Abe meets with Bolton

[struggle4progress]

May 24 05:37 pm JST
TOKYO

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton on Friday in last-minute preparations for President Donald Trump's four-day visit ...

Shotaro Yachi, Japan's national security adviser and a close aide to Abe, also met separately with Bolton.

https://japantoday.com/category/politics/abe-meets-with-u.s.-security-adviser-bolton-before-trump-visit

[ProudLib72]

1. Someone needs to sneak into Bolton's room the night before the Rump arrives

Shave off half of Bolton's mustache and see what happens. Would he try to cover it up with the same stuff that Stephen Miller used, or would he shave off the other half? Without that mustache, the Rump wouldn't recognize Bolton. We would probably end up with a new national security advisor!

[Kurt V.]

4. a ninja maybe.

[ProudLib72]

6. Damn right a ninja!

How is the Rump going to react when Bolton tells him a ninja stole half his mustache?

[Kurt V.]

8. Before or after he has a big mac? Timing is everything

[ProudLib72]

9. Forget the hamberder. Tell him when his mouth is full of Diet Coke

Do you think the Rump can use chopsticks? I sincerely doubt he can. Everything he eats is finger food: hamberders, fried chicken, pizza...


Maybe that ninja can also steal the ferret off of the Rump's head?

[Kurt V.]

10. .

[struggle4progress]

2. US orders new troops to Middle East

Date created : 24/05/2019 - 22:15

The escalation of the US military presence follows a decision in early May to send an aircraft carrier strike force and B-52 bombers in a show of force against what Washington's leaders believed was an imminent Iranian plan to attack US assets.

And it comes as the Trump administration is planning to bypass congressional restrictions to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, a close US ally and Iran's arch-enemy in the region ...

https://www.france24.com/en/20190524-us-orders-new-troops-middle-east-counter-iran-threat

[struggle4progress]

3. Bolton's dangerous 'obsession' with Iran

Date created : 24/05/2019 - 18:53
Latest update : 24/05/2019 - 19:18

... Since taking office, Donald Trump has expressed an array of conflicting positions, from saying he wants dialogue with the Islamic Republic to making luridly vengeful threats, such as his May 19 tweet: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”

The central figure behind America’s increasingly belligerent stance towards Iran is, however, not the US President but John Bolton, a consistent advocate of regime change in Iran.

Bolton had been pouring forth warlike rhetoric against Iran for several years before his appointment as national security adviser in April 2018, in paid speeches, opinion columns and as a talking head on Trump’s favourite TV channel, Fox News. “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran”, implored the headline of his opinion piece in The New York Times in 2015, when the Obama administration was negotiating the nuclear deal from which Trump would go on to withdraw in May 2018 ...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/22/politics/tensions-rise-between-pompeo-and-bolton/index.html

[struggle4progress]

5. Bolton: Coast Guard to Help Reassert US Leadership in Arctic

By Dave Collins
May 23, 2019

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton told 240 new Coast Guard Academy graduates Wednesday that they will help lead the way in “reasserting American leadership in the Arctic.”

“You will help the United States challenge growing Russian military influence in the Arctic, and push back against China’s illegitimate claim to ‘near-Arctic’ status, as well as its use of debt diplomacy against Arctic nations,” he said as he delivered the keynote speech at the 138th commencement of the academy in New London, Connecticut.

“And you will provide the search and rescue and disaster response capabilities needed to facilitate greater commerce and scientific research across the High North,” he said ...

https://thediplomat.com/2019/05/john-bolton-coast-guard-to-help-reassert-us-leadership-in-arctic/

[struggle4progress]

7. Venezuela avoids war but Bolton still fighting on Twitter

BY TOM O'CONNOR ON 5/22/19 AT 1:59 PM EDT

... Opposition-controlled National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó's political challenge to President Nicolás Maduro appeared to crescendo with an abortive uprising last month that was quashed by the very same security forces that Guaidó claimed had switched sides. Though the U.S. swiftly endorsed Guaidó when he proclaimed himself acting president in January, Maduro has since shown little signs of stepping down, even amid international pressure and Guaidó's decision last month to meet with government representatives in Norway for negotiations that appeared to represent a turning point.

Bolton, one of the most outspoken proponents of regime change within President Donald Trump's administration, however, has yet to show any signs of abating his calls for Maduro's unconditional surrender ...

https://www.newsweek.com/venezuela-war-talks-john-bolton-fighting-1432909