Ambassador John Bolton, the Assistant to the President – National Security Advisor (APNSA) and the Frank Burns of American national security professionals, is also a master of operational security!
My eagle-eyed colleague spotted on Bolton’s notepad what sure looks like:
“Afghanistan—>welcome the talks.
5,000 troops to Colombia” pic.twitter.com/Al4mCGJIfU— Ned Price (@nedprice) January 28, 2019
For those that can’t quite make that out:
And now the close up!
That says:
3) Afghanistan -> welcome the talks; 5,000 troops to Colombia
Nothing like the element of surprise when violating the War Powers Act!
Bolton has to be one of the absolutely stupidest national security professionals ever. Anyone want some action on whether he was one of the 30 people that were denied a clearance by the professional adjudicators and then granted one by Carl Kline, just like Jared Kushner was? He makes Alcibiades pushing the Athenian government to invade Sicily look like a military genius fusion of Pericles, Julius Caesar, Sun Tzu, and Clausewitz! And I don’t want to hear from you Jomini fan boys in the comments either! Keep it to yourselves you freaks!
Open thread!
Baud
Legal pads ok.
Emails are treason.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Greeeeeat…
cain
Seriously, so now we’re going to get involved in a land war in Venezuala? Christ, we are really a stupid nation. We can’t seem to help ourselves and get involved in the stupidest of ventures. I can understand we dont’ want China and the Russians in our sphere of influence, but good golly… there has to be other ways.
trollhattan
This fvckin’ guy…..
B.B.A.
wtf I love Maduro now
trollhattan
@cain:
Even if we did take a decade or four off to go play in the sand, we do jungle warfare really, really good. What could possibly go wrong? (Besides turn an entire continent anti-US.)
ssdd
Nobody can get the truth out of me because even I don’t know what it is. I keep myself in a constant state of utter confusion. — Col. Flagg
jimmiraybob
This smacks of a set up. Only one note on an entire page, legibly written, right side up and pointed at a camera? Magic 8 ball says harrumph.
Cheryl Rofer
Adam, any word on Russians in Venezuela? I saw a report of 400 Vagner troops, but then some confused reports saying no, or that maybe they were regular military.
Here’s an article saying that US military action in Venezuela is likely to lead to an occupation. I think most of us could have guessed that, but the article works it out in detail.
Seems to me that we should wait and see how things go, and maybe STFU even if we’re making plans to intervene if necessary.
Adam L Silverman
@cain: Because what your really want is a fight with Speaker Pelosi right now over whether you have actual authorization to invade and conduct contingency operations in Venezuela from Colombia.
trollhattan
Not sure why Raquel Welch and Dick Cavett are in my RH column but I’m pretty okay with that. Now what happens when I press “post”?
ETA Damnit, she’s gone, Jim!
cain
Also, the millenials and gen zs are never goign to understand that scrawl.. since we don’t do cursive anymore :D
MomSense
I hate all these neo CONs.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Last I saw of the reporting is that Putin had 400 Wagner mercenaries sent to Venezuela to support Maduro. Of course, as with all things Putin and Wagner, those could be actual mercenaries, they could be current Russian Special Forces presenting themselves as Wagner mercenaries, or they could be a combination of the two.
I fully expect that if the administration tries to do this, that Pelosi is going to yank the leash hard.
Cheryl Rofer
Oh, and “all options are on the table” is pretty much the state of affairs as long as Trump is in office. They change from minute to minute.
dmsilev
I’ll see your Jomini and raise you a Charles Beresford.
Fair Economist
Alcibiades was brilliant. The Syracusan Expedition would probably have succeeded except that he got kicked out if Athens by his enemies and raced to Syracuse to get them organized to resist. Whomever he was working for started winning the war. Don’t insult him by comparing him unfavorably to Bolton!
jacy
I am glad there’s not an actual competition for the worst person in this maladministration. It could never be definitively decided and as the choices kept oscilliating back and forth, it would create a black hole that just sucks everything inside out. (NOT MEANT TO BE REAL SCIENCE — next to calculus, physics was my worst subject)
Frankensteinbeck
Yet another war Bolton wants, and Trump is too cowardly to give him. Thank goodness.
Chyron HR
It’s times like this I’m glad we elected the Man Of Peace.
germy
Question for Adam:
I saw this comment over at LGM concerning the 2020 presidential race:
Has this possibility already been discussed in a previous thread? If so, I missed it.
dmsilev
@Chyron HR: The folks over at Lawyers, Guns, & Money like to post a screenshot of a 2016 Maureen Dowd column entitled “Donald the Dove, Hillary the Hawk”. Its thesis has …not aged well.
Cermet
@cain: Read that as oil – lots, and lots of oil; better still, essentially off our coast. Further, the most massive tar sands in the world. An invasion will pay for itself – what could go wrong?
rp
Will Greenwald ignore this or argue that it’s Obama’s fault for not prosecuting the Bush administration for war crimes?
