View Full Version : Cheeto just appointed a Treasonous Fucking Terrorist to his cabinet.
nytimes.com (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/us/politics/hr-mcmaster-trump-bolton.html?smid=pl-share)
McMaster to Resign as National Security Adviser, and Will Be Replaced by John Bolton
Mark Landler, Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Peter Baker
WASHINGTON — Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the battle-tested Army officer tapped as President Trump’s national security adviser last year to stabilize a turbulent foreign policy operation, will resign and be replaced by John R. Bolton, a hard-line former United States ambassador to the United Nations, White House officials said Thursday.
:puke:
General McMaster will retire from the military, the officials said. He has been discussing his departure with President Trump for several weeks, they said, but decided to speed up his departure, in part because questions about his status were casting a shadow over his conversations with foreign officials.
The officials also said that Mr. Trump wanted to fill out his national security team before his meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. He replaced Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson with the C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, last week.
Officials emphasized that General McMaster’s departure was a mutual decision and amicable, with none of the recrimination that marked Mr. Tillerson’s exit. They said it was not related to a leak on Tuesday of briefing materials for Mr. Trump’s phone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
In the materials, Mr. Trump was advised not to congratulate Mr. Putin on his re-election, which the president went ahead and did during the call.
Mr. Bolton, who will take office April 9, has met regularly with Mr. Trump to discuss foreign policy, and was on a list of candidates for national security adviser. He was in the West Wing with Mr. Trump to discuss the job on Thursday.
“H.R. McMaster has served his country with distinction for more than 30 years. He has won many battles and his bravery and toughness are legendary,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “General McMaster’s leadership of the National Security Council staff has helped my administration accomplish great things to bolster America’s national security.”
General McMaster had struggled for months to impose order not only on a fractious national security team but on a president who resisted the sort of discipline customary in the military. Although General McMaster has been a maverick voice at times during a long military career, the Washington foreign policy establishment had hoped he would keep the president from making rash decisions.
John Bolton, who will take office April 9, has met regularly with President Trump to discuss foreign policy. Alex Wong/Getty Images
Yet the president and the general, who had never met before Mr. Trump interviewed General McMaster for the post, had little chemistry from the start, and often clashed behind the scenes.
General McMaster’s serious, somber style and preference for order made him an uncomfortable fit with a president whose style is looser, and who has little patience for the detail and nuance of complex national security issues. They had differed on policy, with General McMaster cautioning against ripping up the nuclear deal with Iran without a strategy for what would come next, and tangling with Mr. Trump over the strategy for American forces in Afghanistan.
Their tensions seeped into public view in February, when General McMaster said at a security conference in Munich that the evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was beyond dispute. The statement drew a swift rebuke from the president, who vented his anger on Twitter.
“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,” Mr. Trump wrote, using his campaign nickname for Hillary Clinton. “Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!”
Mr. Trump selected General McMaster last February after pushing out Michael T. Flynn, his first national security adviser, for not being forthright about a conversation with Russia’s ambassador at the time. (Mr. Flynn has since pleaded guilty of making a false statement to the F.B.I. and is cooperating with Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.)
General McMaster carried out a slow-rolling purge of hard-liners at the National Security Council who had been installed by Mr. Flynn and were allied ideologically with Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, earning the ire of conservatives who complained that his moves represented the foreign policy establishment reasserting itself over a president who had promised a different approach.
General McMaster’s position at the White House had been seen as precarious for months, and he had become the target of a concerted campaign by hard-line activists outside the administration who accused him of undermining the president’s agenda and pushed for his ouster, even creating a social media effort branded with a #FireMcMaster hashtag.
Last summer, Mr. Trump balked at a plan General McMaster presented to bolster the presence of United States forces in Afghanistan, although the president ultimately embraced a strategy that would require thousands more American troops.
