The History Book Club discussion

This is the Glossary thread for The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton. This is a spoiler thread.

by John R. Bolton

No self promotion, please.

There is no bibliography for the book and frankly there was no Table of Contents listed as a book segment. However, one did come up in the sidebar on the Kindle version and I went with that.

I will add the notes as we go through the book. There was a Notes segment with sources.

I am not sure why final editing did not take place to get the finished product in place but I assume with the unknowns created with the formal review process - everything must have been up in the air.

Setting up - just got book - start date for discussion slated for Monday - June 29th but if I can get everything set up before then I will open this up for sign in.

We are open.

Notes:

1  John Bolton, Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007).

Bolton refers to his previous book in Chapter One:

by John R. Bolton

Giuliani pulls name from contention for secretary of state
ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson has emerged as the leading contender for the job.


"I fully respect and understand his reasons for remaining in the private sector," Donald Trump said.

By JOSH DAWSEY and SHANE GOLDMACHER 12/09/2016 04:32 PM EST Updated 12/09/2016 06:45 PM EST

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani pulled out of the secretary of state sweepstakes late last month, President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said Friday, as Trump has widened his search to select the nation’s top diplomat.

"Rudy Giuliani is an extraordinarily talented and patriotic American. I will always be appreciative of his 24/7 dedication to our campaign after I won the primaries and for his extremely wise counsel,” Trump said in a written statement. “He is and continues to be a close personal friend, and as appropriate, I will call upon him for advice and can see an important place for him in the administration at a later date.”

The transition team said that he withdrew on Nov. 29, though aides had mentioned him as one of four contenders multiple times after that date. One transition source said Giuliani continued to be the subject of internal discussions for the job through mid-week.

Giuliani had previously mounted a vigorous public campaign for the post, irritating Trump. On Friday, he explained his decision to withdraw.

“The whole thing was becoming kind of very confusing and very difficult for the president-elect, and my desire to be in the Cabinet was great, but it wasn't that great,” Giuliani said in a Fox News interview. “He had a lot of terrific candidates, and I thought I could play a better role being on the outside and continuing to be his close friend and adviser.”

Remainder of article: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/1...

Source: Politico

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

ISSUE #05
DONALD TRUMP TOLD NIKKI HALEY SHE COULD SPEAK HER MIND. SHE’S DOING JUST THAT.
BY ELISE LABOTT
ILLUSTRATION BY LUCIE BIRANT
SEPTEMBER 2017



"Nikki Haley was under consideration to become Donald Trump’s secretary of state when she flew to New York to meet the President-elect for the first time since his election victory.

The South Carolina governor was torn. The baggage from the 2016 campaign – she supported Marco Rubio in her state’s all-important presidential primary and later backed Ted Cruz – didn’t suddenly evaporate for Trump, who never forgets a slight.

Remainder of article:
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/...

Source: CNN Interactive

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Trump spent Thanksgiving asking: Mitt or Rudy?
By Emily SmithNovember 26, 2016 | 7:58pm



"The talk at Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving dinner at his Florida club was all about if he should pick Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani for secretary of state.

The president-elect held court on Thursday at his Palm Beach, Fla., Mar-a-Lago club at a large table with family members including wife Melania and sons Eric and Barron.

One witness told us Trump took a prime table next to the fireplace in the club’s living room, but spent a lot of time greeting members and asking who they think should be his top diplomat.

The spy said, “Donald was walking around asking everybody he could about who should be his secretary of state. There was a lot of criticism about Romney, and a lot of people like Rudy. There are also many people advocating for [former US ambassador to the UN] John Bolton.”

Remainder of article:
https://nypost.com/2016/11/26/trump-s...

Source: The New York Post

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Since I do not have a subscription to The Washington Post - I cannot post the link so that it can be read.

However I am enclosing the note below just in case you do:

See Gregg Jaffe and Adam Entous, “As a general, Mattis urged action against Iran. Now, as a defense secretary, he may be a voice of caution,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/... Josh Rogin, “Mattis clashing with Trump transition team over Pentagon staffing,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/j....

Source: Bolton, John R. . The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir (p. 495). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

CIA freezes out top Flynn aide


On Friday, one of Michael Flynn’s closest deputies on the National Security Council was denied clearance. | Getty

The agency denied a security clearance for a key aide to the National Security Adviser — ratcheting up tensions between Flynn and the intel community.

