TRUMP’S BOLTON NOMINATION MET WITH WORLDWIDE DERISION
>> WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s choice of John Bolton as national security adviser provoked strong reactions worldwide on Friday — and few stronger than in the bitterly-divided Middle East.
Some commentators saw it as another nail in the coffin of the Obama-era agreement between Iran and world powers to limit Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, already cast into grave doubt by Mr Trump himself.
Others expected Mr Bolton to further undermine any remaining slender hopes of a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict emerging in the foreseeable future.
He has in recent months applauded Mr Trump’s plan to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Naftali Bennett, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, called Mr Bolton “an extraordinary security expert, experienced diplomat and a stalwart friend of Israel”.
Left-leaning Israeli news website Haaretz was less enthusiastic, quoting 2016 comments by Mr Bolton that the idea of two states, Israel and Palestine, existing side by side had “been dead for a long time”.
He instead argued for the Palestinian territories to be placed under Egyptian and Jordanian sovereignty.
Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, aligned with the Shia militant group and political movement Hizbollah, reported Mr Bolton’s appointment with the headline “Zionist Hawk in the White House”, drawing attention to Mr Bolton’s historical calls for action against Iran.
“Bolton’s appointment, combined with [Mike] Pompeo’s nomination [for secretary of state] last week, significantly lowers the odds that Trump will stick to the nuclear deal beyond May,” said Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations.
“Both men have vocally opposed the nuclear deal, advocated for regime change in Iran and Bolton has repeatedly called for bombing rather than diplomacy as a fix to the nuclear issue.”
Mr Trump was surrounding himself with “like-minded advisers”, Ms Geranmayeh said.
But she said Mr Bolton’s position on the Iran agreement would meet strong resistance from US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the European powers who are also signatories. European officials expressed alarm at the personnel changes in Washington.
“The writing is on the wall, unless we Europeans can present a forceful and united front to save the Iran deal,” said one EU diplomat. Another said: “Any moderating factor in White House foreign policy is being lost. We hoped the ‘adults in the room’ would win over Trump, but now the adults are leaving.” Some observers of Iran and the region saw storm clouds gathering. “President Trump has now chosen a war cabinet,” said Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Mr Bolton was a leading advocate of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has called for a change of government in North Korea.