Free Republic

John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced today he is considering a bid for U.S. president in 2012. It was his first direct response to months of Internet speculation that he may join the next presidential race. Bolton was speaking to WND senior reporter Aaron Klein on the latter's investigative radio show on WABC in New York. "Yes, I am considering it," Bolton said when asked if he is considering a 2012 presidential run. "I am very concerned about the direction of national security policy." Continued Bolton: "I am concerned that we hardly talk about it...

When the Obama Administration proclaimed victory on October 1st by announcing that a break-through had been reached in Geneva and that Iran had committed to shipping 2,600 pounds of fuel to Russia, expert Iran watchers were appropriately cynical. Bolton cautioned, yet again, that the Iranians had used some of the same diplomatic nuances they had been using for years to successfully buy more time to continue enriching uranium and fake cooperation with the international community. Usually, the Europeans were the first to take the bait but this time the Obama Administration got hooked first. Bolton, however, was the first to...

Last week, on May 20, the Wall Street Journal published former UN ambassador John Bolton's op-ed prophetically titled "Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test." Five days later--boom! Well, why not? As Bolton noted What the North has lacked thus far is the political opportunity to test without fatally jeopardizing its access to the six-party talks and the legitimacy they provide. Despite the State Department's seemingly unbreakable second-term hold over President Bush, another test after 2006 just might have ended the talks. So far, the North faces no such threat from the Obama administration. Despite Pyongyang's aggression, Mr. Bosworth...

Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton -- who was probably the closest thing to a Bircherite militiaman ever to have held that position, which no doubt was why G.W. Bush appointed him -- was on the Glenn Beck program yesterday. Considering how Beck's militia fetish has been reaching feverish levels lately, you can imagine how this went. Yes, it was as bad as you can imagine: Bolton: You can see in this upcoming G20 Meeting in the next few days -- Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom has his own ideas for a global New Deal -- and...

By JOHN BOLTON While President Obama's unanticipated Nowruz holiday greeting to Iran generated considerable press attention, his video wasn't really this week's big news related to the Islamic Republic. Far more important was that a senior defector -- Iran's former Deputy Minister of Defense Ali Reza Asghari -- disclosed Tehran's financing of Syria's nuclear weapons program. That program's centerpiece was a North Korean nuclear reactor in Syria. Israel destroyed it in September 2007. At this point, it is impossible to ignore Iran's active efforts to expand, improve and conceal its nuclear weapons program in Syria while it pretends to "negotiate"...

(IsraelNN.com) The Obama government’s thinking that Arab-Israeli peace is the key to Mideast stability “is bad news for Israel - and for America," former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton wrote in the New York Post on Friday Bolton said that President Barack Obama and his advisors have adopted the theory that the “overwhelming bulk of other Middle Eastern grievances, wholly or partly, stem from Israel's founding and continued existence.” He based his argument on the appointment of George C. Mitchell as the special U.S. envoy to the Middle East and statements by United States Secretary of...

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton says the Obama administration has turned on Israel in its determination to resolve the Israeli-Arab dispute. Bolton, now an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow, writes in an opinion column appearing in the New York Post that U.S. pressure to find a solution to the decades-old conflict will be the greatest on Israel, because it is an ally. "Almost invariably, Israel is the loser -- because Israel is the party most dependent on the United States, most subject to U.S. pressure and most susceptible to the inevitable chorus of received wisdom from Western diplomats, media and...

Speaking to a packed room at the opening day of CPAC in Washington D.C. yesterday, former UN Ambassador John Bolton warned convention attendees of something he believes "goes to the heart of the Obama administration" and that will affect not only us but our children and grandchildren. No, not the stimulus bill (although that’s a good guess) - it's what he termed "the coming war on American sovereignty." The problem, he said, is that liberals believe differences in policies that affect Americans shouldn't be debated here at home, but on the international stage - and we can expect it to...

CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his foreign policy adviser, Susan E. Rice, to be ambassador to the United Nations, picking an advocate of “dramatic action” against genocide as he rounds out his national security team, Democrats close to the transition said Sunday. -snip- John R. Bolton, who was one of Mr. Bush’s ambassadors at the United Nations, would not discuss Ms. Rice’s selection, but said it was unwise to elevate the position to the cabinet again. “One, it overstates the role and importance the U.N. should have in U.S. foreign policy,” Mr. Bolton said. “Second, you shouldn’t have...