By KENNETH P. VOGEL and JOSH DAWSEY 02/10/2017 10:16 PM EST Updated 02/10/2017 11:09 PM EST

"A top deputy to national security adviser Michael Flynn was rejected for a critical security clearance, effectively ending his tenure on the National Security Council and escalating tensions between Flynn and the intelligence community.

The move came as Flynn’s already tense relationships with others in the Trump administration and the intelligence community were growing more fraught after reports that Flynn had breached diplomatic protocols in his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

On Friday, one of Flynn’s closest deputies on the NSC, senior director for Africa Robin Townley, was informed that the Central Intelligence Agency had rejected his request for an elite security clearance required for service on the NSC, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

That forced Townley, a former Marine intelligence officer who had long maintained a top secret-level security clearance, out of his NSC post, explained the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

One of the sources said the rejection was approved by Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s CIA director, and that it infuriated Flynn and his allies.

Remainder of article:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Where Is Rex Tillerson? Top Envoy Keeps Head Down and Travels Light


Rex W. Tillerson boarded his flight to Germany on Wednesday, making his first foreign trip as secretary of state. He has been conspicuously absent from several prominent events, often relying on a surrogate.Credit...Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Gardiner Harris
Feb. 15, 2017

"BONN, Germany — When President Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House on Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson was conspicuously absent. He was on his first flight overseas as America’s top diplomat, pretty much alone.

Mr. Tillerson, who has no government experience, also missed two other important occasions in Washington this week: a lunch with Russia’s ambassador and Mr. Trump’s meetings with the prime minister of Canada. He has yet to hold a news conference.

Remainder of article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/wo...

Source: The New York Times

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Trump Told Russians That Firing ‘Nut Job’ Comey Eased Pressure From Investigation

By Matt Apuzzo, Maggie Haberman and Matthew Rosenberg
May 19, 2017


President Trump met with Russian officials at the White House last week. American journalists were barred, but Russia released photographs.Credit...Russian Foreign Ministry

WASHINGTON — President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting.

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

Mr. Trump added, “I’m not under investigation.”

Remainder of article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us...

Source: The New York Times

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Remarks by President Trump Before a Briefing on the Opioid Crisis - HEALTHCARE - Issued on: August 8, 2017



Trump National Golf Club
Bedminster, New Jersey

3:12 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Secretary Price, for your work to address the crisis of opioid, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines. It is a tremendous problem in our country, and we’re going to get it taken care of as well as it can be taken care of, which hopefully will be better than any other country which also has the same problems or similar problems.

Nobody is safe from this epidemic that threatens young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural communities. Everybody is threatened. Drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, and opioid overdose deaths have nearly quadrupled since 1999. It is a problem the likes of which we have not seen.

Meanwhile, federal drug prosecutions have gone down in recent years. We’re going to be bringing them up and bringing them up rapidly. At the end of 2016, there were 23 percent fewer than in 2011. So they looked at this scourge and they let it go by, and we’re not letting it go by. The average sentence length for a convicted federal drug offender decreased 20 percent from 2009 to 2016.

During my campaign, I promised to fight this battle because, as President of the United States, my greatest responsibility is to protect the American people and to ensure their safety. Especially in some parts of our country, it is horrible what’s going on with opioid and other drugs. But the opioid is something that nobody has seen anything like it.

Today, I am pleased to receive a briefing from our team on ways we can help our communities combat this absolutely terrible epidemic and keep youth from going down this deadly path.

The best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place. If they don’t start, they won’t have a problem. If they do start, it’s awfully tough to get off. So we can keep them from going on, and maybe by talking to youth and telling them, “No good; really bad for you” in every way. But if they don’t start, it will never be a problem.

We’re also working with law enforcement officers to protect innocent citizens from drug dealers that poison our communities. Strong law enforcement is absolutely vital to having a drug-free society. I have had the opportunity to hear from many on the front lines of the opioid epidemic, and I’m confident that by working with our healthcare and law enforcement experts, we will fight this deadly epidemic and the United States will win.

We’re also very, very tough on the southern border, where much of this comes in. And we’re talking to China, where certain forms of manmade drug comes in, and it is bad. And we’re speaking to other countries and we’re getting cooperation, but we’re being very, very strong on our southern border and, I would say, the likes of which this country certainly has never seen that kind of strength.

So we’re going to do our job. We’re going to get it going. We’ve got a tremendous team of experts and people that want to beat this horrible situation that’s happened to our country — and we will. We will win. We have no alternative. We have to win for our youth. We have to win for our young people. And, frankly, we have to win for a lot of other people, not necessarily young, that are totally addicted and have serious, serious problems.

