasingly like it was Israel.)
Syria didn't cook up its diabolical instruments of mass death on its own. Bolton penned a column a month ago, while he was still just an American Enterprise Institute scholar, that spells it out:
Something to consider as the US engages in preliminaries to the Kim-Trump meeting. North Korea seems to be trying to lure the US into some kind of patty cake. For one thing, I don't like the idea of holding the meeting in Pyongyang at all. I'm not even too keen on holding it in China.Security Council weapons inspectors monitoring North Korea's compliance with United Nations sanctions have reportedly concluded that, for several years, the North has been selling Syria materials for the production of chemical weapons. Additional sanctions violations also are reported, but none compare to the gravity of this evidence that Pyongyang is trafficking in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) technology.This information should be a pivot point for the United States and European governments that truly care about stopping North Korea's nuclear programs and WMD proliferation. Pyongyang's dangerous behavior today dramatically foreshadows exactly what it will do with nuclear and ballistic-missile technology as soon as it thinks it is safe to do so.The U.N. report and other sources also indicate considerable involvement by Iran, China and Russia in financing and transporting North Korea's chemical and other weapons-related materials to Syria. The complex web of business dealings shows serious, perhaps insoluble, problems in the enforcement of international sanctions applicable to both Pyongyang and Damascus. Of course, we cannot assume that the U.N. inspectors have uncovered the full extent of North Korea's evasion of the applicable sanctions provisions. So Kim Jung-Un's evasions and revenues might well be considerably greater than the information possessed by the U.N.
Memo to all involved, including the Very Stable Genius: Look at this holistically. Don't compartmentalize.
I know this is about your hero Bolton, but is this the sort of issue Trump should be tweeting about?! Ain't no preemption exemption with Johnny B at bat, eh?
ReplyDeleteThose gas attacks are horrible and demand appropriate retaliation through established channels.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not appropriate for Trump to be tweeting about it. 97 percent of his tweets are inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteThis wouldn't be preemption, it would be a response.
What are "established channels"?
Trump especially should not be tweeting about sensitive international issues. Good Gawd I hope there are established channels or at least coordination with our allies' responses. I sure don't want Trump to be IT, though you may be when you deem this mad man to be right.
ReplyDeleteI know Trump and President Macron of France have conferred by phone about it.
ReplyDeleteAll I hear is Trump this, Trump that, about everything. What happened to our democracy? Our international coalitions? It's frightening, but even more disgusting.
ReplyDeleteBut Trump's a better man now with Bolton?
ReplyDeleteUm, see above comment (Trump - Macron phone call.). Those coalitions are still there. But the plain fact is that the United States, by virtue of it'd vastly superior power, has to take the lead in a situation like this.
ReplyDeleteWould it be better if we had a grown-up president instead of the Very Stable Genius handing this? No question. But that's what we have at the moment.
Our Andrew Jackson to the reacue of the globe. And Johnny B on his horse riding next to him. They got the powa! Coming soon to a cosmos near you!
ReplyDeleteI'd feel more comfortable with any number of presidents and advisors in prosecuting this action, but as you say, we got what we got. Such a powaful restorer to military powa!
ReplyDelete2 high level Homeland Secirity advisors have stepped down over the past 2 days. Could it be the start of the Bolton wrecking ball? Wonder why Johnny B Badass was passed over initially for a spot onnthe mahvelois Trump team?
ReplyDeleteThey stepped down because they were about to be fired. Bolton wanted to have his own team to start his tenure.
ReplyDeleteIs this the B team now? Bolton's BadAsses.
ReplyDeleteI guess.
ReplyDeleteOh well, we got chemical weapons and bad actors on our plate. With Bolton in there now we just might find ourselves fighting Armageddon. Hip Hip Horray, into the crazies' (on both sides) hands we play
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Will you be screaming Johnny B Bad at your tellie before noon your time today? The Tweeter in Chief, our Andrew Jackson to the Cosmos, this morning at 6:58 am your time:
"Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"
3:57 AM - 11 Apr 2018
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NobodyWannaDoNuthin Darragh thëë tatyana shnayder chris kostulias Barthélémy Boisson I STAND WITH @POTUS King Taharka ��VenomousHeroine��
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Alt Vice President Mike Pence #Resists @PenceConscience · 1h1 hour ago
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Replying to @realDonaldTrump
Can someone put him in a diaper and spank him until he calms down?
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"Beginning in the 1970s, “the crazies” sobriquet was applied to Cold Warriors hell bent on bashing Russians, Chinese, Arabs — anyone who challenged U.S. “exceptionalism” (read hegemony). More to the point, I told Scahill that President (and former CIA Director) George H. W. Bush was among those using the term freely, since it seemed so apt. I have been challenged to prove it.
ReplyDeleteI don’t make stuff up. And with the appointment of the certifiable Bolton, the “the crazies” have become far more than an historical footnote. Rather, the crucible that Bush-41 and other reasonably moderate policymakers endured at their hands give the experience major relevance today. Thus, I am persuaded it would be best not to ask people simply to take my word for it when I refer to “the crazies,” their significance, and the differing attitudes the two Bushes had toward them."
https://www.mintpressnews.com/coming-attraction-lunatic-john-bolton-loose-in-west-wing/240197/
"Given how difficult Rumsfeld and other hardliners made it for President Carter to work with the Russians on arms control, and the fact that Bolton
ReplyDeletehas been playing that role more recently, Jimmy Carter’s comments on Bolton — while unusually sharp — do not come as a complete surprise. Besides, experience has certainly shown how foolish it can be to dismiss out of hand what former presidents say about their successors’ appointments to key national security positions. This goes in spades in the case of John Bolton.
Just three days after Bolton’s appointment, the normally soft-spoken Jimmy Carter became plain-spoken/outspoken Jimmy Carter, telling USA Today that the selection of Bolton “is a disaster for our country.” When asked what advice he would give Trump on North Korea, for example, Carter said his “first advice” would be to fire Bolton."
Ibid
You see, the premise thread that runs through all the linked and excerpted material in your above comments is that it wads a good thing to "work with the Russians on arms control" during the Cold War.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jimmy Carter has nothing - and never has had anything - constructive to contribute to any foreign-policy discussion.
The reason this is about John Bolton is because his op-ed made the irrefutable point that North Korea has helped Syria with its chemical-weapons program. Beyond that, any discussion of John Bolton is so peripheral as to be irrelevant.
See latest post for a look at what is actually going on with regard to Syria and all the players in its civil war. You will notice an absence of sub ejective adjectives such as "certifiable"
I and many others in our America today trust Jimmy Carter far more than Donald Trump or his current yes man Bolton, the B team dude in every regard. One thing for certain is that all this is great for the MI complex. Denuclearization has been the goal of every president since and certainly including Ike.
ReplyDelete