Steve Clemons made a very funny observation
the other day after Jon Stewart got John Bolton to say “I only want one government to have nuclear weapons … You’re sitting in it.” What about Israel?
Given [Bolton’s] typical lawyerly shrewdness that I have come to expect and never underestimate, I was stunned when he abandoned his support of Israel’s nuclear weapons stash.
John Bolton wants Israel to give up its nukes! Somebody call Eli Lake!
FSB | August 5, 2009
Ha! good point — He hates Israel!
It was a great clip — see also discussion at Prof. Walt’s site.
Azr@el | August 5, 2009
Bolton has been very pro-Israel…
http://www.forward.com/articles/3421/
…but I don’t believe this translates into Bolton’s carte blanc support for an eternal Jewish nuclear deterrent. Bolton is not, nor has he ever been a true believer, in anything, he’s just a shrewd cynic willing to pretend to drink the Kool-Aid when it’s to the advantage of his policy goals. This fact allows him to readily shrug off the whiny disillusioned neo-cons with a simple and curt,“Never knew them”, and move on to his next affinity group.
hass | August 5, 2009
What? Israel has nukes? You don’t say!
anon | August 5, 2009
What a dummy! of course, if only one country should have a nuke it should be Russia, perhaps Iran or the Norks??
Darn, I can recall the time when Arms Controls was about arms control – not a bunch of anti-nukers hiding behind the legimate issues of arms control.
Andrew Tubbiolo | August 6, 2009
Well put ‘anon’. The more important point is why is it that the only intelligent, technical and strategic analysis, these days, comes from the anti-nukers? Let’s face it the modern conservative movement is a intellectual waste land. Bolden going on a fake news show saying he wants a return to the American nuclear monopoly is so far out of reality that you have to ask just how fake the show is. That we live in an age where people debate what they want instead of what can be done is frightening. Where are the McNamara’s or Cap Wienbergers for the political right? Gone and nobody replaced them. We got Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. I thank my lucky stars that the anti-nukers have gotten smart and embraced a engineering and scientific approach to forwarding their goals. They’re the only ones holding up sane analysis these days. We’d be in a bad spot without them.
Sause | August 6, 2009
You criticize the WaPo so frequently for little tiny things (like saying a guy who is seen once every few months is reclusive…) yet you then take part in a typical political/liberal action of saying BOLTON WANTS ISRAEL TO DISARM! when he said nothing of the sort. I dont think Israel should disarm, but if I was asked, i’d say that i want my country to be the only one with nukes too. Stop being hypocritical and stick to the facts.
anon | August 6, 2009
People are entitled to their opinion but they’re not entitled to their own facts.
“Life is complicated. The reason we have democracy is that no one side is right all the time. The only people who are dangerous are those who can’t admit, even to themselves, that obvious fact.”
Steve Clemons | August 7, 2009
Sause — you need to take some time off this summer and relax. This was a comdey show — and Bolton, like usual, is there to try and sell books and scare the country. And when he said he wants only one country to have nukes, well…. that’s news. deal with it.
best regards, steve clemons
Jeffrey Lewis | August 7, 2009
People are taking this very seriously.
It’s funny, people, just laugh and move on.