So we thank you all for being here. And we’re going to get on with our meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you all.

Q Any comment on the reports about North Korea’s nuclear capabilities?

THE PRESIDENT: North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening beyond a normal state. And as I said, they will be met with fire, fury, and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.

Thank you.

Source: The White House

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Tillerson: Americans should 'sleep well at night' amid N. Korea crisis


Rex Tillerson

The secretary of state is pushing for cooler heads and continued diplomacy by Conor Finnegan - August 9, 2017, 8:41 AM

MANILA, Philippines -- While President Trump delivered a brash warning of “fire and fury,” his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is pushing for cooler heads and continued diplomacy.

The belligerent message from Trump was meant to match the aggressive, at times ridiculous, rhetoric from North Korea, according to Tillerson.

“What the president was doing was sending a strong message to North Korea in a language that Kim Jong Un would understand,” Tillerson told reporters as he traveled back from Southeast Asia. “It was important that he deliver that message to avoid any miscalculation on their part.”

He stopped in the small Pacific island of Guam, a U.S. territory, just hours after North Korea threatened to strike it. But he had no qualms about safety while there, he said. “I do not believe there is any imminent threat, in my own view.”

He later said, “Americans should sleep well at night. I have no concerns about this particular rhetoric over the last few days.”

Remainder of article:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/...

Source: ABC News.go

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Trump Says Military Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ and North Korea Will ‘Regret’ Threats - by Peter Baker - Aug. 11, 2017


A-10 planes lined up for takeoff on Thursday from the United States Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.Credit...Yonhap/Reuters

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump continued to beat war drums on Friday against North Korea and, unexpectedly, said he would consider a military option to deal with an unrelated crisis in Venezuela. But though he declared that the armed forces were “locked and loaded,” there were no indications of imminent action in either part of the world.

For all the bellicose language emerging from the president’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., the United States military was taking no visible steps to prepare for a strike against North Korea or Venezuela. The Pentagon reported no new ships being sent toward the Korean Peninsula or forces being mobilized, nor were there moves to begin evacuating any of the tens of thousands of Americans living in South Korea.

The contrast between the heated words and the lack of apparent preparations suggested that Mr. Trump may still be counting on a resolution to the standoff with North Korea as it works to develop a nuclear arsenal capable of reaching the United States. After escalating his rhetoric against North Korea twice on Friday, Mr. Trump emerged from a late-afternoon meeting with his national security team offering a somewhat more restrained message, vowing to give diplomacy a chance.

Remainder of article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/wo...

Source: The New York Times

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

On North Korea, Mattis Stresses Diplomacy, But Advises Army to Be Ready

U.S. defense chief tells gathering of soldiers that emphasis is for now on peaceful measures to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
By Ben Kesling -Oct. 9, 2017 7:21 pm ET

WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. is using diplomacy and economic pressure to turn back North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but cautioned a gathering of Army officers and troops that they need to be ready in case negotiations fail.

Remainder of article:
You have to subscribe to The Wall Street Journal to see the remainder of the article.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-north...

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Opinion - OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR - Shinzo Abe: Solidarity Against the North Korean Threat - By Shinzo Abe - Sept. 17, 2017


Prime Minister of Japan - Shinzo Abe

TOKYO — The whole world confronts an unprecedented, grave and imminent threat from North Korea. On Sept. 3, the regime carried out a reprehensible nuclear test. Late last week, it launched a ballistic missile over my country, Japan, only two weeks after a similar missile launch. By repeatedly testing missiles — in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions — Pyongyang has shown its reach now extends to the United States and Europe.

North Korea’s actions are an outright challenge to the international community. On Sept. 11, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on a new round of strict sanctions that restrict member states from selling oil to the North, ban North Korean textile exports and ban member states from authorizing North Koreans to work abroad.

They are an important step, but the leadership in Pyongyang has consistently ignored previous resolutions. The international community must stay united and enforce the sanctions.

Remainder of article: (a good history about what has happened in the past with NK)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/op...

