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Former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, says about Biden’s gaffes about Ukraine, “This is like an engraved invitation to Putin to not go after the whole country, just take a piece of it. And it reveals what Putin already suspects that there is disagreement within NATO.”
In an interview with Chris Ryan, former UN Ambassador and National Security Advisor, John Bolton discusses President Biden’s comments about Russia and Ukraine in his press conference on Wednesday; assesses what Vladimir Putin’s plans might be; and predicts what role Donald Trump will have, if any, in the 2024 election.
Ambassador Bolton was stunned by some of President Biden’s remarks in regard to Vladimir Putin’s intentions. Bolton feels that at one point, the President was perhaps thinking out loud when he stated that his policies in the Ukraine will fail.
Bolton and other foreign policy experts believe that Biden’s more damaging comment was that if Russia made a “minor” incursion into Ukraine, we would have to debate about what to do.
Ambassador Bolton expects that Putin will bide his time while the meetings of allied foreign ministers take place in Berlin and today’s meeting between the Russian Foreign Minister and our Secretary of State, Tony Blinken.
The possibility that the President made these comments as part of a clever misdirection tactic is discarded by Ambassador Bolton because of the numerous, subsequent attempts at damage control by the Biden Administration.
John Bolton believes that Ukraine is the first step in a much larger Russian gambit of expansion along the eastern border of NATO and the western border of Russia. He reports that Russian troops have moved into Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
Vladimir Putin, in John Bolton’s opinion, has two very different characteristics—he’s very patient and he’s very agile. Putin can wait until the time is right; and, when the time is right, he can move very quickly.
Based on polling which he has done, John Bolton thinks that President Trump’s influence among Republican voters is waning. Bolton considers Trump’s obsession with the 2020 election is a drawback to voters who are more concerned about inflation, damage to our educational system by COVID shutdowns, and law and order.
Ambassador Bolton believes that Trump has a fear of failure, which will prevent him from running; but Trump would like to be the kingmaker who decides the Republican presidential nominee.