USA in the World

News of US National Security Adviser John Bolton’s departure was followed by hopeful commentary both within the US and abroad that so too would follow the aggressive foreign policy he advocated – particularly in regards to Iran.

Will John Bolton be the downfall of Donald Trump? Is what is now in the news but a prelude to a greater story?
It all depends whether you want to accept the official story of why Trump dismissed his BIG MOUTH national security advisor, President Ousts Bolton Amid Rifts on Foreign Policy, (NYT, 9/11) and the proffered circumstances.

With the world on fire in so many places, trying to write an overview can be a daunting task when a book-sized effort is really needed. But our commentaries here can help readers begin to connect the dots as to why this is all happening, what the downside risks are to us, and what options we have to try to approach it better.

By the 1990’s the bridge between media, academia and spy agencies had disappeared. Publishing, lecturing, every aspect of journalism or education, eventually to include science, mathematics and engineering as well, had become “political.”
Any individual who strayed became a threat. Every organization, official or ad hoc, had to be penetrated and managed, using programs developed by the FBI under Hoover in the 1950s and 1960s.

The key element of the current system of international political, economic and military relations is the ability of the US and Iran to keep the conflict between the two countries from degenerating into direct military confrontation.