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John Bolton brought in to intimidate North Koreans: Analyst

US National Security Adviser designate John Bolton (R) is seen on the driveway of the White House on March 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump has appointed John Bolton his national security adviser in order to intimidate the North Koreans, says E. Michael Jones, a political analyst in Indiana.

Jones, a writer, former professor, media commentator and the current editor of the Culture Wars magazine, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday.

Last week, Trump announced Gen. H.R. McMaster's replacement, making Bolton -- a former US ambassador to the United Nations -- his third national security adviser, part of a shake-up that creates one of the most hawkish national security teams of any White House in recent history.

And earlier this month Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was forced to quit. CIA Director Mike Pompeo was named as Tillerson's replacement.

“The appointment of John Bolton as the national security adviser is shocking because there is no greater war monger than among the American elite than John Bolton. Trump was elected by repudiating the Iraq war, John Bolton is still on record as saying the Iraq war, which cost over a trillion dollar and thousands of lives, was a good idea,” Jones said.

“So it looks like a step forward, war it looks like a disaster on the horizon. However, that’s not the whole story here.  Just yesterday Trump announced that he was pulling troops out of Syria. Now this completely contradicts appointing John Bolton as the national security adviser,” he added.  

“If there is a flashpoint, if there’s a war that’s going to start, it’s going to start in Syria. And it’s going to start with those American troops who are basically trying to create basically an independent Kurdistan. If Trump removes those troops and he said this before he was going to do it, then that’s a considerable decrease in the likelihood of war,” he stated.  

“Part of the story here that’s emerging is Tillerson was hiding security, hiding information from Trump, from the Russians on Syria and Trump found out about that, and that’s the reason he fired him. Tillerson was also a member of a group, an Anglo-American group called The Pilgrims. And it became clear that he was functioning according to their plan book, and not Trump’s plan book.  And that’s probably why he was fired,” the analyst noted.

“As I said if troops get removed from Syria, that’s the end of a major threat for war. So what is the point then? How can we reconcile appointing Bolton and what’s going through in Syria?” Jones asked.  

“I think that we have to look at Trump’s personality, and also his book, The Art of Deal. Trump goes into, and I think this applies to the negotiations with North Korea. I think that Bolton was brought in to intimidate the North Koreans at this point. I don’t think it has anything to with Syria or Iran. I think the main issue right now is dealing with North Koreans,” he observed.  

“Trump may not use Bolton. He may not use him. He’s shown a kind of independence of his advisers. He has fired advisers on a weekly basis. He has fired his appointees. Virtually none of them have lasted more than a month so far. And there’s no reason to believe that John Bolton would be an exception to this rule,” he continued.

“But I think he has been brought in order to intimidate the North Koreans. And that’s the only way we can reconcile these contradictory moves on Trump’s part,” the commentator concluded.


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