Source: The New York Times

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Interview With John Dickerson of CBS’s Face the Nation
INTERVIEW - REX W. TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE - SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

QUESTION: Good morning and welcome to Face the Nation. I’m John Dickerson. We’ll get to the story that dominated news coverage most of last week, that of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, but there’s a lot of other news coming up this morning and so we’re going to begin by talking to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Mr. Secretary, welcome. Let me start with the Paris climate accord. The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration was looking for a way to stay in it, but in June President Trump said it was time to exit. So what is the administration position?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, the position is being led and developed by Gary Cohn over at the National Economic Council. And I think if you recall, the President also said, look, we are willing to work with partners in the Paris climate accord if we can construct a set of terms that we believe is fair and balanced for the American people and recognizes our economy, our economic interest relative to others – in particular, the second-largest economy in the world, China. If you look at those targets in terms of the Paris climate accord, they were just really out of balance for the two largest economies. So I think the plan is for Director Cohn to consider other ways in which we can work with partners in the Paris climate accord. We want to be productive, we want to be helpful. The U.S. actually has a tremendous track record on reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions.

QUESTION: So there’s a chance that if things get worked out both on the voluntary side from the U.S., the voluntary restrictions for the U.S., that it could change, but then also with China, there’s a chance the U.S. could stay in the accord; is that right?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I think under the right conditions. The President has said he’s open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue.

Remainder of Interview:
https://www.state.gov/interview-with-...

Source: US Department of State

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

China Cuts Off Bank Business With North Korea As Trump Announces New Sanctions - September 21, 20174:45 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered - JACKIE NORTHAM on NPR

The U.S. says that China's central bank has ordered other Chinese banks to stop doing business with North Korea.

Remainder of article and audio:
https://www.npr.org/2017/09/21/552708...

Source: NPR

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

John Bolton has cited the Dean Acheson book:

by Dean Acheson

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

OPINION | Trump must withdraw from Iran nuclear deal — now
BY JOHN R. BOLTON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 07/16/17 11:50 AM EDT


© Getty Images

For the second time during the Trump administration, the State Department has reportedly decided to certify that Iran is complying with its 2015 nuclear deal with the Security Council’s five permanent members and Germany, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”).

If true, it will be the administration’s second unforced error regarding the JCPOA. Over the past two years, considerable information detailing Tehran’s violations of the deal have become public, including: exceeding limits on uranium enrichment and production of heavy water; illicit efforts at international procurement of dual-use nuclear and missile technology; and obstructing international inspection efforts (which were insufficient to begin with).

Remainder of article by John Bolton:
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blo...

Source: The Hill

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One - also please note that the global community of nations involved with the Iran Nuclear Deal believed that Bolton was incorrect in his view of the deal itself and of his recommendation to the President.

This one was not found:

18 See Peter Baker, “Trump Recertifies Iran Nuclear Deal, but Only Reluctantly,” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/us...

Bolton, John R. . The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir (p. 496). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

Getting to No: How the Trump Administration Decided to Decertify the Iran Nuclear Deal - by Stephen F. Hayes - & Michael Warren - | October 06, 2017 04:00 AM


File photo of President Donald Trump flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (left) and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right) at White House - Pool

Donald Trump was frustrated. Five days earlier, on July 12, 2017, the president had decided for the second time in his young administration that he would certify to Congress Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal he’d promised as a candidate to dismantle. He wasn’t happy with the decision he’d made, and he was angry about the process that led to it. His top national security aides had presented him with a narrow range of options that did not include leaving the deal—or even simply “decertifying” it. On July 13, The Weekly Standard was the first to report Trump’s reluctant decision.

On the morning of July 17, the day the White House was to transmit its decision to Congress, chief strategist Steve Bannon handed Trump an article with the headline “Trump Must Withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal—Now.” The op-ed, written by former United Nations ambassador John Bolton and published the day before in the Hill, made the argument Trump had wanted to make: Iran wasn’t complying with the terms of the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; the mullahs were advancing their nuclear program, ostensibly with America’s blessing; and the deal certainly wasn’t in the national security interests of the United States.

“President Trump has repeatedly made clear his view that the Iran deal was a diplomatic debacle,” Bolton wrote. “It is not renegotiable, as some argue, because there is no chance that Iran, designated by Ronald Reagan as a state sponsor of terrorism in January 1984, will agree to any serious changes. Why should it? President Obama gave them unimaginably favorable terms, and there is no reason to think China and Russia will do us any favors revising them. Accordingly, withdrawing from the JCPOA as soon as possible should be the highest priority. The administration should stop reviewing and start deciding.”

Remainder of article:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/we...

