John Bolton, US Councilor for National Security, wants to "get the Russians out" of the American hemisphere

"John Bolton thirsty for blood": with this title New Yorker he published a very long profile of the US National Security Advisor. After having gone through the career of the White House's expert in international politics, the text interpreted the recent visit by the Conservative to Miami at the launch of the campaign for the re-election of Donald Trump in 2020. With an aggregate: the shadow of a potential military intervention in Venezuela.

"Latin America has not been Bolton's lasting interest," wrote Dexter Filkins, the company's prestigious weekly and author of the award-winning book The war forever, on Islamic fundamentalism. "But for the moment, it's a where their motivations are aligned with those of Trump"

In Florida, where the official spoke to veterans of the unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba in 1961, live "close to a million and a half inhabitants in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua", countries to which Bolton unified with the phrase "troika of tyranny" and was applauded. "With the 2020 elections on the horizon, the The prospect of attracting voters may create a strong temptation to launch a military intervention", according to the text.

"The electoral college accounts practically demand it," he told Reed Hundt magazine. Former Bolton clbadmate at Yale Law School and former head of Bill Clinton. And a source "familiar with Bolton's way of thinking" emphasized "another motivation: Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. "Who controls the oil fields, the United States or Russia?""

The magazine noted that, Although Bolton and Trump do not think the same way, the situation is favorable for imposing their ideology."Trump's national security team is so small – there's no permanent secretary of defense, there's no secretary for Homeland Security, he's not there." there is no ambbadador at United Nations (UN)– Bolton could have extraordinary freedom in a crisis"

In front of former members of the 2506 Brigade, at the Biltmore Hotel in Miami, Bolton said: "The Trump Government Will Never Give Them Back!", In Indirect Reference to Democrat John F. Kennedyfor whom lack of air support, anti-Castro believers believe they have lost. "We will always protect them." And in front of them, he remembered that the Monroe Doctrine "He is healthy."

L & # 39; idea, "America for the Americans", by John Quincy Adams and presented by President James Monroe in 1823, Argued that the interference of Europe in the affairs of the American continent would be considered a hostility allowing American intervention. And Bolton said New Yorker: "It does not mean armed force. That's the corollary of Roosevelt [de 1904]. I did not invoke it, not yet. "But, he added," all the options are on the table. "

When Filkins questioned the manager about the strength of a country that poses no risk to the security of the United States, "he claimed that Venezuela was dangerous because it allowed Russia to set foot in the region"He added that in Venezuela there were 20,000 Cubans, "who are the surrogates of the Russians"and at least 100 Russian soldiers. "To get the Russians out, we have to change the regime."

Bolton is not an advocate for multilateral institutions or international agreements. "He has a Hobbesian view of the universe: life is mean, wild and short"A former US manager who worked with the consultant told the magazine. "There are a lot of rogue people who want to hurt us, if the interests of our country align with those of another country, it is an ephemeral phenomenon, and our interests diverge to each time, they betray us. "

According to a Western diplomat based in Washington DC, "the problem for Bolton is that Trump does not want war. He does not want to launch military operations. "But, said the counselor to the reporter, the policy is more complex:" The president knows what my position is on all issues because I saw myself on Fox News"where Bolton was a columnist." You have to know from the beginning that The president's prospects are not always those of a. When you enter a government, you know you will not win every time. "

And at other times, there will be coincidences. "When Bolton moved into his office, in the same hall as the president's, He posted a framed photo of Trump's decree canceling the nuclear deal with Iran, one of the main achievements of President's international politics [Barack] Obama, which Bolton, a fierce critic of Iran, has described as execrable. "

Bolton has a long conservative experience, from his Yale, when stand out among the young to be one of the few who was in favor of the Vietnam War. Fireman son and housewife, he felt like a toad from another well of the elite university, like his neighbor dormitory students, Clarence Thomas. Since then, he is a friend of the current member of the Supreme Court.

As a summer job, Bolton was a member of Richard Nixon's vice president's officeSpiro Agnew, who resigned following allegations of corruption. He graduated as a lawyer at the beginning of the neoliberal wave of Ronald Reagan, and settled in Washington. As a champion of this cause, he was co-author of the argument against the economic limits of election campaigns: The cap, it was to impede the freedom of expression. Justice gave him the reason and then launched "a flood of private money into the political system".

When Florida defined the 2000 elections, by which George W. Bush He came to the White House, went to the state to oversee the process. As a man of Vice President Dick Cheney, has been appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. So began "a public crusade against the country's enemies, real and supposed."

