Anyone have anything to say to John Bolton, the former UN ambassador and
I came across him on my trip to London this week and he has agreed to come on to next Sunday in DC, to talk about his vision for the world.
I would not normally use this space to promote a show but this is a genuine chance for you to speak to him so it seems reasonable.
I will also ask him about his political ambitions now that the book is done. The Senate maybe? The
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I would ask Mr. Bolton what he believes is the single, most important response the West should put forth when faced with the export of violence from the Middle East.
I would also ask whether he believes the Middle East, which seems to be suspended in time, can peacefully coexist with a forward looking West.
After reading Mr Bolton's book I am surprised that he is interested in any opinions or feedback from the British. He does nothing but slate the whole nation. In fact, he slates anything and anyone who does not confirm to his shockingly American centric, high handed and narrow viewpoints and understanding of other countries.
His world vision is like the World Series, only Americans participate and the rest of the world doesn't care.
He is a joke, but unfortunately a very damaging one to the rest of the world. He would have been a great firend of Joe McCarthy fifty years ago. The world is moving on - time for him to retire to Hicksville where it seems his heart belongs.
John Bolton would receive my vote for any position he may seek. He is exactly the type of forthright man needed for so long to lead his country. Yes, he arouses fear and ire from those who are interested only in keeping their cushy jobs of attempting to remake the world into some feather-headed utopia, who are nothing more than present day incarnations of Francisco Madero and Jimmy Carter.
Please do one of mine. :-)
Q1) Which of the current nominees for the presidency would Mr. Bolton most like to see in The White House?
Q2) Mr. Bolton recently told the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's Newsnight programme "I am not a neo-conservative". How would he best describe his political ideaology.
Q3) What does he think the future holds for the United Nations and does he think that British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was right to say that the world should look towards being made up of organisations like the EU?
Q4) What does he think of Tony Blair?
Q5) How does he view Britain's role in the world and, in particular, our relationship with the United States?
Many thanks.
Mr Bolton
I've seen many managerial bullys in my day; those that kick down and kiss up. How does it feel to fail as a direct result of your bullying reputation?
Mark
Carlsbad, California
He is a right wing lunatic who would bomb half the world back to the stone age given the chance and therefore i would not even want to engage with him. he is also badly in need of a haircut
Can you ask him why he is such a fascist.
Then ask him to sit a polygraph test and question him about 9/11
Yes, I have a question for the Goon.
Dear John, as an American I can state plainly that your tenure was a complet failure. You weren't able even to fulfill the most basic requirement of the job, namely not to upset America's allies.
How is it then that you continue to pontificate your imaginary crusade even when after you were ucerimoniously ditched and sent home.
Just when does someone like you take a deep breath and realign themselves with the real World.
Your current mindset is fanatical and divisive, and you continue to do harm promoting your unreal agenda.
When will you just shut up and get real?
Perhaps you could give him a copy of Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people"... Something that with his bullying style of operating he seems completely incapable of
Why dont we sit down with the Iranians? Lets cut the rethoric, lets talk over the real issues: Hamas, oil, Lebanon, and of course the nuclear issue.
Why Mr Bolton is adopting such a cavalier's attitude these days? He is very isolated and sounds even dangerous. Hasn't he learned any lessons from Iraq on poor diplomacy?
I have a question, do you feel the Ö÷²¥´óÐã is a fair and balanced news agency or do you feel Europeans are hypocrites who are knee-jerk anti-American spoiled children. Do you think we should start referring to the EU as a country, because they compare all US statistics unfavorably with much smaller countries so comparing us to the EU would give everyone a more accurate view of things, ie, that Euros are hideous, smug, self-rightous children, don't you loathe them?
I would ask Mr. Bolton whether he believes there is any way to deal with the violence being exported by the Middle East without resorting to violence?
Also, can the Middle East, which seems locked in time, deal peacefully with a West that is moving so fast ahead of it?
When the US acts unilaterally in its foreign policy, ignoring UN resolutions, to get what it wants, why does it suddenly fall into line when the shoe is on the other foot, and the US feels the need for "proctection" against or to promote its agenda?
Absolute hypocracy! It is then no wonder the UN is disfunctional.
I have one, Justin.
Mr. Bolton, where do you think your skills would be best used now?
You are busy blaming the Brits, the U.N., et al. Seems to me if the U.S. Neocons, of which you are one, were not so busy tilting at Windmills that enrich the U.S. Fatcats, you could help the U.N. do some good where they really need it, Burma, Darfor etc., come to mind. Instead y'all are buddies with the Scummy Saudis who like to whip & jail raped women, jail school teachers etc.
You really think the Saudis, the Chinese , N. Koreans etc., are ever gonna be friends with y'all? And yeah Iraq is not about OIL....get real!
Why is it that people like John Bolton get so much time on the mainsteam media when people like Noam Chomsky (recently voted the worlds top public intellectual) are forced to go on obscure Middle Eastern channels?