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Glad to be here. LOWRY: Now, do you think it makes any sense to have dis-invited Sarah Palin to this event? Yes, Hillary Clinton had canceled, but there still would have been other Democrats there. And it's not as though the mere presence of Sarah Palin would have discredited this thing as a partisan event. BOLTON: Well, I think it was a mistake. But I know the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. It's a very important group. They have never done anything, in my view, that was partisan. So they must...

Bush Owes His Successor A Tough Finish on Foreign Policy By JOHN R. BOLTON September 6, 2008; Page A11 As the Bush administration enters its last months, its pursuit of a "legacy," especially in foreign policy, becomes ever more frenetic. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's travel schedule is packed. State Department "signing ceremonies" are blossoming, even for agreements that would not have attracted high-level attention just last year. Editorial writers are being quietly encouraged to laud administration successes. While neither unique nor unexpected, the legacy frenzy masks what should be our real concern until Jan. 20, 2009: the risk of...

Lefty moonbat throws everything but the kitchen sink at John Bolton, with Bolton hitting homer after homer in his responses. Moonbat at times is left speechless. I'd love to see a conservative interviewer get away with an interview like this with B. Hussein Obama: Link to video

Russia’s invasion across an internationally recognised border, its thrashing of the Georgian military, and its smug satisfaction in humbling one of its former fiefdoms represents only the visible damage. As bad as the bloodying of Georgia is, the broader consequences are worse. The United States fiddled while Georgia burned, not even reaching the right rhetorical level in its public statements until three days after the Russian invasion began, and not, at least to date, matching its rhetoric with anything even approximating decisive action. This pattern is the very definition of a paper tiger. Sending Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice to...

Military action against Iran would be a last resort but the United States and its allies have not done enough to promote the alternative, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said on Wednesday. John Bolton, who was a leading hawk in President George W. Bush's administration, told an audience at the Hay literary Festival that five years of "failed" negotiation with Iran over its nuclear program had left just two options for dealing with the issue — regime change and use of force. "The use of military force is an extremely unattractive option and only to be used...

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has escaped an attempted citizen's arrest as he appeared at the Hay Festival. The former ambassador - a key advisor to President George W Bush who argued strongly in favour of invading Iraq - had been giving a talk on international relations to more than 600 people at the literary festival. Mr Monbiot was blocked by two heavily-built security guards at the end of the one-and-a-half hour appearance, before he could serve a "charge sheet" on him. After being released by the guards the columnist - a fierce critic of...

National Journal's Ronald Brownstein spoke with John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, for the May 23 edition of "National Journal On Air." This is a transcript of their conversation. Q: John Bolton -- former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, former undersecretary of State, now a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a supporter of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Mr. Bolton, welcome to "National Journal On Air." Bolton: Glad to be here. Q: Mr. Bolton, Senator McCain has been extremely critical of Barack Obama over the past week for saying that he would meet...

John Bolton was on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes a couple of days ago to discuss the left's reaction to Bush's appeasement comments...

With hindsight, the Democrats' filibustering of Bolton's nomination to the U.N. post--he served only via a recess appointment--was one of their most shameful acts. The fact that nonentities like Madeline Albright can slide through the Senate without opposition, while the appointment of John Bolton, who combines a towering intellect with unflagging devotion to his country's interests, is blocked on political grounds, illustrates as well as anything which party is "politicizing foreign policy," as Barack Obama likes to say.

Middle East: Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton says we should take out Iranian camps that train Iraqi insurgents. Not a bad idea. Besides denying our enemies sanctuary, it might give pause to Iran's nuclear ambitions.As much as we hate the lefties comparing Iraq to Vietnam, there are things that do give one a sense of deja vu. Once again we see an enemy able to keep fighting, supplied by those who use a line on a map to protect them. In remarks reported by the London Telegraph, John Bolton advocated an end to the policy of allowing the Quds Force...

President George W. Bush is fond of comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. But as he meets with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington this week, his policy regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons program looks more like something out of Bill Clinton's or Jimmy Carter's playbook. In dealing with the Soviet Union on arms control, Reagan was famous for repeating the Russian phrase, "Doveryai, no proveryai" (trust, but verify). Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev reportedly once complained to Reagan, "You use that phrase every time we meet." To which Reagan smilingly replied, "That's because I like it so much." This administration...