“I believe and have for many years [that] the International Criminal Court is fundamentally illegitimate,” Bolton told Sky News on Monday, adding that its arrest warrant for Putin is “not something that the United States should cooperate with.”
“It’s a very dangerous institution,” he continued. “It is an exercise of governmental power in a vacuum without any constitutional framework to restrain it.”
Hopes for a compromise in the envisioned talks have emerged with the ouster of hawkish U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton and Washington‘s apparent conciliatory gestures.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived on Sunday night to New York City to attend this year’s United Nations General Assembly. Unlike in previous years, Trump will not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because Netanyahu is staying in Israel as a result of his failure to secure a majority in the Knesset in last week’s election.
With Bolton out of the White House, it’s unclear if Netanyahu will succeed in getting any kind of public gesture from Trump before next Tuesday. The White House helped Netanyahu several time during the April election campaign, most notably with Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. This time, despite heavy pressure from the Israeli side, Trump still hasn’t delivered anything for Netanyahu — although there are still six days left, which is an eternity in Israeli political terms.
President Trump bucked most of his top national-security advisers by abandoning retaliatory strikes in Iran on Thursday. In private conversations Friday, Mr. Trump reveled in his judgment, certain about his decision to call off the attacks while speaking of his administration as if removed from the center of it.
“These people want to push us into a war, and it’s so disgusting,” Mr. Trump told one confidant about his own inner circle of advisers. “We don’t need any more wars.”
(22.06.2019)
Make no mistake: This is John Bolton’s war. It’s a war that the current National Security Advisor has been advocating since 2007. He has spoken of bombing Iran on TV, in print, as a government official, and as a private citizen. He has received payment from an Iranian dissident group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MeK), listing a $40,000 speaking fee for “European Iranian Events” in July 2017 on a government financial disclosure form (experts say the total number over a series of years could be significantly higher). He spoke at MeK’s conference in July 2017, promising regime change in Tehran.
(07.05.2018)
Mr. Bolton is a longtime Iran hawk who has supported the Mujahedeen Khalq, known as M.E.K. It is a fringe dissident group that calls for regime change in Iran. Mr. Bolton has said he has backed the controversial group for over a decade.
(27.07.2018)
Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, and John Bolton, Trump’s National Security Advisor, met with the group five separate times since Trump’s inauguration, according to Justice Department documents reviewed by TYT. The documents were submitted to the Justice Department by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)—MEK’s political wing—under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, between July 20, 2017 and June 27, 2018.
That group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK for short, was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department until 2012, at which point it was removed from the State Department’s terror list after an intense lobbying effort. The group was on the terror list for good reason: MEK has killed several American servicemembers and contractors; attempted to assassinate a top U.S. general; and attempted to kidnap the U.S. Ambassador to Iran, Douglas MacArthur II.
(22.06.2019)
Why is this not an international issue? Where are the United Nations and our traditional allies? U.S. unilateralists such as Trump and Bolton despise international organizations, but the rest of the world does not. The White House either does not want to approach the UN for international authority, or it is sure that such an appeal would not succeed for a host of reasons, most related to the image of America the bully.
(20.06.2019)
The conventions of mainstream journalism make it difficult to challenge America’s self-conception as a peace-loving nation. But the unlovely truth is this: Throughout its history, America has attacked countries that did not threaten it. To carry out such wars, American leaders have contrived pretexts to justify American aggression. That’s what Donald Trump’s administration—and especially its national security adviser, John Bolton—is doing now with Iran.
The historical examples abound.
(20.06.2019)
In private, Trump „chewed out his staff“ about the failed Venezuela regime change, blaming National Security Adviser John Bolton and his Latin America policy director Mauricio Claver-Carone for getting „played“ by both Guaidó and key Maduro figures, current and former administration officials tell the Post. Some current officials disputed that characterization of Trump‘s reaction and said his Venezuela policy was always long-term and is on track
(11.06.2019)
“We have substantial reason to believe that North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and China have made a decision to — and you can see it publicly — to try to sow disinformation about the administration, and to say that the president and his advisers are divided, and things like that,” Bolton said Tuesday during a Wall Street Journal event in Washington, D.C.
„This is Washington in a nutshell: Blunder into obvious catastrophes, refuse to admit blame, and demand more of the same. That’s the John Bolton lifecycle. In between administration jobs, there are always cushy think-tank posts, paid speaking gigs, and cable news appearances. War may be a disaster for America, but for John Bolton and his fellow neocons, it’s always good business.“
Hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton has steered the Trump administration towards multiple conflicts. However, CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou tells RT he’s learned that Bolton’s days in the White House may be numbered.