Adam L Silverman
@Fair Economist: Alciabides turned coat. Traitors don’t get compliments.
Ladyraxterinok
@cain: W’s anti-Chavez moves early on damaged chances for US influence in Venezuela?
germy
@rp: GG wanted Obama to prosecute himself for war crimes.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: I haven’t discussed it. I don’t see Director Wray as a toady based on how he’s conducted himself since becoming FBI Director. Whitaker certainly is. And I expect Barr will be too. At this point anyone that accepts an appointment will be one.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
How far would you say Bolton is willing to go to violate democratic norms and laws to get the wars he desperately wants?
Cheryl Rofer
B.B.A.
@Adam L Silverman: and if they do, none dare call it…I’ll come in again.
Ladyraxterinok
@trollhattan: Wasn’t that essentially done in the 1920s??
Aided by Reagan and HW’s actions?
Chyron HR
@dmsilev:
Its author has not aged well.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: I look forward to the day that Bolsanairo has Greenwald scarfed up and sent to a reeducation camp.
West of the Rockies
Does such a person not have an iota of awareness that 5,000 troops represent 5,000 sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers? People are just game pieces on a fold-up board to such men.
laura
Jeez, it’s not as though an ill thought out military misadventure to steal a valuable public resource could go wrong, or create a humanitarian crisis on our border or result in some unfathomable blow back, so Elliot and John, have at it.
\\
So much damn winning and making great of America….
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: He will go all the way!
Adam L Silverman
@West of the Rockies: Narrator: John Bolton did not have an iota of awareness.
Brachiator
@Cermet:
Well, it ain’t our oil.
At current prices, it ain’t profitable for us to take it.
I know that Republicans must be snorting coke, doing meth, and shooting up opiods like muthafuckas, but occupying and administering a country ain’t as easy as they think.
US as undisputed world pariah. Wow. I’d like to see Trump wear that one.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
I get the sense from you that he himself is pretty stupid. He wouldn’t be a mastermind, but would he be willing to engage in some kind of coup that would remove Pelosi and other obstacles like her from power? I suppose that would depend on what form that coup would take and by what means.
dmsilev
Just wanted to point out that Venezuela’s population is north of 30 million people, putting it in the same general ballpark as Iraq. What, exactly, are 5000 troops supposed to accomplish there?
Radiumgirl
Is he literally that stupid? Really? How does he manage to put his pants on every day?
chopper
@Cheryl Rofer:
i celebrate his entire catalog.
chopper
@Cermet:
yeah, cause we all know how great syncrude is. that shit’s liquid gold, it is.
debbie
Mr. Bolton clearly learned at the knee of Chris Kobach. //
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
WP would let me edit:
I’ve read that Bolton opposes the International Criminal Court and other liberal institutions that somehow impugn on US national sovereignty. Is there evidence to suggest that he’s anti-democratic as well, for the sake of power? That he would similarly attempt to circumvent and deny the legitimacy of domestic small L liberal institutions when it suited him? Like the court system, Democratic Congress, and Democratic-controlled state governments?
Frankensteinbeck
@Cheryl Rofer:
I think that’s exactly correct. We’ve had enough leaks out of the administration to suggest that Bolton has pushed for every military action imaginable, and gotten nowhere. That he would carry around a note about what he wants to happen, but which has no connection to actual reality or policy, seems downright inevitable to me.
Baud
Rand Paul will bravely put a halt to these shenanigans!
karen marie
@Frankensteinbeck: We can only hope so. Venezuela has oil and Trump needs more, bigger distraction from his imploding presidency.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
I don’t know, the handwriting’s a little hard to read…it could also be “welcome the taliban.” Why does John Bolton love the taliban so much? Why does he hate the troops?
Elizabelle
Have mercy, Adam.
Put that jackhole’s face below the fold.
debbie
@Ladyraxterinok:
Moves? He congratulated the leader of the coup before it had succeeded, and when the coup ended in failure, he looked like a chump of the first order. That’s not a move; that’s just stupid.
lgerard
And Frank Gaffney, the Col, Flagg of national security, just visited the White House and gave his valuable input as part of the Ginni Thomas traveling midway of freaks.
The best people!
hells littlest angel
Top that, Dennis Miller!
NotMax
Really ought to change my name to NewCassandra after being roundly pooh-poohed each time I deigned to say “Keep an eye on Venezuela” over the last year and a half as regards this woebegone administration.
hells littlest angel
I look forward to Larry Kudlow explaining that war in Venezuela will drive down the price of cocaine.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: No, John Bolton is not going to disband Congress.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lgerard:
“Ginni” Thomas is a real piece of work:
?BillinGlendaleCA
Adam, you sound shrill.
karen marie
Interesting:
It appears, however, that Columbia’s government is run by people who would be happy with the distraction of hosting an invasion force from the US.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I am not amused! Awf wif someone’s ead!!!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
South America stole our name*, they had it coming.