In 2002 accused Cuba of developing a biological weapons programand when an intelligence badyst from the State Department told him that there was no information to prove it, he got angry. In 2003, he had another internal confrontation blame the Syrian government, which at that time was cooperating with valuable information about Al Qaeda.

He is famousconflict with the first director of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, José BustaniWho was about to achieve this Iraq Adopt the treaty shortly before the invasion. The Brazilian diplomat was rejected by US pressure. Although it was found that Iraq did not have weapons of mbad destruction, Bolton said in 2005: "I think the decision to oust Saddam [Hussein] It was ok. "

This year has been proposed as US Ambbadador to the UN; the difficulties for the Senate to approve made Bush will name him temporarily while the camera was not in session. Bolton spent 16 months representing his country in front of the international body he often talked about in a disconcerting way: "If your head office lost 10 floors, it would not make much difference," he said. he declares. He counted this time in his book Abandonment is not an option (Abandonment is not an option). It was the Promoter of the First Economic Sanctions of the Security Council Against North Korea.

When the Bush administration reduced sanctions, Bolton complained in a column of opinion: "Nothing can erase the ineffable sadness of a presidency that, like that- here, knows a complete intellectual collapse ". Bush replied that he did not consider Bolton as "credible" and that he regretted spending political capital on him.

Bolton was Fox chronicler for a decadea, "often arguing that the United States should act urgently to counter external threats," summarized Filkins in his note. "He spoke in favor ofthe soldiers go to the Iranian training camps ("It is neither provocative nor preventative, it is completely in reaction"), a change of regime by force in North Korea ("the only solution") and measures of sanction against Vladimir Putin for hosting intelligence intelligence Edward Snowden ("We have to do things that cause pain").

Between 2013 and 2018, while writing more than one column of opinion per week on average, it was president of the Gatestone Institute, "who describes himself", he quoted New Yorker– as "dedicated to educating the public about what the media does not report", for example "an impending jihadist takeover in Europe". According to NBC News, at least four of Gatestone's articles were retweeted by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency Likely to intervene in the 2016 US elections.

Bolton created his political action committee, the John Bolton SuperPAC, to raise money to support Republican candidates (he thought he was one himself). Your main donor was Robert Mercer, the billionaire who helped found Cambridge Analytica, the consultant who used the information of about 87 million Facebook users, without their permission, to create electoral profiles. Bolton also paid for the psychographics sold by the firm.

As Head of the Subcommittee on International Affairs of the National Rifle Association (NRA), in 2013, gave a videoconference for a similar group from Russia, the right to carry weapons. "The conference seems to have been linked to the Kremlin campaign to influence politically to powerful groups in the United States, "according to the magazine. It was organized by Maria Butina ", who has just been sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to infiltrate the NRA for Putin's government.

Unlike most national security advisers in history, Bolton has a lot of visibility. A former national security official said for his profile: "Trump feels aligned with Bolton, he speaks loudly, he's a hawk, that's what Trump likes.". However, at first he did not like whiskers, perhaps the most characteristic feature of the expert's face, nor his warlike enthusiasm.

Bolton waited maintain the military presence in Syria (and managed to do it with different programs) and I did not want to meet Kim Jong-un because he does not think that negotiation with North Korea is possible. And although only China and Russia could really threaten the United States, Bolton has been obsessed with Iran for 20 years. When Filkins asked him why, he replied, "I'm worried about Iran, but about nuclear weapons."

But while Bolton tweeted a video for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, warning that he did not think he would have many birthdays to live in, in 2017 Trump made eight requests for meeting with Iranian President Hbadan Rouhani", he explained New Yorker. According to Karim Sadjadpour, an expert in Iran, "Bolton's worst nightmare is that Khamenei writes to Trump a letter in which he intends to meet and talk. Trump would not miss the opportunity"

Bolton, who he goes to bed at 9:30 in the evening and gets up at 3:30 At dawn, he does not meet the president: "I do not play golf with him, I see him in the morning and I talk to him at night," he summed up. In addition to providing a daily list of potential threats, participates in daily briefings that the owner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Gina Haspel, and Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence. Of the three, it is the one that communicates the best: he uses graphics, perforations, images.

"Bolton goes straight to the point very quickly," said a magazine official. "It's concise, and the president values ​​it". In the opinion of Mark Groombridge, collaborator of a consultant of his time with Bush, "thinks John:" as long as I can modify or soften the actions of the president, I will do it. "He's a true patriot, but I wonder how he's going to work every day, because deep down in his heart, he thinks the president is an idiot."