Source: The Examiner

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

NATIONAL SECURITY & DEFENSE - How to Get Out of the Iran Nuclear Deal - By JOHN R. BOLTON - August 28, 2017 5:30 PM


Iranian flag at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. (Reuters photo: Leonhard Foeger)

Although candidate Donald Trump repeatedly criticized Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear agreement, his administration has twice decided to remain in the deal. It so certified to Congress, most recently in July, as required by law. Before the second certification, Trump asked repeatedly for alternatives to acquiescing yet again in a policy he clearly abhorred. But no such options were forthcoming, despite “a sharp series of exchanges” between the president and his advisers, as the New York Times and similar press reports characterized it.

Many outside the administration wondered how this was possible: Was Trump in control, or were his advisers? Defining a compelling rationale to exit Obama’s failed nuclear deal and elaborating a game plan to do so are quite easy. In fact, Steve Bannon asked me in late July to draw up just such a game plan for the president — the option he didn’t have — which I did.

Here it is. It is only five pages long, but like instant coffee, it can be readily expanded to a comprehensive, hundred-page playbook if the administration were to decide to leave the Iran agreement. There is no need to wait for the next certification deadline in October. Trump can and should free America from this execrable deal at the earliest opportunity.

I offer the Iran nonpaper now as a public service, since staff changes at the White House have made presenting it to President Trump impossible. Although he was once kind enough to tell me “come in and see me any time,” those days are now over.

If the president is never to see this option, so be it. But let it never be said that the option didn’t exist.

— John R. Bolton is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Abrogating the Iran Deal: The Way Forward

I. Background:

The Trump Administration is required to certify to Congress every 90 days that Iran is complying with the July 2015 nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — JCPOA), and that this agreement is in the national-security interest of the United States.1 While a comprehensive Iranian policy review is currently underway, America’s Iran policy should not be frozen. The JCPOA is a threat to U.S. national-security interests, growing more serious by the day. If the President decides to abrogate the JCPOA, a comprehensive plan must be developed and executed to build domestic and international support for the new policy.

Under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, the President must certify every 90 days that:

(i) Iran is transparently, verifiably, and fully implementing the agreement, including all related technical or additional agreements;

(ii) Iran has not committed a material breach with respect to the agreement or, if Iran has committed a material breach, Iran has cured the material breach;

(iii) Iran has not taken any action, including covert activities, that could significantly advance its nuclear weapons program; and

(iv) Suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the agreement is –

(I) appropriate and proportionate to the specific and verifiable measures taken by Iran with respect to terminating its illicit nuclear program; and

(II) vital to the national-security interests of the United States.

U.S. leadership here is critical, especially through a diplomatic and public education effort to explain a decision not to certify and to abrogate the JCPOA. Like any global campaign, it must be persuasive, thorough, and accurate. Opponents, particularly those who participated in drafting and implementing the JCPOA, will argue strongly against such a decision, contending that it is reckless, ill-advised, and will have negative economic and security consequences.

Accordingly, we must explain the grave threat to the U.S. and our allies, particularly Israel. The JCPOA’s vague and ambiguous wording; its manifest imbalance in Iran’s direction; Iran’s significant violations; and its continued, indeed, increasingly, unacceptable conduct at the strategic level internationally demonstrate convincingly that the JCPOA is not in the national-security interests of the United States. We can bolster the case for abrogation by providing new, declassified information on Iran’s unacceptable behavior around the world.

But as with prior Presidential decisions, such as withdrawing from the 1972 ABM Treaty, a new “reality” will be created. We will need to assure the international community that the U.S. decision will in fact enhance international peace and security, unlike the JCPOA, the provisions of which shield Iran’s ongoing efforts to develop deliverable nuclear weapons. The Administration should announce that it is abrogating the JCPOA due to significant Iranian violations, Iran’s unacceptable international conduct more broadly, and because the JCPOA threatens American national-security interests.

Remainder of article:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/0...

Source: The National Review

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One; please also note that a global community of nations as well as the previous White House administration was against pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Bolton's Views on the Iran Nuclear Deal:

Bolton wrote in Chapter One: "Although purportedly resolving the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, the deal did no such thing. In fact, it exacerbated the threat by creating the semblance of a solution, diverting attention from the dangers, and lifting the economic sanctions that had imposed substantial pain on Iran’s economy, while allowing Tehran to proceed essentially unimpeded.

Moreover, the deal did not seriously address other threats Iran posed: its ballistic-missile program (a thinly disguised effort to develop delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons); its continuing role as the world’s central banker for international terrorism; and its other malign activity in the region, through the intervention and growing strength of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s external military arm, in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and elsewhere.