H/T: Randy Newman, Political Science.
Adam L Silverman
Special Counsel Mueller, your table is ready!
justjack
I am sure Jomini would judge this a concentration of farce.
Gelfling 545
Flashing notes about possible troop movements around like it’s his grocery list? Not only should these people not have security clearance, they should not be trusted with the cookie money for a girl scout.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
His hotel serves chicken nuggets and Big Macs?
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman:
Kicked out of Athens. Kicked out of Sparta.
Just last week Poynter ran an article with the thesis, “if you’re being criticized by both sides you’re doing a good job.”
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Obviously not. He doesn’t have that kind of that power in the first place. What I meant to ask was whether Bolton himself detests liberal democracy itself and wouldn’t mind seeing the US become a dictatorship, as long as he got to send troops everywhere, blowing foreigners up?
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Steak prepared as hockey puck with a sauce tomato ketchup served with a side of Mother Trump’s french fries…
Adam L Silverman
@justjack: I actually like Jomini, I was just being a smartass.
Adam L Silverman
@Gelfling 545: Got to fund the Girl Scouts. They’re the only properly funded, properly resourced uniformed service we have in the US. We may well need them to go operational given that the conventional forces of all the Services and the special operations forces of all the Services are all tapped out.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: I saw that. Idiots!
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I have no idea. I’ve never met him. And am grateful for that.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
Automatic tampering!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Ok. I thought you might have had some insight or something on him, given your profession.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Don’t skimp, it’s a double order of fries.
;)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@hells littlest angel:
This would make Larry Kudlow very happy.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: No, burnt steak.
ETA: I see Adam got there first with a much better description(shakes fist and yells, “Silverman”).
Jager
@NotMax:
He’ll have two scoops of ice cream with the “Death (dare I wish) by Chocolate” cake. Is Melania still out of town? Maybe old Rog lined the boss up with a dinner date.
Mike in NC
Jared seen whispering in Fat Bastard’s ear: “Pops, they got lots of oil! We’ll be welcomed as liberators!”
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
You have to admit that even though he was a scoundrel- he was good at it.
HinTN
@ssdd: Security at its finest!
MomSense
@rp:
Gigi supported Bush. He wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
HinTN
@Adam L Silverman:
HinTN
@Adam L Silverman: Thank goodness for small favors.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: To pave the way for 5,000 more, of course.
Ken
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Bolton may have personal reasons for opposing the International Criminal Court.
ewrunning
Very amusing and, at once, horrifying. I recall an incident in the late 1980s when a senior career State Department official (Ron Spiers) appeared on the cover of the American Foreign Service Association’s magazine or State’s in house magazine with the National Intelligence Daily open on his desk. As I remember, it was clearly legible as a Secret/NOFORN piece on Lebanon. Those of us laboring in the trenches of State’s Intelligence and Research (INR) Bureau, whose offices were regularly visited by Diplomatic Security officers anxious to dish out security violations, found the whole incident highly illuminating. This was also about the same time Elliot Abrams was driving one of INR’s Deputy Assistant Secretaries out of the Department, allegedly for leaking, but really for questioning the wisdom of Reagan administration policy in Central America.
Uncle Omar
@Brachiator: “…occupying and administering a country ain’t as easy as they think.” Just look at the United States.
Gravenstone
@trollhattan:
Sorry dude, we’ve been working on that since at least the mid-19th century.
neldob
Where is Elliot Abrams when we need him?
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
Sheesh, read that as “your table saw is ready” before my eyes hit the word “is”.
Mr. RS has been on my mind, a lot, for a while. (Yeah, R. Mueller wants Stone alive.)
Bill Arnold
@jimmiraybob:
That’s my guess too. (only 75 percent though.)
Motive unclear (if so). Perhaps to probe Venezuela’s alertness level?
(I try to avoid even glancing at other people’s notes; have gotten into subtle trouble for it.)
JR
With this current crop of numbnuts we would be lucky to have George McClellan back.
lynn
Feels like Reagan and Lebanon. Sure he was told it was not safe…but he did it anyway.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
This feels like more “Pown the Liberatards”, what exactly will 5,000 troops do in a country that size?
You can almost hear Bolton yuck it up with his pals
John laughing “Won’t the left be pissed if we invaded Venezuela?”
Crony “Tell me about it, I mentioned the idea to one of the general and the guy’s face turned red he was so angry, he was yelling at me, called me a clueless moron, I mean, wow dude chill out. People are to combative these days”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: reading the wiki on Jomini he sounds like the antithesis of Bolton.
AxelFoley
@Adam L Silverman:
Ain’t gonna lie–I’d like that very much.
ottercliff
3. Pick up lucky charms and prune juice on the way home
Sebastian
@Adam L Silverman:
Come sit by me. I was labeled with bloodlust for saying that. Glad I am in good company.
Fuck those fuckers. All of them.