First, a clarification. Bolton may share many of the same political views at the neoconservatives, but he was a member of the conservative movement before the neoconservatives joined in.(And, while many paleoconservatives would agree in his distrust of the UN, they would vehemently disagree with many of his other foreign policy positions.)
My two questions would be:
1. In 2001, you wrote in the article, "The Risks and Weaknesses of the International Criminal Court from America's Perspective", that it would be "intolerable and unacceptable" for the US to be under the jurisdiction of a court such as the ICC because it would have allowed actions the US has done in the past to be classified as a war crime. Why should the US be immune from prosecutions for acts the US might do, if those acts are things the US has protested against in the past?
2. You have criticized Iran, Iraq (under Saddam) and Syria for attempting to acquire Weapons of Mass Destruction. However, you have also attempted to block enforcement of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (to prevent the US from being inspected) and worked to fire Jose Bustani from the OPCW. Why do you want to prevent some countries from acquiring WMD, but attempt to block other countries from (possibly) keeping them?
john ...which country next ???
If you can't tell there is something "not quite right" with this person just by looking at him, you're just not paying attention...
Why are the neo-cons fervently supporting a medieval Wahabite kingdom which is the undisputed craddle and the biggest sponsor of islamic terrorism? And in that respect far more dangerous than the Arabian playboy Saddam Hussain ever was? What's at play here?
I would like to ask Dr. Bolton why he oposes to make drugs (marihuana and cocaine in particular) legal? There are some many other ways to protect people susceptible to harm themselves with drugs... and the profits made by drug dealers are ruining my country...
John Bolton is something of a neo-fascist and is amongst some of the most right-wing politicians alive anywhere in the world today, in terms of his world view.
I have never understood why the Ö÷²¥´óÐã repeatedly invites him to participate in discussions - his views seem to be legitimised and taken seriously by Ö÷²¥´óÐã interviewers - when they really deserve to be thoroughly ridiculed. The only time I've seen this happen was during a Paxman interview on Newsnight.
I've long suspected that John Bolton is being used as a device by programme producers to generate reactionary anti-American sentiments.
I agree with the previous commenter that Noam Chomsky would make for a much more interesting participant.
Very interesting interview.
Mr. Bolton made a good point that EVERY COUNTRY in the UN acts in its own best interest. For countries to complain about the US' acting in its own best interest is unjustified and a bit naive.
The world acts as though it's "entitled" to something from the US. Perhaps if the world wants something from the US, it should earn it.
What is the world giving the US that entitles it to expect so much?
John,
1. Please explain to us how it has been in the best interest of the United States of America to kill several hundred thousand civilians, mainly in their own homes. Was it a mistake?
2. Doesn't the constitution seek to explicitly spearate religion and the work of government? Or were the founding father's wrong bout that?
3. Does he believe that perhaps the UN and other countries were in any way trying to prevent the United States from invading Iraq and Afghanistan because they thought is was explcitly against the interests of the United States.
4. Does he think that it is against the interests of Americans to continue with the stupid incarceration of noncombatants at Guantanamo?
5. Is it not fundamentaly un- or anti-american to tamper with the justice system through religious bias, or excusing american atrocities through Kangaroo courts and military tribunals whose outcome is preordained?
6. How does making all americans complicit in illegal war, and widespread corruption, and the perversion of the american system of justice play in a moral society.
5. Is it not pro-american, indeed a requirement of the american people to appose and defeat (through peaceful means) such corruption of the constitution and american values.
During the years of the Reagan administration there were dozens of young, extremely bright and articulate people with ideas they could express very well. The only problem was that once they opened their mouths it turned out that their ideas were so far over the top and they were so sure of being right that it made you wonder whether you were living in the same universe as they were. One was Elliot Abrams, another whose name I can't remember at the moment but spoke on strategic issues and US-USSR relations. A little black haired balding guy with a beard, he was absolutely frightening.
John Bolton is simply another one in a series, people who articulate and intellectually fill out the crack-brained ideas of their masters. I also forget who it was, somebody once said there is a great deal of money in telling the rich and powerful what they want to hear. So the only really interesting thing is, who is responsible for this person being here? Hopefully it's just a bunch of editors who have found a real live lunatic to put in front of people like the guy who bites the heads off chickens. The only difference is that this guy has a lot of powerful friends who could start a real war, and a big one at that, and all of Rush Limburger's dittoheads will rush out to vote for whoever he tells them to. When the blood starts to flow these people will have somehow vanished in the smoke.
Mr. Bolton,
Could a U.S. bombing of Iran trigger the Chinese invasion of Taiwan? Will the U.S. militarty prevent the Chinese from conquering Taiwan in the event of such a scenario?
one inch less of either side of your mustach and you even look like adolf.you are a disgrace for democracy and don't serve this country at all.
Any phsychotherapist would describe John Bolton as a man with a "mssive inferiority complex" and it shows.