Freed from sanctions, benefiting from the transfer of $150 million in “cash on pallets” in cargo airplanes and the unfreezing of an estimated $150 billion in assets globally, Tehran’s radical ayatollahs were back in business.

Source: Bolton, John R. . The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir (p. 19). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

POLICYWATCH 2950
How Will Iran Prepare for Potential U.S. Withdrawal from the JCPOA? - Omer Carmi - Also available in العربية فارسی - April 3, 2018


President of Iran - Hassan Rouhani

Tehran seems to believe that President Trump will kill the deal next month, so it may start prepping its dormant nuclear facilities, sowing division between U.S. allies, or courting other global powers.

Many observers believe that President Trump's recent appointment of Iran hawks for two top positions—John Bolton as national security advisor and Michael Pompeo as secretary of state—is a further sign that he will withdraw from the nuclear deal next month, when the next deadlines for extending sanctions waivers arrive.

Although Tehran's response to the appointments has been fairly muted so far, this is no surprise given that the country effectively shuts down for two weeks around the Nowruz celebration in late March. After the holiday, Iran will likely start preparing more actively for a potential U.S. decision to reapply old sanctions and essentially nullify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

BOLTON AND IRAN

John Bolton is a well-known commodity among Iran's leadership. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tangled with him for years going back to the 2003 nuclear negotiations with Europe, when Bolton was undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. Later, they both served as ambassadors to the UN, where they spent two years arguing with each other on the Security Council podium.

Over the past decade, media outlets in the Islamic Republic have portrayed Bolton as an anti-Iran neoconservative who supports the opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq, and whose policies toward the country are obsolete and counterproductive. For instance, when Bolton issued his August 2017 "memo" to the White House—a National Review article in which he outlined a strategy to withdraw from the JCPOA—Zarif declared that such a policy would be a "huge failure for Washington," resulting in further international isolation for the United States. He emphasized that Bolton's policies were proven wrong in the previous decade, claiming that they spurred Iran to increase its number of uranium enrichment centrifuges "from 200 to 20,000 in ten years." Zarif concluded that this is why no one in Washington "is listening to these proposals anymore."

As for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his basic narrative has always been that America seeks to topple the Islamic regime, and that the nuclear file is only a cover for reaching that goal. Bolton's return to the scene will probably reinforce that line of thinking.

Iran's Supervisory Committee on Implementing the JCPOA—composed of officials such as Zarif, President Hassan Rouhani, Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani, and Atomic Energy Organization director Ali Akbar Salehi—will presumably meet again soon, and one can assume that they will devote at least some attention to Bolton's writings in order to understand his potential impact on U.S. policy. In addition to his 2017 roadmap for annulling the nuclear deal, they are no doubt aware of his January Wall Street Journal op-ed advocating the regime's ouster—and of Pompeo's similar rhetoric over the years.

Remainder of Policy Article:
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/p...

Source: The Washington Institute

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One; please also note that a global community of nations as well as the previous White House administration was against pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal

John Bolton: Mr. President, don't put America at risk with flawed Iran deal - BY JOHN R. BOLTON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 10/09/17 09:00 AM EDT 189 THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL



President Trump will address U.S. policy toward Iran on Thursday, doubtless focusing on his decision regarding Barack Obama’s badly flawed nuclear deal. Key officials are now briefing Congress, the press and foreign governments about the speech, cautioning that the final product is, in fact, not yet final. The preponderant media speculation is that Trump’s senior advisers are positioning him to make a serious mistake, based on their flawed advice. Wishful thinking about Iran’s mullahs, near-religious faith in the power of pieces of paper, and a retreat from executive authority are hallmarks of the impending crash.

In short, Obama’s Iran nuclear deal is poised to become the Trump-Obama deal. The media report that the president will not withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but instead, under the misbegotten Corker-Cardin legislation, will “decertify” that it is in America’s national interest. Congress may then reimpose sanctions, or try somehow to “fix” the deal. Curiously, most of the suggested “fixes” involve repairing Corker-Cardin rather than the JCPOA directly.

Remainder of article:
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-...

Source: The Hill

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One; please note the above article and opinions are not those of the History Book Club

Remarks by President Trump on Iran Strategy - NATIONAL SECURITY & DEFENSE - Issued on: October 13, 2017

Diplomatic Reception Room

12:53 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. My fellow Americans: As President of the United States, my highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the American people.

History has shown that the longer we ignore a threat, the more dangerous that threat becomes. For this reason, upon taking office, I’ve ordered a complete strategic review of our policy toward the rogue regime in Iran. That review is now complete.

