Update: John Bolton Still Crazy

You have to hand it to the Wall Street Journal. At a time when the newspaper industry is desperately trying to remind America it's important and relevant, the WSJ has carved out a nice little niche for itself as a halfway house for discredited political figures. I think it's really humane of them. Their most recent charity case is John Bolton, America's former ambassador to the United Nations.

Where else would someone like John Bolton get to shout his insane ideas? FOX News? Well, yeah maybe that one time when he said, "I think this is a case where the use of military force against a training camp to show the Iranians we're not going to tolerate this is really the most prudent thing to do." The BBC? Oh yeah, that one time...and that other time. MSNBC? Check. Okay, so maybe he was getting plenty of airtime, but regardless, I'm glad to see his little incoherently ranting ideas (like Chicago being destroyed by a nuclear bomb) preserved for the ages in print.

I can't think of any other columnist brave enough to suggest bombing people is a prudent strategy. Paul Krugman, I'm looking at you. Nothing? Okay then. Moving on.

Today, Bolton chose to growl at the old, but reliable, enemy of North Korea. This is a particularly vintage move when one considers North Korea already tried to strike fear into the hearts of Americans last month when they tested a missile that fizzled and fell into the ocean 1,300 miles off the east coast of Japan. Bolton's stance is pretty brave because his frenzied ideology flies in the face of scholarly counsel.

Experts on North Korea say Kim Jong-il's motives center around receiving aid, and fear of the United States, since they bombed his country during the Korean War. B. R. Myers, a researcher of North Korean ideology and propaganda at Dongseo University, recommends America ignore Kim. South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak is badmouthing Kim (and his nuclear program) enough as it is, and everyone in the region is slowly realizing the great leader is gravely fallible. A dictator only has a few options to show he's still hot shit, and one of those is to blast a missile into the ocean. But it's not a threat to the United States. It's actually just pathetic. Call it the official countdown of Kim. He's also sick, weak, and may have had a stroke.

And yet all of these facts couldn't soothe the nerves of our mustachioed maverick, John Bolton. Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test he hollers at the top of the page. Bolton recycles the argument that Kim got everything his tiny dictator heart desired by bullying the world into six-party talks, which "gave [him] cover to further advance his nuclear program." If the US strategy was up to Bolton, he would scream threats at everyone he perceived as being Korean, which is exactly what would make things worse, Myers argues.

Over the past decade North Korea's string of nuclear provocations has reinforced the public conviction that Washington's bark is worse than its bite. Kim Jong-il has so far shown little indication that he does not share this conviction.

Bolton has risen from the dead to show the world America's credibility is back by...rattling...his...saber...again. Okay, maybe that won't work. But he has new information! The North Koreans are mocking us, everyone! Did you know that? John Bolton knows this because he read it in the state-controlled newspaper, which calls America "a rogue and a gangster." And sure, state-controlled newspapers are just mouthpieces for dictators, but surely those North Korean civilians are all invited to the paper pitch meetings, and brainstorm headlines with their boss. They don't fool John Robert Bolton.

He's fuming mad that the Obama administration wants to (scoff) talk to North Korea. I mean, the nerve. How are we supposed to bomb stuff if we're there talking to them? Of course, this is the man who used to block information from reaching former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and and Powell's successor, Condoleezza Rice, that was "vital to U.S. strategies on Iran," simply because the information contradicted his own insane ideologies. So maybe we shouldn't take his word on this stuff.

I know what you're thinking: a John Bolton article isn't a John Bolton article unless it has a crazy jump in logic and wild proclamation nestled somewhere in its margins. Turn that frown upside-down, kiddo, 'cause here it comes:

Even worse, Iran and other aspiring nuclear proliferators will draw precisely the same conclusion: Negotiations like the six-party talks are a charade and reflect a continuing collapse of American resolve. U.S. acquiescence in a second North Korean nuclear test will likely mean that Tehran will adopt Pyongyang's successful strategy.

