“My priority is to give the United States the kind of influence it should have.” GivingShouldKindStatesUnitedUnited StatesInfluenceShould HavePriorities Author:John Bolton
“I want to make sure that, not only in the Republican Party but in the body politic as a whole, people are aware of threats that remain to the United States.” PeopleWantStatesWholeBodyUnitedPartyUnited StatesRepublicanThreatRepublican Party Author:John Bolton
“In the United States, there is a broadly shared view that the U.N. is one of many potential instruments to advance U.S. issues, and we have to decide whether a particular issue is best done through the U.N. or best done through some other mechanism.” StatesDoneUnitedViewsUnited StatesIssuesParticularInstrumentsMechanism Author:John Bolton
“If I were doing the Security Council today, I'd have one permanent member, the United States, because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world. All international laws are invalid, meaningless attempts to constrict American power.” IfsWorldRealStatesTodayLawUnitedUnited StatesSecurityMembersReflectionInternationalPermanentMeaninglessDistributionCouncilInternational LawSecurity CouncilAmerican PowerDistribution Of Power Author:John Bolton
“Swapping Bergdahl for illegal enemy combatants (terrorists, in common parlance) signaled unmistakably to Taliban and al Qaeda that Obama is determined to withdraw from Afghanistan no matter what the cost to the United States or those in Afghanistan fighting to remain free.” MatterStatesFightingUnitedCommonEnemyUnited StatesCostNo Matter WhatDeterminedTerroristIllegalAlsAfghanistanAl QaedaTalibanSwapping Author:John Bolton
“Although we refer to the International Criminal Court, the real problem is the prosecutor, because it's the prosecutor who decides who to investigate and what cases to bring. This court fundamentally embodied a potential for abuse of governmental power that I felt was inconsistent with being a free person - and [it was] inconsistent for a free country like the United States to subscribe to it.” PersonsRealCountryStatesProblemFeltUnitedCasesUnited StatesAbuseCourtInternationalCriminalsReal ProblemsInconsistentProsecutorFree CountryMental Power Author:John Bolton
“If a prosecutor in The Hague decides that the U.S. has not followed through effectively on an investigation - is unwilling or unable to carry it through - then that person, that prosecutor, in an unreviewable fashion gets to second-guess the United States? That is unacceptable. That is an assertion of authority over and above the U.S. Constitution.” IfsPersonsStatesUnitedUnited StatesFashionAuthorityConstitutionInvestigationUnwillingAssertionProsecutor Author:John Bolton
“The culture of the State Department is very negative towards a conservative foreign policy. And the model that we all have, of civil servants as neutral careerists who carry out the policy of the elected president, doesn't work nearly the way it should in the State Department. So that there are many people who want to be good civil servants, who want to try and carry out these policies, but are afraid to do so. And I'm not even counting the very small number of conservatives in the State Department who are genuinely at risk.” PeopleWayWantShouldTryingStatesCulturePresidentNumbersRiskPolicyModelsNegativeConservativeBe GoodServantDepartmentForeign PolicyCountingSmall NumbersCivil Servants Author:John Bolton
“We need a strong and effective State Department. We can't conduct American affairs in the world without it.” WorldNeedsStatesStrongAffairDepartment Author:John Bolton
“A strong State Department to me means a corps of career officials who believe that their job is to advocate America's interests and who are trained in effective advocacy, not schooled in accommodation.” BelieveMeanStatesJobsAmericaStrongInterestCareersOfficialsDepartmentAdvocacySchooledAccommodations Author:John Bolton
“I'm not saying that you need a State Department that looks like the litigation department of a major law firm. But you need people who are not afraid to make the case for the United States, who are not afraid to stand their ground, not afraid to be isolated in international organizations when that's the correct approach for our diplomacy. This is a cultural change that has to be effected through incentive systems, promotion systems, career training systems. This is not something that you can do with the stroke of a magic wand, it's going to take years to make this change.” PeopleNeedsYearsLooksStatesLawCan DoUnitedCareersCasesUnited StatesMagicApproachMajorsTrainingOrganizationInternationalFirmDepartmentNot AfraidIsolatedStrokesDiplomacyIncentivesPromotionWandsMagic WandsCultural ChangeLaw Firms Author:John Bolton
“THe Chinese like the satellite state [North Korea] between China and our forces, they fear that in a reunified Korea, American troops would be at the Yalu River and they've seen that movie before. They didn't like it the first time they saw it and they don't like it any better today. So they are quite happy with the divided Korean peninsula and that's a fundamental difference between the way they see things and the way we see things.” WayFirstsStatesWould BeTodayForceDifferencesSawsFirst TimeRiversFundamentalsChinaChineseDividedTroopsKoreaNorth KoreaKoreanSatellitesAmerican TroopsPeninsulas Author:John Bolton
“Texas is a big state. It's a major force in the Republican Party.” StatesBigsForcePartyRepublicanMajorsTexasRepublican Party Author:John Bolton
“The solution to North Korea is the reunification of the Korean Peninsula. China could influence the North; it supplies 80 to 90 percent of North Korea's energy. The United States have to put pressure on China in order for China to pressure North Korea.” StatesOrderEnergyUnitedUnited StatesInfluenceSolutionsPercentPressureChinaKoreaNorth KoreaKoreanSuppliesPeninsulasReunification Author:John Bolton
“I have looked at public opinion polls in France in the late 1940s and early 1950s during the height of Marshall Plan aid. They had a very negative attitude towards the United States then. There were negative attitudes towards the United States because of Vietnam. There were negative attitudes about the United States when Reagan wanted to deploy intermediate range ballistic missiles. I don't think the president should base his foreign policy on American public opinion polls, let alone foreign public opinion polls.” ThinkingShouldStatesWantedPresidentUnitedAttitudeOpinionUnited StatesPlansPolicyLateNegativeAidsFranceRangeHeightVietnamForeign PolicyPublic OpinionPollsMissilesNegative AttitudeOpinion PollsMarshall Plan Author:John Bolton
“Everybody pursues their national interests. The only one who gets blamed for it is the United States.” StatesInterestUnitedUnited StatesPursueNational Interests Author:John Bolton
