Bolton replaces McMaster as U.S. national security advisor

U.S. President Trump decided on March 22 to appoint as
his new national security advisor John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to
the UN who is among the leading adherents of neo-conservatism, the U.S. foreign
policy doctrine based on spreading Western liberal democracy to closed
societies with authoritarian rulers. Neo-conservatives also advocate
challenging and confronting America’s leading rivals on the world stage,
particularly China, Russia and Iran. Bolton will be replacing H.R. McMaster,
who served only 13 months.

Zenon Zawada: Bolton is
as fierce a foreign policy hawk as Trump could find in the U.S. foreign policy
establishment. With Bolton’s appointment, Trump has fully embraced the
neo-conservative foreign policy that he campaigned so fiercely against during
his campaign. He has abandoned any pretense of America First isolationism that
he once advocated, as well as any thawing in relations with Russia.

Besides advocating military force against North
Korea and Iran, Bolton has repeatedly called for more punitive actions in
response to Russia’s hostile foreign acts, such granting asylum to Edward
Snowden or allegedly poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal. We can only expect
Bolton to advise applying more sanctions-related pressure against Putin, to
supply more arms Ukraine and for NATO to prepare for expanded war with Russia,
whether on the European continent or in Syria.