Only John Bolton would introduce a new thesis in the last paragraph of his article. I bet you didn't see Iran sneaking in there at the last second like a serial killer that comes back to life in the last frame of the movie, but there it is. The second American diplomats land in North Korea, Iran is going to nuke Israel. It's practically written in the history books already.

Cross-posted from Allison Kilkenny's blog. Also available on Facebook and Twitter.

Comments

[Baghooli]

Most don't seem to be getting a point of article, Bolton represent the last 8 years of policies which for one advocating bombing and military solutions for world affairs without any kind of positive results for US, on contrary have resulted in entanglements in few wars which still can go by the way Vietnam war went and letting US soils being attacked and N. Korea testing their first nuke under their watch not to mention US financial meltdown, did I missed something!
Allison have good writing skills, she articulate her view with humor and obviously events have made this article popular enough for neocons to come out of woodwork to comment on her story, be a good sport, take break for 4 to ... years in Alaska and get your groove back!

[ReedYoung]

Donald Rumsfeld should give Bolton some of his blood money to stop drawing extra attention to North Korea, its nuclear program, and his pivotal role in enabling it.
http://www.mikemalloy.com/2009/05/27/nukes-and-missiles-and-bombs-oh-my/#more-774

[flossophy]

B0lton Rox... The Left despises him because he doesn't put up with their bs. And he's effective. And most importantly, he's learned from all of the foreign policy mistakes of the left over the last 80 years.

And he loves to rub it in their eyes... So, Allison here is being a loyal trooper and disparaging this decent man and his efforts to promote liberty around the sphere.

It's such a shame the leftians really don't know this person... if they did, they'd be 100% supporters.

[OptimusMaximus]

imurillo: "Those who predict a nuclear war are in the Limbaugh camp - "Yes I still want Obama to fail" - of US patriotism. Because of President Obama, the UN, and NKorea's own poverty, Kim will not be allowed to substantially threaten his neighbors."

I don't think I've heard any predictions of a nuclear war. The more obvious threat is the sale by NK of nuclear technology/missile technology to terrorists Isloamofacist groups. Do you think this is not a rational concern, given NK's recent sale of nuclear designs to Syria, or was that another conservative conspiracy in your mind?

No one is arguing we should "attack NK and blow them to oblivion", the argument is whether or not to take out their nuclear production capability.

Neville Chamberlan, call your office. Your prodigy need you.

[OptimusMaximus]

Omop: "If the world accepts a state like Israel to have nuclear weapons what thought process prompts one to scream that a state such as North Korea MUST NOT HAVE the same?"

Uh, let's see:
(1) Israel is a democracy that has never fought except in self-defense;
(2) Israel, as a society, places high value on innocent human life;
(3) NK is a totalitarian society with no checks and balances on the commands of its leadership;
(4) NK has demonstrated it cares nothing for innocent human life, even to the extent of starving to death thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of its own citizens;
(5) NK has demonstrated its willingness to sell its nuclear & missile designs and technology to the
highest bidder

I realize the above 5 reasons are probably immaterial to you, but to a rational person, they are extremely persuasive. The same reasons, more or less, also apply to Iran.

Omop: "Chickenhawks like Bolton, Cheney, Perle, and others who have never served in the military are forever proclaiming their bent on resolving issues by killing others."

Geez, this is such an illogcal arument I though it had been throughly discredited. By your logic, if I have never been aborted, I have no right to speak out on abortion; if I have never been discriminated against, I have no right to speak out against discrimination; etc. Grow up and get a rational argument.

[Jean-Sébastien Lévesque]

"(1) Israel is a democracy that has never fought except in self-defense;
(2) Israel, as a society, places high value on innocent human life;"

Ha-ha. Good one.

[OptimusMaximus]

Good one as well as factual and truthfull....