Today, I am announcing our strategy, along with several major steps we are taking to confront the Iranian regime’s hostile actions and to ensure that Iran never, and I mean never, acquires a nuclear weapon.

Our policy is based on a clear-eyed assessment of the Iranian dictatorship, its sponsorship of terrorism, and its continuing aggression in the Middle East and all around the world.

Remainder of presentation:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-...

Source: The White House

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

U.S. Funding Cut Reignites Debate on Palestinian Refugee Agency By David M. Halbfinger - Jan. 17, 2018


The Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, where much of the population relies on assistance from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.Credit...Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

JERUSALEM — In the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, Mahmoud Ferwana, 59, huddled beneath a flimsy nylon-and-sheet-metal roof while rain drenched the rest of his squalid home’s sandy floor. He earns money collecting broken stones; his children scavenge for copper. But none of it amounts to a living.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is what reliably puts food in their mouths.

If that aid were to stop, Mr. Ferwana said on Wednesday, “I and my children will die.”

That aid, to Mr. Ferwana and more than five million other Palestinians living in refugee camps across the Middle East, is now endangered by what the agency’s leaders are calling the worst financial crisis in its seven-decade history.

The United States, its biggest donor, announced this week that it was withholding $65 million from a scheduled payment of $120 million. The Trump administration said it was pressing for unspecified reforms from the agency, while also seeking to get Arab countries to contribute more.

Remainder of article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/wo...

Source: The New York Times

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Israel admits bombing suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, warns Iran - stephen farrell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel for the first time admitted that it bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007 and said on Wednesday the strike should be a warning to Iran that it would not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Remainder of article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-is...

Source: Reuters

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

South Korea approves record $2.6 million budget for North Koreans' Olympic visit


The NK Cheerleaders

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea approved on Wednesday the use of a record 2.86 billion won ($2.64 million) to bankroll the cost of hosting hundreds of visiting North Koreans during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Remainder of article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ol...

Source: Reuters

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Discussion Topics and Questions:

1. Did anyone else feel that this was an inordinate amount of money paid by the South Korean government? Why did the North Koreans not pay their own way at the Olympics? Especially for their own cheering squad, teams, their own journalists and orchestra?

2. Did NK say that they would not participate unless all of their expenses were paid for by the South Koreans? Isn't that sort of bypassing what we consider to be the Olympic spirit of good will and sportsmanship?

3. Or did South Korea assume that this was a small investment to pay for better relations with the North? Or do some of you feel that NK takes advantage of the goodwill of others? What did South Korea get in return? Your thoughts?

U.N. Links North Korea to Syria’s Chemical Weapons Program by Michael Schwirtz


Smoke billowed last week after an airstrike on the besieged neighborhood of eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus.Credit...Ammar Suleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

UNITED NATIONS — North Korea has been shipping supplies to the Syrian government that could be used in the production of chemical weapons, United Nations experts contend.

The evidence of a North Korean connection comes as the United States and other countries have accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons on civilians, including recent attacks on civilians in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta using what appears to have been chlorine gas.

The supplies from North Korea include acid-resistant tiles, valves and thermometers, according to a report by United Nations investigators. North Korean missile technicians have also been spotted working at known chemical weapons and missile facilities inside Syria, according to the report, which was written by a panel of experts who looked at North Korea’s compliance with United Nations sanctions.

The report highlights the potential danger posed by any such trade between Syria and North Korea, which could allow Syria to maintain its chemical weapons while also providing North Korea with cash for its nuclear and missile programs.

Remainder of article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/wo...

Source: The New York Times

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Salisbury poisoning: What did the attack mean for the UK and Russia?- By Gordon Corera - Security correspondent - 4 March 2020


Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious but both survived the attack

On 4 March 2018 emergency services received a phone call from members of the public in Salisbury who had seen an old man and a young woman ill on a bench. It was a call that would set in motion a chain of events leading to a major crisis with Russia.

After the pair were taken to hospital, local police did an online search on the name of the man taken ill.

The result set off alarm bells. He was a former Russian spy.
A call came into the duty officer at MI6 headquarters that Sunday evening.

The realisation that Sergei Skripal - a man who had provided MI6 with secrets from his time in Russian military intelligence - had been targeted sent shock waves through the building, challenging the very core of its work in recruiting agents to work with the organisation.