His stints in various US Government Posts including, and particularly, the United Nations were unmitigated disasters
I look forward to reading Ambassador Bolton's book, but I am afraid it will be filled with the same old tired and worn diatribe of the Straussian Right that has infested the U.S. government. The world exists to some degree as a projection of the mind of those who perceive it; this nugget of wisdom certainly applies in the case of Ambassador Bolton and the rest of the neoconservatives who have isolated America from a world where the global balance of power is shifting---the EU is going to stabilize Europe and arrest its decline at least for a few more decades, the Far East is becoming the economic engine of world growth, and some Global South nations like Brazil are rapidly establishing themselves as major factors in the global future. The neoconservative vision is that of Pax Romana: the only peace exists where there is no resistance to the empire even if that means nobody exists to resist the empire. Thus, the neoconservative mind is eager to seek for the bogeyman where he does not exist---Saddam and the mythical WMD's and Iran and their pathetic attempts to enrich uranium isotopes inhospitable to making high weapons grade material for atomic weaponry. Such an attitude of aggression threatens others, who will seek to protect themselves at any cost knowing that the empire shows no regard for international law or morality in its might makes right foreign policy philosophy. In an interdependent world of globalized trade and transportation where all of humanity is coming together as one, unilateralism is devastating---especially when coming from the dominant power who created the world system.
American foreign policy would do well to return to the multilateral realism of Marshall and Kennan that found its most adept handler in the shrewdness of the wily, witty Dr. Kissinger. Bluster and force won't work anymore; and I hope for the sake of the stability of the new world order that realism in American politics makes a comeback soon! A sustained and public critique of the ideas and the political record of Bolton and others would do well for the future of the American Republic and international relations more generally.
I would ask him if he really thinks he looks authoritative with that ridiculous, grotesquely bushy white mustache; and does he really think that anyone could take him seriously as long as he resembles some bizarre caricature of a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler? (Come to think of it, that is exactly the way he acts, too!)
The main reason for the UN's inefectiveness on issues such as Darfur or Iran's nuclear program seems to be the pressence and influence of non-democratic powers on the security council. Would you agree the idea idea recently mentioned by John McCain of a League of Democracies? Which could have far more legitimacy on human rights, and may be more effective in imposing sanctions against rouge states.
Also would you support the expansion of NATO to include nations such as Australia, Japan and S. Korea?
6. I have always thought that to be a bad wig. I suppose it might be actual hair- in which case, yes a hair cut would be in order
Ask him why he thinks democracy is so unimportant that he only thinks other countries deserve it when it is in the strategic interests of the United States.
His recent interview on the PM programme was truly surreal, if not surprising.
There are many other questions I'd like to ask him, but they are too rude to print.
Mr Bolton, contrary to what an overwhelming majority of learned scholars and experienced, responsible politicians (very few of whom are crazy radicals, airyfairy liberals, or staunch anti-Americans) say on the matter, you asserted that - a direct quote -"international law is not law." Leaving aside for the moment the somewhat dubious historical pedigree of this statement, what purpose do you think this denail could possibly serve in today's world? Do you think it would help free America from foreign domination sheltered behind a wicked smokescreen? Trigger mass-scale englightenment by dispelling a mind-boggling global delusion? Show the people in power how to create a juster world with a stronger rule of law culture?
Your opinion of the UN has been duly noted...dysfunctional and full of problems. I couldn't agree more! It can't see the world for the USA! Maybe if we cut down the biggest trees in the forest, the global community might be able to see its way to a more promising (and peaceful) future. In the light of the signatories on Project for New American Century, I am quite certain that you would disagree with me?
Sending in Bolton was a calculated insult to the rest of the World.
On the HAVE YOUR SAY programme, Mr Bolton told an enormous lie. He stated [I paraphrase here, but this is exactly he stated] that at the time of the Marshall Plan for Europe after World War II, polls showed that there was hostility to America in France. Total absolute rubbish that defames the French nation and people. I hope there will be an official response from the French government to this slanderous lie. After all, this man is an American Ambassador Emeritus, and a considerable influence in the Republican Party and coterie of President Bush's inner circles of true believers. For the record, the relationship between France and the USA after World War II was excellent, and the French people, recently liberated from the depredations of the Nazis and of the Vichy regime, loved and adored America and Americans. This is something that lasted for decades, and only began to fade after Eisenhower put the kabosh on the Israeli/French/British invasion of Egypt. And Fade is the appropriate word, which applies to the French Government, and most certainly NOT to the French people.
Why can't Liberals spell their own language correctly? They have all the tools; spell-check, $20,000 per year education, omniscience, moral authority, a thorough understanding of other cultures that the rest of us don't.
Is it because they are lazy or too emotional to objectively think?
John, since your tenure was limited, and some say better served now in a book. How about doing the taxpayers a favor and stating for the record, you will use no funds for security protection, so you can get to know your fellow americans. Also, will you support what an internation court rules, you know the same people you worked with before.... Would you support their verdict in a war crimes tribunal. Thank You for your time. By the way, I do not think you look like Adolf Hitler, more like Brad Pitt.