[ReedYoung]

The countdown to a war began, according to a detailed report by Barak Raviv in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, when Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak started planning the current attack on Gaza with his chiefs of staff at least six months ago — even as Israel was negotiating the Egyptian brokered ceasefire with Hamas that went into effect on June 19. During the subsequent ceasefire, the report contends, the Israeli security establishment carefully gathered intelligence to map out Hamas' security infrastructure, engaged in operational deception, and spread disinformation to mislead the public about its intentions.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5776

[1murillo]

Bolton's arguments are even further from a correct strategy now that NKorea has successfully tested a nuke. Mostly he suggests that we react to prevent further mockery at the hands of Kim.

Any existence of such a weapon is serious - but that doesn't mean we should attack them and try to blow them to oblivion.

Yes NKorea has been pursuing a nuclear strategy, yet it is Kim's mad behavior that even China has come out against them and a UN security council resolution will probably be released shortly. There are still some pressures to be exerted on NKorea, especially with Chinese and Russian support now that those countries no longer accept NKorea as a rational ally.

Those who predict a nuclear war are in the Limbaugh camp - "Yes I still want Obama to fail" - of US patriotism. Because of President Obama, the UN, and NKorea's own poverty, Kim will not be allowed to substantially threaten his neighbors.

[flossophy]

Clinton gave Ill-boy the nukular technology... we wouldn't have this problem if Albright wasn't so easily f00led.

sigh

[ReedYoung]

We also "wouldn't have this problem" if Donald Rumsfeld hadn't sold North Korea the technology.
http://www.mikemalloy.com/2009/05/27/nukes-and-missiles-and-bombs-oh-my/#more-774

[omop]

Why is it whenever a comment is made regarding the likes of Bolton, Cheney, and like individuals the reaction verges on the hysterical and the name calling "liberals"?

If the world accepts a state like Israel to have nuclear weapons what thought process prompts one to scream that a state such as North Korea MUST NOT HAVE the same?

Israeli politicians in order to get a place at the table spied on their socalled ally the US to get the capability to develop and have nuclear capabilities.

Chickenhawks like Bolton, Cheney, Perle, and others who have never served in the military are forever proclaiming their bent on resolving issues by killing others

And the need is always present to remind them that if they want to play "Cowboys and Indians" they should have done the real thing when they were at the right age

[Genep34]

I still wouldn't even buy a used car from him.

Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.

Bolton would like to nuke these guys. And iran and iraq and Lebanon etc.

[joycehelene]

He was crazy then and is still crazy, we don't need people like him sounding off.

[boyydz]

Yes, Bolton is crazy: crazy like a fox! Perhaps now Obama will actually get tough about North Korea instead of pressing for another set of useless UN resolutions. As Uncle Joe said: gird your loins! Apparent weakness begets aggression from sociopaths, not cooperation.

[Mikeeee]

Explain your plan for dealing with NK please.

[johnr49]

Whose weakness begat the aggression from Cheney and Rumsfeld?

[Conservative Libertine]

Somewhere John Bolton is saying "How do you like me now!"

http://conservativelibertine.blogspot.com/2009/05/time-to-talk-with-our-enemies-eh-barry.html

[LDnearthesea]

John Bolton: did he serve in the military? I don't think so. like Cheney, just another chickenhawk!

[cclevel]

Sucks being a liberal because every time you guys open your mouth about foreign policies these little tyrannical leaders that are so endeared by the likes of you always end up biting you in the ass. Let me offer up this word of advice, leave foreign policy to the experts! John Bolton was SPOT ON in his prediction and that is ONLY because he understands the situation. All this talk of previous administrations has done absolutely NOTHING to stop this from happening. Now we have egg on our face what's next, more talks? Oh by the way, Iran is taking notes and Israel prepares to do what we no longer have the will to do, act in self defense.

[LDnearthesea]

Being a liberal doesn't suck, but being a Repugnantcan Neo Con does suck, as you guys lost the last election, and have no clue about what it means to be a Real American who puts country before political party and ideology!