General McMaster had been among the most hard-line administration officials in his approach to North Korea, publicly raising the specter of a “preventive war” against the North. He was among those who expressed concerns about Mr. Trump’s abrupt decision this month to meet Kim Jong-un, according to a senior official.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjvbEkvpNM0
ODShowtime
03-22-2018, 07:30 PM
NEOCON nostalgia! This news is so bad it made me remember the Front Line! Time to invest in shotguns and canned food!
Rock on Ford.
Terry
03-22-2018, 07:39 PM
Bolton.
Wonderful. :rolleyes:
John Bolton was part of the effort to mislead the US into the disastrous Iraq war and has supported military action against North Korea and Iran. He was too extreme to be confirmed as UN ambassador in 2005 and is absolutely the wrong person to be national security advisor now.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 22, 2018
publicintegrity.org (https://www.publicintegrity.org/2018/03/20/21623/john-bolton-eyed-trump-post-leads-super-pac-employed-cambridge-analytica)
John Bolton — eyed for Trump post — leads super PAC that employed Cambridge Analytica
By Carrie Levine
March 20, 2018
If President Donald Trump taps John Bolton as his next national security adviser, the former U.N. ambassador will be forced to reckon with the fate of his political empire, which includes a super PAC that has spent heavily on the services of embattled voter profiling company Cambridge Analytica.
Bolton’s super PAC has paid Cambridge Analytica more than $1.1 million since 2014 for “research” and “survey research,” a Center for Public Integrity analysis of campaign finance filings shows.
So far during the 2018 election season, Bolton has announced his super PAC will spend $1 million boosting Republican Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson in Wisconsin. Nicholson is challenging incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat.
Bolton’s super PAC spent roughly $2.5 million during the 2016 election cycle to support the bids of Republican U.S. Senate candidates, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The press release announcing support for Nicholson said that “Ambassador Bolton looks to increase those contributions for the 2018 midterm elections.”
Bolton — eyed to replace Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security adviser should McMaster step down or be fired — would be the latest in a string of Trump administration insiders with strong links to big-spending, conservative political groups largely funded by an elite group of megadonors. It’s a list that includes Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to the president; White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short; and Nick Ayers, the vice president’s chief of staff.
Bolton, who visited the White House last week, would also be the latest Trump official with ties to GOP megadonor Robert Mercer, a key supporter of Trump’s presidential bid and investor in Cambridge Analytica who is also the largest donor to Bolton’s super PAC.
“All of this makes clear that the Supreme Court was wrong in Citizens United when it unleashed big money in our elections with the promise it would be independent of candidates and office holders,” said Paul Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation at the nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause.
Bolton’s super PAC was among the first political committees to report paying Cambridge Analytica, the voter profiling company in which Mercer is an investor.
Last week, the New York Times and The Observer of London jointly reported that Cambridge Analytica had misused data gleaned from the profiles of tens of millions of Facebook users.
Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica and its parent company, citing concerns that it had failed to delete improperly obtained data. Cambridge Analytica said the data was improperly obtained by a contractor and has been deleted. It also said none of that data “was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign.”
But the statement did not specifically address whether the data was used to provide services to other political committees that retained Cambridge Analytica, including Bolton’s super PAC.
In a related matter, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election, in December asked Cambridge Analytica to turn over emails of any employees who worked on Trump’s presidential campaign.
Cambridge Analytica did not respond to questions from the Center for Public Integrity. Bolton did not respond to an interview request submitted through his PAC, or to questions regarding whether he was investigating whether Cambridge Analytica used improperly obtained data in its work for his super PAC.
As of Feb. 28, Bolton’s two political groups — the John Bolton Super PAC and John Bolton PAC — reported $3.6 million in combined cash on hand, with roughly $3 million of that amount in the super PAC’s coffers, according to disclosures filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.
Seshmeister
03-23-2018, 10:59 AM
You would be better with Ramsay Bolton.
Another war is now inevitable, the only question is where.
