Exposing Bolton

https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/boltons-big-error-on-china-and-north

Larison states what should be obvious to all – John Bolton is not qualified to speak on this topic. His record as a warmonger and miscalculator is well-established.

Of course, the February meetings in China were dashed by the silly balloon episode – a real gift to the State Department but not one sober or sane Americans should relish. The less Beijing and Washington talk, and the more they decouple their economies – the faster war will come. And if you have any doubts, many figures within think-tank circles and even Pentagon figures are now openly talking about a coming conflict with Beijing. Preparations are already underway.

When it comes to North Korea or China, Bolton's style has to be described as anti-diplomatic and counter-productive. He would probably own those labels with pride. A perpetual warmonger, finding a peaceful solution is never his intent and as the article points out – the end result is always proliferation and military escalation.

The dynamics of the Beijing-Pyongyang relationship are difficult. Does Beijing wield great influence? Undoubtedly. Is it absolute? Beijing might wish that were the case but it has never been so. The Kims of North Korea often go their own way and more than a few times it has generated great ire and frustration in Beijing. Bolton like many within the Neo-Conservative orbit, exhibits a woefully simplistic understanding of geopolitics and we've seen the results of this school's machinations – a series of wars, millions dead, and nothing to show for it. Even on a purely consequentialist basis, their agenda has failed.

And so why does anyone give this morally bankrupt fool the time of day? He still has powerful allies and there are sectors within the Wall Street-Pentagon nexus that are pushing for war and want it sooner rather than later.

I think the last line in the article is perhaps the most poignant:

Instead of facing up to the fact that North Korean disarmament is not possible, Bolton is on the hunt for a scapegoat for the mess that he helped to make.

This touches on another factor that always must be considered with these people. They are shameless, men of reprobate conscience or so it would seem. They will not admit their errors but seek to spin and obfuscate, to cover up the mistakes and miscalculations they've made. And every problem that led to war and death can be solved easily enough by a simple formula – bomb, bomb, bomb.

These men are like incarnations of death, monsters, or demons from the pit. They are the human faces and manifestations of some of the imagery we see in the Apocalypse. They're not new. We've seen their kind before all through history and there will be more of them in the next generation. But sometimes you need to just stop for a moment and take in what these people really are and what they represent. They are death. You can give them the world and it wouldn't be enough for them. Sociopaths like Bolton will stay in the game as long as they can. They live for the thrill, for the hunt, for the hope of shedding blood. Supposedly he's a Lutheran of some variety, but regardless he's a monster.