[ftx437]

Oh yes because it is so american not to take responsablity for your own actions, Have the government take over private buisness, tax people (may not be in the form of federal tax, but in other tax's) so that they can expand there controll even more, make it so every american depends on the government for work, healthcare, houses, cars.
We can go on with this list all day.
Being a lib is the furthest thing from being American.

[LDnearthesea]

So I guess eight years of Bush Cheney couldn't stop the North Koreans.

[spion]

well we did have the Clinton years and Albright's "agreements" to deal with. funny that Bush got the NorKos to stop, only to start when someone weak showed up....

[ObjectiveRealist]

Israel, "act in self defense"? Not since 1967, my friend. Palestine is not a nation, it is an occupied territory and all Israel's military invasions of it are war crimes, namely "collective punishment." Until a two-state solution makes Palestine a sovereign nation, no attack against it of any kind is legal. Until then, Palestine is just a bunch of civilians and attacks against civilians are terrorism, plain and simple.

And just when was John Bolton "SPOT ON"? Did he predict the sun will rise in the east?

[OptimusMaximus]

Puh-leeze. Read your history. Jordan WAS the Palistinian mandate. Israel's territory was a fraction of what was orginally proposed for the Jewish homeland after WWI. The Arabs/Palistinians have been offered land for peace time and time again, and have consistently turned it down becuause they can not abide a Jewish (or democratic) enclave in their midst.

It's impossible to reason with anyone who would deny that it is self defense to try to stop constant attacks on your civilian population, by a foe that purposefully integrates rocket launchers into it's own civilian infrastrcture such as schools, Mosques, hospitals, so as to be able to cry "they murdered civilians" when those rocket launchers are destroyed, who will not wear military uniforms to distinguish their fighters from the civilians, who use ambulances to ferry military supplies, who have been proven time and again of "staging" civilian deaths, who teach their children racist hatred from the time those children are toddlers, and who celebrate the death of their children as suicide bombers. You are either a non-rational thinker, a supporter of terrorism, or an ostrich.

[washlib]

sucks to NOT be a liberal huh? Liberals tend to look at situations wholistically and act with intelligence, whereas neocons like Bolton act based on their "gut" with the only forethought being "how much $$ will my friends and cronies make from this"

Bolton is a complete ignorant, flaming loser who is an embarassment to the usa.

blowhards like you also are quite embarassing, how about you stop with the over generalizing, calling anyone that disagrees with you an appeasing liberal?

[OptimusMaximus]

Bawahahaha. Another comic.

"Liberals tend to look at situations wholistically and act with intelligence, whereas neocons like Bolton act based on their "gut" with the only forethought being "how much $$ will my friends and cronies make from this."

Bawahaha. Tell that to the secured creditors of Chrysler being forced to take pennies on the dollar, whilst the unsecured UAW creditors get first dibs. A clear violation of existing bankruptcy laws, but very nice for the "friends and cronies" of Obama.

Wholistically speaking of intelligent actions, can you point to a single exampleof a bankrupt individual or nation successfully borrowing their way out of debt? A single example of bankrupt individuals or nation that did not exacerbate their problems down the road by continuing to borrow, raising taxes on the producers, giving money hand over fist to the non-producers, and printing money out of thin air when they are already enormously in debt?

Bawahaha, what a riot you are...

[Denis Morin]

BOLTON was right. Don't you tire of being wrong about foreign policy?

[LDnearthesea]

Yeah, and the war in Iraq went down really well, for Halliburton and Blackwater and the billions they made.

[ObjectiveRealist]

About what? No WMDs in Iraq? No, I don't believe he had the prescience to foresee that CIA's worldwide spy network was a more reliable source of "intelligence" than Richard Bruce Cheney's blind terror.

[hotbytes]

Crazy? Try "insane". It'd be more appropriate to describe this Neo-con talking head Bolton.