Remainder of article:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51722301

Source: BBC News

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

Dunford: Military option for North Korea not 'unimaginable'
By NAHAL TOOSI 07/22/2017 09:11 PM EDT Updated 07/24/2017 02:08 PM EDT


Moderator Andrea Mitchell interviews Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chairman Joseph Dunford on July 22 during the Aspen Security Forum at the Aspen Institute, in Aspen, Colorado. | Anna Stonehouse/The Aspen Times via AP Photo

ASPEN, Colorado — Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested Saturday that Americans must be prepared for the possibility of a military confrontation with North Korea, whose nuclear program he deemed an urgent threat.

Although he stressed the importance of applying continued economic and diplomatic pressure aimed at persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arms program, Dunford dismissed the oft-stated notion that a military option shouldn't be on the table.

Remainder of article:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...

Source: Politico

Note: The above article was cited in John Bolton's Book Notes for Chapter One

All of the citations, articles and links in the Notes segment for Chapter One which is this week's reading assignment have been added and posted.

More:
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collectio...

by Hans Christian Andersen

by Mark A. Abramson (no photo)

A West Wing Tour of the White House with sign language as well:
Link: https://youtu.be/lsrd9m7rx90

Sources: The White House, GovInfo

by Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan

by Thomas Hobbes

Synopsis:

'The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short'

Written during the chaos of the English Civil War, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan asks how, in a world of violence and horror, can we stop ourselves from descending into anarchy? Hobbes' case for a 'common-wealth' under a powerful sovereign - or 'Leviathan' - to enforce security and the rule of law, shocked his contemporaries, and his book was publicly burnt for sedition the moment it was published. But his penetrating work of political philosophy - now fully revised and with a new introduction for this edition - opened up questions about the nature of statecraft and society that influenced governments across the world.

A Little History of Philosophy

by Nigel Warburton

Synopsis:

Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, disconcerting the people he met by showing them how little they genuinely understood. This engaging book introduces the great thinkers in Western philosophy and explores their most compelling ideas about the world and how best to live in it.

In forty brief chapters, Nigel Warburton guides us on a chronological tour of the major ideas in the history of philosophy. He provides interesting and often quirky stories of the lives and deaths of thought-provoking philosophers from Socrates, who chose to die by hemlock poisoning rather than live on without the freedom to think for himself, to Peter Singer, who asks the disquieting philosophical and ethical questions that haunt our own times.

Warburton not only makes philosophy accessible, he offers inspiration to think, argue, reason, and ask in the tradition of Socrates. A Little History of Philosophy presents the grand sweep of humanity's search for philosophical understanding and invites all to join in the discussion.

Just today:

Trump's former adviser says President is trying to avoid responsibility - The Lead

Former national security adviser to President Trump, John Bolton, says that it is hard for him to believe that the President was not informed about intelligence that suggested Russia might be offering bounties to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan.

Link to interview: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2...

Net, net - Bolton states that the President has trouble owning his decisions!

Source: CNN

VOA Interview: Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton

Link: https://youtu.be/euTUvnCixSk

Bolton discusses US foreign policy, President Trump's leadership and America's foes

Source: Youtube

Bolton stated that his philosophy and policy frameworks were "pro American" and he followed the ideas of the following: (Smith (Economics), Burke (Society), The Federalist Papers (Government), Dean Acheson and John Foster Dulles (National Security) and Goldwater (Politics).

by Adam Smith

by Edmund Burke

by Alexander Hamilton

by Dean Acheson

(no image) The Spiritual Legacy of John Foster Dulles: Selections from His Articles and Addresses by John Foster Dulles (no photo)

by Barry M. Goldwater


Discussion Topics and Questions:

1. Based upon Bolton's admissions of who he admired and why and given that he also indicated in which spheres he was influenced by these individuals - how would you categorize Bolton?

2. Bolton goes into great detail regarding the number of jobs he was considered for and his predecessors as well as the fall out from those who were appointed before him. What are your thoughts concerning the disarray of the hiring process and the lack of strategy that the Trump team had in hiring? What did you find unusual about the Presidential team's approach?

Bolton discusses H. R. McMaster and his excellent book:

by H.R. McMaster

Bolton stated that Trump's White House did not resemble Addison's Cato but more the song Hotel California.

by Joseph Addison

The Eagle's song Hotel California:

Link: https://youtu.be/niIX0QcYRzE

“You can check out any time you like / But you can never leave.”

Pentagon chief confirms he was briefed on intelligence about Russian payments to the Taliban - By Zachary Cohen, CNN

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/09/politi...

Bolton interviewed

Source: CNN