Trump appoints John Bolton as new NSA

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has replaced National Security Adviser General McMaster with John Bolton, a hawkish non-conservative foreign policy expert.

"I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, Ambassador John Bolton will be my new National Security Adviser," Trump, keeping his tradition of firing officials through twitter messages, wrote on the social media website. "I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job and will always remain my friend," he added. John Bolton is a former ambassador to the UN. He will be the fourth man on the advisory job in just over a year.

The move was long expected, but the surprising element was the announcement of bringing John Bolton into the fold who has been an advocate of war with Iran and preemptive strike against North Korea and still considers Iraq war justifiable.

Ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Bob Menendez issued a statement on the announcement saying, "The continued chaos at the White House is a grave threat to our nation's security and the ability to effectively assert strong American leadership in the world." Strongly criticising the new decision, he said he was deeply concerned about the dangerous impact John Bolton will have on the national security. "While the President may see in Mr Bolton a sympathetic sycophant, I would remind him that Mr Bolton has a reckless approach to advancing the safety and security of Americans -- far outside any political party. Let us recall that Mr Bolton forcefully advocated for the Iraq war, which as of this week is in its 15th year. I proudly voted against the Iraq war, which has taken the lives of nearly 4,400 Americans, wounded over 32,000 more, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths to date," he summarised the situation and fears that even some Congressional members have because of the decision.

What it could mean for the South Asia region might not be different from what the senior senator outlined. John Bolton does not see Pakistan in the most favourable light. "It harbours terrorists; it has around 100 nukes; it has an incompetent and/or corrupt civilian government; it has a strong military that's getting more radicalised by the day," Bolton wrote in an opinion piece for Wall Street Journal just last August.

He suggested to the Trump White House that China was the key to keep Pakistan under control. "If American pressure were enough to compel Pakistan to act decisively against the terrorists within its borders that would have happened long ago. What President Trump needs is a China component to his nascent South Asia policy, holding Beijing accountable for the misdeeds that helped create the current strategic dangers," he wrote.

"It must, therefore, be core American policy to hold China to account, even belatedly. The US can use its leverage to induce China to join the world in telling Pakistan it must sever ties with terrorists and close their sanctuaries. The Trump administration should make clear that Beijing will face consequences if it does not bring to bear its massive interests in support of this goal," he further wrote.

Interestingly, just previous day on Thursday President Trump also directed US trade officials to level tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese imports. Along with this, the administration also plans to impose new investment restrictions and take action against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The local media here has also called out the decision saying that John Bolton's ascension to national security adviser "creates the most radically aggressive foreign policy team around the American president in modern memory."