Bolton’s appointment puzzles many U.S. allies

BRUSSELS — John Bolton’s appointment as national security adviser seems to many around the world to represent President Donald Trump unbound, and they are trying to puzzle out what exactly that means.

A fiercely intelligent man with deeply conservative, nationalistic and aggressive views about U.S. foreign policy, Bolton may bring more consistency and predictability to Trump’s foreign policy, many suggest. But others worry that his hawkish views on Iran and North Korea, among others, may goad Trump into seeking military solutions to diplomatic problems.

And it is an open question whether he will be able to manage his relationship with Trump, who seems to tire quickly of anyone outside his own family who tries to guide or restrict his behavior. Bolton’s views are well-known and largely seem to align with Trump’s: The Iran nuclear deal is flawed and should be scrapped; North Korea must denuclearize or face military action; the United Nations and most other multilateral institutions are of little use to Washington. In this sense, said Josef Janning, a German policy analyst, Bolton “will provide significant support and intellectual ammunition to President Trump.”

Bolton’s ascension promises strains with U.S. allies both in Europe and in Asia — first over the nuclear deal with Iran and then over the nuclear capacity of North Korea.

If Trump withdraws from the Iran deal in mid-May and imposes new U.S. sanctions, as now seems very likely, the other signatories to the agreement, especially the Europeans, will have a difficult choice.

While Bolton’s appointment was welcomed in Israel, with the education minister, Naftali Bennett, calling him “a stalwart friend of Israel,” the official Iranian response called him a “supporter of terrorists” now in “the highest political position in Trump’s totalitarian government.”

The appointment of Bolton has set teeth on edge in Asia, where U.S. allies are highly anxious about a developing nuclear crisis that appears all but inevitable. Bolton, Pompeo and Trump all say that North Korea could face pre-emptive warfare if it does not agree to dismantle its nuclear weapons. “People are trying to avoid appearing terrified,” said Tong Zhao, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing. “But people are deeply concerned.”