Hell, even Michael Bolton would be better. That guy can actually be funny when he's not "singing"
rawstory.com (https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/watch-john-bolton-praises-new-era-freedom-putin-bizarre-propaganda-video-russian-gun-group/)
John Bolton praises 'new era of freedom' under Putin in bizarre propaganda video for Russian gun group
Martin Cizmar
22 Mar 2018 at 10:44 ET
Donald Trump on Thursday named John Bolton as his new national security adviser.
Bolton was formerly George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations. Not only did Bolton lie about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction—he maintains that he was right to do so.
Bolton is also an ardent authoritarian who has told other Trump staffers to “toe the line or resign,” and he led an organization that employed disgraced data firm Cambridge Analytica.
Bolton also has ties to Russia. In 2013, as NPR reports, Bolton saluted “a new era of Freedom for the Russian people” under Putin in a video made for The Right to Bear Arms, a Russian gun-rights group launched by Putin ally Alexander Torshin.
Bolton wanted Russia to loosen gun laws to “better allow for the protection of mothers, children and families.”
“Good luck on your journey into a new century of freedom,” Bolton said.
“This right has assured Americans of their freedom to engage in two critical acts of survival: the gathering of food and the protection of their families by all appropriate means,” Bolton says. “Our right bear arms does not detail what types of arms those may be, an important point that allows for both the evolution of technology and the evolution of responses to threats not then or yet imagined.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPM-FXHj5gA
Nickdfresh
03-23-2018, 01:29 PM
Welcome to the Mueller Investigation, Bolton!
Nickdfresh
03-23-2018, 01:30 PM
Hell, even Michael Bolton would be better. That guy can actually be funny when he's not "singing"
https://i.imgflip.com/okqfr.jpg
"Why should I have to change my name? He's the one who SUCKS!!" :biggrin:
Nitro Express
03-23-2018, 08:10 PM
Yup "Grab her by the pussy" fake tan Trump replaced a drunk who called him an idiot with a Bushco chickenhawk. If you want to avoid getting into unnecessary wars and pull out of areas you have wasted money and troops in, Bolton is not the guy to bring aboard. But hey, he hates Iran and that's what counts. I'm sure orange man's son in law Jared Kushner made the recommendation. With Trump's nepotism, I'm sure Baron will be getting a cabinet position soon. Maybe after Bolton pisses Trump off that will be the next replacement.
Nitro Express
03-23-2018, 08:27 PM
The Trump Administration is about as steady as Eddie Van Halen on meth and Smoking Loon. I wonder if Trump fires his people like he did on his television show? Meanwhile is Mr. Magoo in the Department of Justice actually going to arrest a real criminal or is gramps going to waste all his time going after medical marijuana? All I know is the Trump White House runs like they are smoking plenty of it.
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/ows_152184671217675.jpg
Nitro Express
03-24-2018, 05:05 AM
Well it's safe to say Donald Trump has just been adopted by the Bush family. I wonder how many other Bushbots Trump will bring in? It's like having fucking Jeb as president.
jacksmar
03-24-2018, 07:26 AM
And we see again the limp wrists trade their rainbow bracelets for their mouths.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cair-condemns-naming-of-islamophobe-john-bolton-as-white-house-national-security-adviser-300618575.html
CAIR Condemns Naming of Islamophobe John Bolton as White House National Security Adviser
WASHINGTON, March 22, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, tonight condemned President Trump's move to replace White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster with John Bolton, a notorious Islamophobe who as a history of ties to anti-Muslim extremists and organizations.
"We urge Americans across the political spectrum to speak out against the appointment of John Bolton as White House National Security Adviser because of his ties to anti-Muslim bigots and his promotion of extremist views that will inevitably harm our nation and that could lead to unnecessary and counterproductive international conflicts," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Bolton is the last person who should be entrusted with this critically-important position, which requires sound judgment and a fact-based approach to national security matters."
The 80's want their policy back...
