Bolton: European nations 'will see that it's in their interests' to withdraw from Iran deal

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill



BY BRETT SAMUELS - 05/13/18 09:22 AM EDT

National security adviser John Bolton said Sunday he believes European nations will ultimately join the U.S. and leave the Iran nuclear agreement.

“I think the Europeans will see that it’s in their interests to come along with us,” Bolton said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Bolton’s comments come despite pledges from European leaders across the board that they will uphold the agreement, even after President Trump announced last week the U.S. would no longer honor it.

“And they may try to [stay in the deal], in part because I think despite President Trump’s complete consistency in opposition to the deal … many people, including, apparently, former Secretary of State John Kerry, thought that we never would get out of it,” Bolton said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/387466-bolton-european-nations-will-see-that-its-in-their-interests-to

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Bolton downplays past views on regime change

BY BRETT SAMUELS - 05/13/18 09:54 AM EDT

National security adviser John Bolton on Sunday downplayed his past support for regime change as the Trump administration takes a more aggressive approach toward Iran.

Bolton, who is considered a proponent of regime change, was pressed on two Sunday morning shows about whether he is encouraging President Trump to push for a change in Iran as the White House seeks to curb conflict in the region.

“That is not the policy of the administration. The policy of the administration is to make sure Iran never gets close to deliverable nuclear action,” Bolton said on ABC’s “This Week.”

On CNN’s “The Lead,” Bolton distanced himself from his comments as a Fox News contributor and elsewhere in which he advocated for regime change in Iran, Syria and Libya.

“I’ve written and said a lot of things when I was a complete free agent. Those are my opinions, and the circumstance I’m in now is I’m national security adviser to president. I’m not the national security decision-maker,” Bolton said on CNN’s “The Lead.”

When asked whether he’d advocate for military strikes against Iran, Bolton reiterated that he’s just an adviser to the president and would not make the final decision.

more
http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/387471-bolton-downplays-past-views-on-regime-change

[barbtries]

1. it chills me to the bone

that this nut, who believes that the USA should rule the world and that warmongering everywhere is a justifiable way to make it be, is in the position he is in.

we're really going down. hard.

[lamp_shade]

2. Them's fightin' words. Bring it on. nt

[pazzyanne]

5. I was just thinking this.

The battle cry of playground bullies since the beginning of time. Guess we have arrived at pre-1780. Sad - and scary.

[dem4decades]

3. With friends like the US, who needs enemies?

[Ligyron]

4. If Iran says, "OK, screw it" and decides to start enriching uranium to bomb material levels...

there's only one way to really stop them and Israel would love for us to take the lead and start the bombing campaign.

If they throw inspectors out there will be no way top confirm one way or another the state of their nuclear program anymore. Bolton and the neo's can claim they are and no one can defiantly say otherwise.

[BeyondGeography]

6. Strong-arming and blackmailing our once and (hopefully) future allies

Fucking boneheads.

[lark]

7. So, in other words, he'll bide his time and thinks he'll eventually get drumpf to agree.

He knows drumpf is all situational, no caring about anything other than himself really. All Bolton has to do is find a way for drumpf to profit and he's got his wish.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

8. So if you are an adviser you can't advocate?

From the dictionary:

advocate (verb) to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument

advise (verb) to give counsel to; offer an opinion or suggestion as worth following

Yeah, there's a lot of difference between advocating and advising. I feel much better now about Bolton being only national security advisor and not national security advocate.

I'm more concerned about the implied threat to countries which honor the Iran deal. "They'll see it's in their interests to come along with us."

BTW, Don Lemon, Shepard Smith and others have pointed out there is no provision for "pulling out" of the agreement. You are either complying with it or violating it. Trump has a long, long history of doing the latter in business and marital agreements.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. He may not be the "decision maker" in this administration.

but he's the one who advises the decision makers as to what they should do.

He can downplay that power to project his opinion all he wants, but we saw what happened when PNAC advised Bush that Iraq was an imminent threat.

[Eyeball_Kid]

10. In a speech last year, Bolton told MEK that...

...they'd be celebrating in Tehran at the end of 2018.

Bolton is pushing for a government overthrow in Iran. And he won't stop.

This is who is the national security advisor to Spanky, who is hellbent on destroying every international alliance the US has cultivated since the end of WWII. And Spanky is too reliant on Putin's direction to understand exactly what the consequences will be.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Fuck you chickenhawk

[Texin]

12. I think Bolton meant to say "it's in HIS interests" not Europe's

The hard and loud pushback around the work against this cretin's decision to exit the deal has been stronger than he expected. Given tRump's consistent behavior of waffling on decisions, Bolton might feel a wee bit threatened that Cheeto will change his mind and send him packing. Cheeto wants to be praised more than anything besides raking in more dough and this decision is as stupid as it is reckless. Twitler has been saying he wants (expects?) to get the Nobel Peace Prize (basically because he wants to have something bestowed on President Obama, and if he can't rip that away from him himself, he wants the Nobel Committee to give it to him). Maybe (I know it's a stretch to think it) it's dawning on him that one isn't positioned strategically to get that Nobel Prize by dumping a nuclear non-proliferation accord and threatening our allies with tariffs as sanctions for remaining in the deal. Maybe Bolton feels a little nervous about now given the revolving door of political casualties.

