They were rudely showed the door in Ankara not long after, according to reports.
Turkey is going on the attack against John Bolton following his weekend antics in the Middle East, which most recently included being snubbed by Erdogan in the Turkish capital. Bolton has now gone "rogue" and tried to undercut Trump's Syria pullout decision by setting his own preconditions, writes the editorial board of Turkey's most visible pro-government English language daily newspaper.
The pro-Erdogan, AKP-supporting Daily Sabah says "a soft coup against Donald Trump" is underway, but that Trump's "rogue" National Security Adviser got a "rude awakening" upon visiting Turkey yesterday:
If U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton thought yesterday's visit was going to be a walk in the park, he must have had a rude awakening thanks to the lukewarm reception in the Turkish capital Ankara. In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea for Bolton to go rogue and try to impose conditions on the United States withdrawal from Syria. Keeping in mind that Turkey was already getting ready to send its troops to northern Syria before U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise announcement last month, it is time for Washington to accept that it isn't negotiating with Turkey from a position of power.
The op-ed declares case closed for any doubts about a fierce resistance seeking to subvert Trump within his own administration:
If there was ever any doubt that the resistance within the Trump administration wasn't real, what happened in light of Trump's decision to leave disproved the skeptics. Bolton and several other members of the Trump administration are committing a serious crime by preventing the current president of the United States from reversing his predecessor's misguided decisions in the Syrian theater. What is happening today isn't a policy debate, but a direct challenge to American democracy by unelected paper-pushers. Indeed, "many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate" President Trump's agenda.Bolton is pushing for Trump to hold off on withdrawing 2,000+ US troops from Syria until it had received assurances from Turkey that the Turks wouldn't attack US-backed Kurds in the region. Bolton revealed the change in direction during a Sunday interview, ahead of a planned trip abroad where he will visit Turkey and Israel to discuss the terms of the US withdrawal; however, the degree to which Trump has personally signed off on Bolton's "preconditions" remains unclear, and for the past week contradictory messages have been issued from both Pentagon and admin officials.
Instead of meeting with Bolton, Erdogan used a prescheduled speech in parliament to criticize American proposals that the Kurdish group play a key role in Syria after the US withdraws, according to Bloomberg.
Turkey goes on the attack against Bolton: accuses him of going "rogue" and seeking to undercut Trump's decision to pull out of Syria by setting his own conditions. "A soft coup against Trump is underway." https://t.co/cTCQB5x64iNotably, on Monday President Trump slammed a New York Times piece that heavily quoted Bolton, suggesting new preconditions on the announced Syria draw down, and that Bolton had effectively “rolled back” Trump’s decision to “rapidly withdraw from Syria.”
— Liz Sly (@LizSly) January 8, 2019
Trump blasted the Times via Twitter, saying the newspaper published “a very inaccurate story on my intentions for Syria,” and that the policy that remains is “No different from my original statements, we will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight ISIS and doing all else that is prudent and necessary!”.
The astute geopolitical blog Moon of Alabama rightly concluded, "And with that, Bolton was humiliated and the issue of the U.S. retreat from Syria kicked back to Trump."
More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...-turkish-daily
Bolton's days are numbered.
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
Who wants to bet that Bolton was coaxed by Bibi to go around Donald's back? Scummy Israelis never sleep and never take 'No' for an answer.
Bolton must go... why Trump ever appointed that pos is beyond me.
Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows
There seems to be a limited number of "qualified" people who want to work for Trump.Originally Posted by shakey1
Seems the crooked insiders are the only ones that are willing to look past trump for their own aspirations.
If I were Trump, I'd pull out the "flat hand" and start telling everyone "Ya fiya'd"
Gulag Chief: "Article 58-1a, twenty five years... What did you get it for?"
Gulag Prisoner: "For nothing at all."
Gulag Chief: "You're lying... The sentence for nothing at all is 10 years"
It's a balancing act with Adelson I suppose.
Let's see of Bolton gets fired for this. If not, then Trump is complicit and responsible for whatever Bolton does.
Trump has always adored Bolton. And it's unlikely that he would have ever hired him for that position in the first place unless he agreed with his interventionist leanings.
Perhaps the problem was that your expectations for Trump were too high.
Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows
FIRE BOLTON! Why he was ever given the job is beyond any of us
A top Turkish official says Turkey will not seek permission from allies to conduct a military offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters but is willing to coordinate operations.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin also told reporters following talks with White House national security adviser John Bolton that there is no slowdown in the timetable for a U.S. withdrawal from Syria, adding that U.S. officials have said during their discussions that the withdrawal could take place within "120 days."
Kaliln said their talks on Tuesday focused on how the United States would collect the weapons that were given to Kurdish militia fighting the Islamic State group as well as the future of U.S. bases in Syria.
More at: https://news.yahoo.com/latest-trump-...085331052.html
Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Robert Heinlein
Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler
Groucho Marx
I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.
Linus, from the Peanuts comic
You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith
Alexis de Torqueville
Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it
A Zero Hedge comment
Bolton should have never been hired in the first place. But as some people say, "Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer."
"Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."
Calvin Coolidge
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