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John Bolton…Extremist Politician Seeking a Role | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton speaks during the Freedom
Summit, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. Associated
Press/Charlie Neibergall


Washington – Since the victory of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential elections, the political circles in Washington have witnessed the nomination of many figures to serve in important positions in the coming administration.

Over the few past days, John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. has emerged as a possible candidate for the U.S. Secretary of State or any other foreign policy-related position.

As per experience in foreign and strategic affairs, John Bolton (68 years) would be considered the most qualified among the proposed names to lead the U.S. diplomacy during the four coming years. Bolton has been known as one of the extremist eagles of the Republican Party, and one of the “New Conservative movement members who marked his print in the foreign policy of Georges W. Bush in 2001-2009. Concerning the Middle East, Bolton has been known among the major defenders of Israel and particularly the right-winged politics in it; he has also backed the right-winged supporters of Israel in the U.S.A facing Tehran.

The Republican candidate who moved to work in politics has made remarkable achievements and pushed his extremist agenda forward, but his rudeness caused him many troubles; he launched many statements, which were described as non-diplomatic against Iran, the Palestinian Authority, Cuba, and North Korea.

Democrats in the Congress have always accused him of using inappropriate tone that violates diplomatic values and threat many efforts launched by the United States.

Sources close to Trump told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new president tend to nominate Bolton as the new Secretary of State, despite that many Republican figures prefer a more moderate candidate like Mitt Romney, who never had a diplomatic experience.

Iran and Russia

Bolton has adopted a hostile political stance against both Iran and Russia; he regularly criticized Barak Obama’s decision to cooperate with Russia in the Syrian and Iranian cases. During his testimony before the Congress in 2004, he accused Iran of lying concerning its uranium enrichment; he also called to topple the current regime in Tehran; in a recent statement, he said that the only solution on the long term is to overthrow the current rule in Tehran because it represents the biggest threats in the Middle East and considered that the U.S. administration should support the Iranian opposition.

Invading Iraq and attacking Iran

This statement was not a new addition on Bolton’s policies; the former official in Bush administration strongly backed the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 by promoting fake reports on Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; he said that he never regretted this decision and that toppling Hussein’s regime was a must. As per Iran, John Bolton has constantly called the U.S. administration to provide Israel with support in attacking Iran, even during Obama’s negotiations with the Iranian Party.

In fact, in many articles he wrote, the former official has considered that the agreement with Iran was the worst deal ever hammered in the U.S, history. Observers see that Trump’s nomination for Bolton as a Secretary of State means that his administration will swiftly work on suspending the nuclear deal with Iran.

However, some congress members have clearly expressed their concerns from nominating Bolton to represent the U.S. in its foreign policy; a Republican Senator said that a man who backed Iraq’s invasion and didn’t learn from its lesson can never be a qualified secretary of state.

According to sources, Donald Trump’s tendency to nominate Bolton for this position comes from the support the candidate’s received from Trump’s son-in-law who appreciate Bolton’s position towards Iran and Israel and from Rebecca Robert Mercer, one of the biggest financiers of Trumps’ campaign.

Profile

John Bolton has been considered one of the renowned figures in the U.S. politics; an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican administrations. Bolton served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006.

Bolton is currently a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI); he worked as a foreign policy adviser to 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Bolton is also involved with a number of politically conservative think tanks and policy institutes, including the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), the Institute of East-West Dynamics, the National Rifle Association, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

During the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, he served in several positions within the State Department. He was appointed as an Assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, where he led in the successful effort to rescind the United Nations resolution from the 1970s that had equated Zionism with racism, and also played a major role in obtaining U.N. resolutions endorsing the use of force to fight Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

Bolton was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Yale College and Yale Law School He was a member of the Yale Political Union, and he earned a B.A. graduating summa cum laude in 1970 and a J.D. in 1974.
He is married to Gretchen Smith Bolton; the couple’s home is currently in Bethesda, Maryland. They have one daughter, Jennifer Sarah Bolton.