Although incoming national security adviser John Bolton has a reputation for harsh rhetoric, his record as a political official shows "more than a few surprises," an international expert wrote in a column for The Washington Post.
David Bosco, an associate professor of international studies at Indiana University, admits "the litany of concerns about Bolton," including his longtime support for military action in the Middle East and accusations that he intimidated or harassed intelligence analysts who disagreed with him.
However, he notes that "Bolton's views on multilateral institutions and international law … are at the heart of these concerns," and questions whether the former U.S. ambassador's views on the subject are as simple as his speeches make it seem.
"The image of Bolton, in part self-generated, as an inveterate unilateralist who has no use for the United Nations or multilateral cooperation requires some correction," Bosco writes. "Bolton's record and worldview on that point are more complicated."
In his 2007 memoir, Bolton wrote that liberals, "unable to prevail in a fair fight within America's system of representative government, so they now seek international forums to argue their positions."
But in 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Bolton and other members of then-President George H.W. Bush's administration "chose to work intensively through the U.N. Security Council … Bolton remembers working with [then-Secretary of State James] Baker and other senior colleagues "minute by minute" to secure international support for the U.N. measures.
If Bolton thinks making the world organization the center of U.S. diplomacy was a mistake, he gives no sign of it.
That same year, Bolton told a congressional subcommittee that there are "unmistakable signs that the U.N. has emerged as the organization in which countries of the world actually can unite to confront challenges to international peace and stability."
Bosco concludes that since Bolton's 2007 book, he has presented a "partisan persona" that "he has honed and amplified … through speeches at the Conservative Political Action Committee and regular appearances on Fox News," which may have gotten President Donald Trump's attention.
"The big question now is whether some of the complexity evident in his public record — including a willingness to work multilaterally — will turn up for work when he does."
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