Nickdfresh
03-24-2018, 11:45 AM
Did someone say "trade"?
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/72/21/11/15274562/3/920x920.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuQt0KDRdNE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFnpkrFjGiM
Seshmeister
03-24-2018, 08:20 PM
Yup "Grab her by the pussy" fake tan Trump replaced a drunk who called him an idiot with a Bushco chickenhawk. If you want to avoid getting into unnecessary wars and pull out of areas you have wasted money and troops in, Bolton is not the guy to bring aboard. But hey, he hates Iran and that's what counts. I'm sure orange man's son in law Jared Kushner made the recommendation. With Trump's nepotism, I'm sure Baron will be getting a cabinet position soon. Maybe after Bolton pisses Trump off that will be the next replacement.
Well it's at least a little bit encouraging to see someone get that at this point this is way beyond right v left. R v D politics there is some really seriously scary stuff going on at this point and the best hope for us is that there are some sane Republican people in Congress with guts.
Seshmeister
03-24-2018, 08:21 PM
Of course the massive irony is remembering when everyone was complaining that our political parties were all too similar and middle of the road.
That was only a few years ago....
Terry
03-24-2018, 09:52 PM
Bolton has a consistent approach to any problem, which is that of unilateral US military intervention to solve it. The walking illustration of the saying that if you only have a hammer in your tool belt, everything looks like a nail.
Etienne
03-24-2018, 10:20 PM
https://www.cartoonmovement.com/depot/cartoons/2018/03/24/john_bolton_donald_trump__marian_kamensky.jpeg
Nitro Express
03-24-2018, 10:40 PM
Of course the massive irony is remembering when everyone was complaining that our political parties were all too similar and middle of the road.
That was only a few years ago....
I think factions in both parties are able to be influenced by money or blackmail. Either one will get us in a war. If Hillary won we would have expanded the war in Syria. With Trump turning on his base with this budget approval and bringing Bolton on board there are definitely some things to be concerned about.
Nitro Express
03-24-2018, 10:43 PM
Bolton has a consistent approach to any problem, which is that of unilateral US military intervention to solve it. The walking illustration of the saying that if you only have a hammer in your tool belt, everything looks like a nail.
That's the neocon mindset. They actually thought the US Military could take seven middle east countries and transform them. That was Donald Rumsfeld. These people have cost us trillions of dollars and thousands of lives and have nothing to show for it. These are the type of people you don't let anywhere near the White House.
Terry
03-25-2018, 08:03 AM
That's the neocon mindset. They actually thought the US Military could take seven middle east countries and transform them. That was Donald Rumsfeld. These people have cost us trillions of dollars and thousands of lives and have nothing to show for it. These are the type of people you don't let anywhere near the White House.
With Bolton, even W Bush was smart enough to be wary of him.
Trump gives all these people like Bolton a second life, and Bolton's instincts mirror Trump's.
Trump wants to get into a military conflict so badly, and Bolton will enable him to get into that conflict...badly.
Nitro Express
03-25-2018, 02:56 PM
Bolton: You don't need a wall Mr. President. You are a developer and I get that you mind is set on developing big projects but there's a better way. Just kill who wants to come in. We can use chemical weapons on the Mexicans. They are cheap and can be delivered by our navy and air force. Also Mexico has wonderful beaches and really is some great real estate we should include into the United States. It's never fully developed because of the Mexican people so we would be doing Mexico a favor by just by getting rid of the Mexicans.
Trump: See John. That's why I brought you on. You are a strategic thinker and a man who likes action! Now get rid of that damn mustache. You look like you have a dust broom under your nose.
Nitro Express
03-25-2018, 02:58 PM
With Bolton, even W Bush was smart enough to be wary of him.
Trump gives all these people like Bolton a second life, and Bolton's instincts mirror Trump's.
Trump wants to get into a military conflict so badly, and Bolton will enable him to get into that conflict...badly.