[SCVDem]

13. Regime Change!

In America!

[Mr.Bill]

14. We are about one and a half steps from

the entire world (except Israel, of course) telling us to go fuck ourselves. And don't think North Korea doesn't know it. We are about to go into negotiations with them having far less clout than we did before Trump.

As Bill Clinton said, we need to lead with the power of our example, not the example of our power.

[mwooldri]

15. Mr. Bolton: Wrong.

Merkel, Macron and May, along with Rouhani, Putin and Xi are all on the same hymnsheet. Trump is the one off key here.

[Marcuse]

16. All they are saying is Give War A Chance.

[redstateblues]

17. Bolton wants war. All his maneuvering leads to that. Sick

[BlueMTexpat]

18. If there is anyone that I loathe even

more than Trump, it is Bolton!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

21. I'm becoming immune to shock....

If we next hear Cheney or Wolfowitz is coming in, it won't be much of a surprise after suffering through the existing cabinet.

Sorry for dirtying you eyes with those two names.......

[Alethia Merritt]

19. I really do not believe that Iran or any nation with sane leadership wants or would start a nuke war

In history, only the US has ever used nukes on another nation. It was so horrific that no rational leader would want to inflict this kind of atrocity on others. Most countries want nukes for deference against other more powerful nations. Why would Iran want to nuke its own neighborhood?

Nuking or trying to nuke Israel would not make sense and it would be suicidal. I think charging this intention to Iran is a false meme just to give Israel and the US the right in their own minds to do whatever they want in the ME and around the world. We should be about the business of helping other nations build their own economic and social base. Building trade and not tearing it down is the key to helping a people become self-sufficient, internally productive, and generally satisfied to the point that they will see no benefit in being hostile to neighboring nations.

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Well said and welcome to DU!

These are truly scary and unprecedented times! We're glad to have you with us!

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Trump works with Xi to restart Chinese telecom giant ZTE, despite alleged Iran sanctions violations

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump pledged Sunday to help ZTE Corp. “get back into business, fast” after a U.S. ban crippled the Chinese technology company, offering a job-saving concession to Beijing ahead of high-stakes trade talks later this week.

“Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!” Trump wrote on Twitter in the first of two tweets about U.S. trade relations with China. It said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working together on a solution for ZTE.
...
ZTE suspended its main operations after the U.S. Commerce Department banned American companies from selling to the firm for seven years — as punishment for ZTE breaking an agreement reached after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran.
...
The U.S. government launched an investigation into ZTE after Reuters reported in 2012 the company had signed contracts to ship hardware and software worth millions of dollars to Iran from some of the best-known U.S. technology companies. ZTE pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions by illegally shipping U.S. goods and technology to Iran, and entered into an agreement with the U.S. government. The ban was the result of ZTE’s failure to comply with that agreement, the Commerce Department said.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/05/14/business/trump-working-xi-restart-china-telecom-giant-zte-iran-sanctions-violator-sake-jobs/#.Wvl3S_kvzIU

Seems like Trump is going to have to impose sanctions on himself. Maybe he should pay someone to spank him with a copy of Forbes magazine? Or Fortune?

Secondly, Trump’s move to rescue ZTE, a company on the brink of extinction because it unlawfully did business in Iran, comes at a time when the U.S. has just reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic, and is threatening European companies that continue to trade there.
...
However, Kevin Wolf, the Obama-era assistant secretary of commerce who launched the case against ZTE, told the Financial Times he was “speechless” at Trump’s tweet.

“I’m highly confident that a president has never intervened in a law-enforcement matter like this before,” Wolf told the paper. “It’s so outside the way the rules were set up.”

D.C. lawyer Douglas Jacobson, who represents ZTE suppliers, echoed this sentiment in an interview with the BBC. “There’s no legal mechanism for this. How this will play out remains to be seen,” he said. “They are not simply going to be able to resume business as usual.”

http://fortune.com/2018/05/14/china-iran-zte-donald-trump/

[roamer65]

23. No, European nations will eventually withdraw from NATO.

The EU will eventually become a federal republic.

[Odoreida]

24. I won't try to predict the future, but ...

... I will say that there must be definite plans to bomb Iran. And not just a little bit.