Yeah but the alternative was Hillary. She has the warmonger mindset as well. Probably more than Trump does.
Nitro Express
03-25-2018, 03:12 PM
https://youtu.be/mpDqMWhkEm8
The truth of the matter is Hillary was just another Bush. Why would we want to go to war with Iran since it's on the edge of having a revolution and a large portion of the citizens there want a western styled democracy. Bolton is bomb Iran and Hillary is bomb Iran. Remember the neocons wanted to take out seven middle east countries and thought this could easily be done. These people have never served in the military and have no military strategic training. They vastly overestimate what our military forces can do and fail to realize taking over a country is far from easy. They also tend to want to have another war to fix the previous failed one. So really the whole Democrat vs Republican debate is null and void. You get the same foreign policy with either. People were hoping because Trump is an outsider he might break this bomb bomb bomb Iran fixation we were on. We will see what happens but Trump admits he's a shark and he's brought Bolton in. Let's say Trump is using the crazy man strategy Eisenhower was fond of. You make your enemies think you are more crazy than them. Bringing Bolton in would be brilliant. They really would think you would attack. This is how Trump brought North Korea into negotiations. Kim thinks Trump is crazy enough to go for a first strike. Maybe Trump projecting he's nuts will actually create more diplomacy. Haha! We can only hope.
Nitro Express
03-25-2018, 03:24 PM
But after watching all this stuff unfold it's pretty obvious the intelligence agencies are who have the real power in this country. They have their own budgets and they got the dirt on everyone. The politicians really are a joke. Most of them can be controlled with bribes or blackmail. The government does what it wants regardless of what the citizens want. So the whole thing is out of control.
The real agenda here is that both Cheeto and NuttyYahoo are facing impeachment (or whatever it's called in Israel) due to their sleazy & criminal activities. The only thing that would save both their asses is a war. Cheeto himself would probably take any old war, but NuttyYahoo wants the one he has been obsessed with his entire adult life.
And that would be Iran.
The PNAC agenda began with NuttyYahoo's first term as Israel's PM (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1438.htm). He was very much involved in creating their sick policies, and you can bet your ass he wants to see that agenda completed while he is still able to do it.
Bolton & Cheeto would settle for North Korea, but that's no advantage to NuttyYahoo, as NK isn't remotely capable of being falsely painted as a "threat" to Israel.
Kristy
03-25-2018, 04:39 PM
No one cares, slave FORD there is way too many people on the planet as it is. About 4-5 billion must die for economic prosperity to foster. Bolton and Trump will get us there.
If we're going to start mass killing of people, let's start with anybody named Trump, Bush, Koch, Walton, Romney, and throw in the Hiltons just because of Paris.
Etienne
03-25-2018, 06:14 PM
Why would we want to go to war with Iran since it's on the edge of having a revolution and a large portion of the citizens there want a western styled democracy.
PERVERSION :drum:
Etienne
03-25-2018, 06:30 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Io1uxHgK7k
Terry
03-25-2018, 09:38 PM
https://youtu.be/mpDqMWhkEm8
The truth of the matter is Hillary was just another Bush. Why would we want to go to war with Iran since it's on the edge of having a revolution and a large portion of the citizens there want a western styled democracy. Bolton is bomb Iran and Hillary is bomb Iran. Remember the neocons wanted to take out seven middle east countries and thought this could easily be done. These people have never served in the military and have no military strategic training. They vastly overestimate what our military forces can do and fail to realize taking over a country is far from easy. They also tend to want to have another war to fix the previous failed one. So really the whole Democrat vs Republican debate is null and void. You get the same foreign policy with either. People were hoping because Trump is an outsider he might break this bomb bomb bomb Iran fixation we were on. We will see what happens but Trump admits he's a shark and he's brought Bolton in. Let's say Trump is using the crazy man strategy Eisenhower was fond of. You make your enemies think you are more crazy than them. Bringing Bolton in would be brilliant. They really would think you would attack. This is how Trump brought North Korea into negotiations. Kim thinks Trump is crazy enough to go for a first strike. Maybe Trump projecting he's nuts will actually create more diplomacy. Haha! We can only hope.
A lot to unpack in that statement.
Doubtless Hillary has hawkish inclinations. Had she been elected, I tend to think she'd have been far less reticent about using the armed forces on a larger scale than, say, her husband was.
The crazy man strategy - if memory serves - was one that Nixon used, rather than Eisenhower. Eisenhower being far more tempered about military intervention once he was elected. I tend to doubt Trump is using a crazy man strategy, but is reacting more emotionally than anything else, specifically to North Korea. I think Trump WOULD (and still well could) actually attack North Korea: from what I've seen, heard and read of the man, I tend to think it isn't a bluff. The proposed negotiations were underway before Bolton's name was even being publicly floated. I'm certainly with you in that - crazy, emotional, impulsive, whatever - if what Trump does works, so much the better.
In terms of Iran, North Korea and whoever else developing nuclear weapons, the ultimate problem is that the US hasn't seriously led the world in trying to disarm or divest itself of these weapons in decades. Obama and now Trump proposing a trillion dollar upgrade to our arsenal: for what? It's just a failure of humanity having over the last 70 odd years accepting the existence of these weapons. Short of leading global disarmament talks, the United States - having the most such weapons in the world - isn't really in a position to tell other nations not to develop them.
Nitro Express
03-25-2018, 11:10 PM
The US has actually made more nations want to get a nuke. When leaders look at what happened to Saddam Hussain and Muammar Gaddafi. They are like hell yeah we want nukes. That way the US won't invade and overthrow us. So yeah when a country wants nukes, I get it.
Nitro Express
03-25-2018, 11:18 PM
The real agenda here is that both Cheeto and NuttyYahoo are facing impeachment (or whatever it's called in Israel) due to their sleazy & criminal activities. The only thing that would save both their asses is a war. Cheeto himself would probably take any old war, but NuttyYahoo wants the one he has been obsessed with his entire adult life.
And that would be Iran.
The PNAC agenda began with NuttyYahoo's first term as Israel's PM (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1438.htm). He was very much involved in creating their sick policies, and you can bet your ass he wants to see that agenda completed while he is still able to do it.
Bolton & Cheeto would settle for North Korea, but that's no advantage to NuttyYahoo, as NK isn't remotely capable of being falsely painted as a "threat" to Israel.
Bibi has a legitimate worry since Israel does prosecute it's corrupt leaders and yeah he would start a war as a distraction. In the US nothing happens to political criminals. Look at all the evidence against the Clintons and Obamas and the people in the FBI. Hell Louis Lerner of the IRS never had anything happen to her. The more this Russian collusion narrative goes on the more it's obvious there isn't any substance to it. What it has exposed is the Obama Administration used cooked up evidence to get FISA warrants to spy on a presidential candidate. Now Trump can fuck all the pornstars he wants and have them piss every bed in NYC but the fact is the Obama Administration and the FBI were breaking the law and nothing has happened to them yet. They are all still running around.
Etienne
03-26-2018, 07:00 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW_iAC8AJFw
It seems Bolton (3 months ago) had a more rational moment.
He said back then that a US Force engagement isn’t necessary.
Bolton knows well that in Iran a strong anti-regime movement exists.
Could this opposition overthrow the regime in Iran without international intervention?
What do you think?
Terry
03-26-2018, 07:23 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW_iAC8AJFw
It seems Bolton (3 months ago) had a more rational moment.
He said back then that a US Force engagement isn’t necessary.
Bolton knows well that in Iran a strong anti-regime movement exists.
Could this opposition overthrow the regime in Iran without international intervention?
What do you think?
Who knows...perhaps.
The problem with 'international intervention' is that all too often it means the US shoulders the majority of the burden for the intervention.
I'll tell you one thing I agree with Bolton about, which is the overall ineffectiveness of the UN.
Well, Bolton's idea of a "non-interventionist" regime change isn't exactly good either, since Bolton is a known promoter of the terrorist Mujahideen-e Khalq (M.E.K.) An association which even his fellow right wing conservatives have called him out on......
theamericanconservative.com (http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/john-bolton-cheerleader-for-the-mek/)
John Bolton, Cheerleader for the MEK
Daniel Larison
3-23-18
Robin Wright reviews Bolton’s awful record, including his enthusiasm for the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK):
Bolton has also long backed a cultlike Iranian opposition group, the Mujahideen-e Khalq, or M.E.K., which has been held responsible for the murder of multiple American military personnel, a kidnapping attempt of a U.S. Ambassador, and other violent attacks in Iran before the 1979 revolution. The M.E.K. was based in Iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussein, who provided arms, financial assistance, and political support. In 1997, it was among the first groups cited on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. It wasn’t removed until 2012. Bolton spoke at an M.E.K. rally last year—for the eighth time—in Paris. Other speakers at M.E.K. rallies have reportedly been paid tens of thousands of dollars for their appearances.
There have been quite a few former officials, politicians, and retired military officers that have been cheerleading for the MEK over the last few years, but Bolton is one of their oldest and most consistent American supporters. It is a measure of how terrible his judgment is and how fanatical his desire for regime change in Iran is that he has become a reliable booster of a group that most Iranians despise. The MEK may not be on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations any longer, but it is still a disreputable and despicable group. It is considered a totalitarian cult for good reason. Elizabeth Rubin wrote about them and their American fan club back in 2011:
As a senior State Department official told me, “They are the best financed and organized, but they are so despised inside Iran that they have no traction.” Iranian democracy activists say the group, if it had had the chance, could have become the Khmer Rouge of Iran.
“They are considered traitors and killers of Iranian kids,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Mujahedeen Khalq’s status on the terrorist list is under review. “They are so unpopular that we think any gesture of support to them would disqualify and discredit us as being interested in democratic reform.”
Trump’s rhetoric about supporting the Iranian people was always empty, but promoting someone with Bolton’s views and connections to the highest level of government shows just how disingenuous that rhetoric is. Whenever Bolton talks about supporting “the Iranian opposition,” these cultists are the people he’s talking about. When he talks about regime change in Iran, he thinks that these are the people that should take over. To date, no American MEK booster has risen as high in the government, but now the group will have an admirer advising the president on a daily basis.
Seshmeister
03-26-2018, 10:27 PM
The 80's want their policy back...
You have all these really old white men running your country and the sad thing is the total lack of fucking wisdom or learning anything at all in their lives. Bolton wants to do Iraq again in Iran and Trump is repeating Nancy Reagan's shitty drugs policy.
Both absolutely disastrous failures.
Terry
03-27-2018, 08:51 AM
You have all these really old white men running your country and the sad thing is the total lack of fucking wisdom or learning anything at all in their lives. Bolton wants to do Iraq again in Iran and Trump is repeating Nancy Reagan's shitty drugs policy.
Both absolutely disastrous failures.
Yeah, but for the most part we've always had really old white men running our country. It's this particular strain (or ideological bent) of old white men that is worrisome.
I mean, Jeff Sessions is still obsessed with marijuana use? Seems VERY 1980s. Bolton is another in a long line of chicken hawks who wants to diddle around in the Middle East: to the extent that targeting Iran has to do with Israel, I'm not quite sure.
Nitro Express
03-27-2018, 02:52 PM
Who knows...perhaps.
The problem with 'international intervention' is that all too often it means the US shoulders the majority of the burden for the intervention.
I'll tell you one thing I agree with Bolton about, which is the overall ineffectiveness of the UN.
I hear they have fabulous lunches at the UN. It might be worth keeping if you can go to some of the luncheons.
Nitro Express
03-27-2018, 02:56 PM
Yeah, but for the most part we've always had really old white men running our country. It's this particular strain (or ideological bent) of old white men that is worrisome.
I mean, Jeff Sessions is still obsessed with marijuana use? Seems VERY 1980s. Bolton is another in a long line of chicken hawks who wants to diddle around in the Middle East: to the extent that targeting Iran has to do with Israel, I'm not quite sure.
It's even worse. We have old white men running things and fighting each other. Washington is like an assisted living home full of geriatrics out of their fucking minds. Trump is in his 70's thinking he's still 18 and he called that old cuss Session Mr. Magoo. Then you have Nancy Pelosi babbling on like some old hag who's got dementia. She's not an old white male but she does think she's got a pretty big dick between her legs. At this point I have no idea why we have a federal government. It really doesn't do anything but get in trouble and waste lots of money. Maybe California should just go it's own way. They can try their socialist experiment then of course Texas will go it's own way and things will break up and people will side with whatever ideology they want. In the end it will either work or fail but this business in Washington is just an ongoing joke.
Nitro Express
03-27-2018, 03:07 PM
I would say the US is ready for another civil war but the problem is the citizens are too fat and lazy to actually carry it out. They are just going to get fatter and bitch about things over the internet. Eventually we will get hit by a mass coronal ejection or EMP attack from some rogue state and having the power grid go down will be the end of us. Then we can be added to a long list of ancient civilizations that just disappeared but left a lot of shit behind. Oh without cooling water all the nuclear reactors will melt down and explode. That will be fun. The good news is we won't have dumb politicians to bitch about.
Seshmeister
03-27-2018, 08:07 PM
https://thumb.ibb.co/g5D2vS/Boltception01e.gif
Terry
03-27-2018, 09:22 PM
It's even worse. We have old white men running things and fighting each other. Washington is like an assisted living home full of geriatrics out of their fucking minds. Trump is in his 70's thinking he's still 18 and he called that old cuss Session Mr. Magoo. Then you have Nancy Pelosi babbling on like some old hag who's got dementia. She's not an old white male but she does think she's got a pretty big dick between her legs. At this point I have no idea why we have a federal government. It really doesn't do anything but get in trouble and waste lots of money. Maybe California should just go it's own way. They can try their socialist experiment then of course Texas will go it's own way and things will break up and people will side with whatever ideology they want. In the end it will either work or fail but this business in Washington is just an ongoing joke.
Mmmm, not quite too sure about all of that.
It's fashionable to say the federal government doesn't do anything but waste money and get things wrong. I don't agree with that. There are still many programs and agencies in place that can and do perform useful services, despite the lack of funding. Would we better off leaving most of those programs and agencies in the hands of the individual states? Maybe.
I certainly would agree that overall the elected representatives on a national level these days aren't exactly an inspiring bunch, regardless of party, in terms of my being wowed or overawed at their competence. There are some serious minded people on both sides of the aisle.
Terry
03-27-2018, 09:26 PM
I would say the US is ready for another civil war but the problem is the citizens are too fat and lazy to actually carry it out. They are just going to get fatter and bitch about things over the internet. Eventually we will get hit by a mass coronal ejection or EMP attack from some rogue state and having the power grid go down will be the end of us. Then we can be added to a long list of ancient civilizations that just disappeared but left a lot of shit behind. Oh without cooling water all the nuclear reactors will melt down and explode. That will be fun. The good news is we won't have dumb politicians to bitch about.
I keep thinking about EMP attacks lately, or destabilizing grids via hacking. I dunno why I am...particularly the grids: it just seems that would be an efficient way for an enemy to strike at us without resorting to an armed conflict. And I 100% agree that once the grids went down and the power went off, we'd be fucked. Like, I wonder of what has been happening in Atlanta is just foreign hackers doing stress tests on our cyber infrastructure, probing for weak points.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwstxoWS7ak
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.