Portrait of the "messenger" sent by Trump to meet Putin

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US National Security Adviser John Bolton has spent two days in Russia as President Donald Trump’s “messenger.” His mission this time is to arrange with Russian officials a summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Portrait of US National Security Advisor John Bolton - a "hawk" person. Photo: Reuters.

There would be nothing to discuss because with the position of national security advisor, Mr. Bolton going to the “forefront” is completely reasonable. The only thing is, Americans, Russians and the whole world know that Mr. Bolton is a politician who “hates” Russia.

In Bolton’s worldview, Russia is a major challenge that must be addressed. Its presence anywhere and in any domain threatens American interests.

Bolton asserts that Russia and China are a “perfect match” at the United Nations, the Russia-Iran alliance in Syria poses a threat across the region that means the US cannot trust Russia to cooperate against terrorism…

As someone who likes to express his views via Twitter, just looking at his Tweets is enough to understand Mr. Bolton's views on Russia:

“We need to have a strategic response to Russia's new nuclear missiles”, “The US needs to strengthen its allies in Central and Eastern Europe through NATO to counter the cyber warfare that Russia is conducting” or “Washington and its allies cannot accept Russia's continued dangerous actions in the Middle East, especially the establishment of the Moscow-Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah axis”.

Not long ago, Mr. Bolton was the most forceful critic of Moscow's interference in the 2016 US presidential election. He called it an "act of war" and warned the US not to trust Russia.

In July 2017, when Mr. Trump met Mr. Putin and the Russian leader denied Russian interference, Mr. Bolton wrote on Twitter that Mr. Putin “lies after being trained by the best KGB.”

But what people witnessed in the conversations of the US “envoy” in Russia this time turned 180 degrees. Mr. Bolton publicly criticized the accusation that Russia interfered in the 2016 US Presidential Election to help Mr. Donald Trump win the US presidency and called this accusation “complete nonsense”.

“The United States appreciates Russia's courtesy”

Mr. Bolton also said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on June 27, .

Typical "hawk" thinking

At 69, John Bolton has built himself an image as a hot-tempered, extremely conservative, nationalist and has offended many people.

Nearly three months ago, Mr. Bolton was unexpectedly chosen by President Donald Trump as national security advisor, a position considered the "right-hand man" and foreign policy advisor for the President, making even the calmest diplomats both inside and outside the United States "restless".

US National Security Advisor John Bolton met with Russian President V. Putin on June 27. Photo AP

As a veteran Republican politician who served under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush (Bush Sr.) and George W. Bush (Bush Jr.), John Bolton is famous for his neoconservative approach, proposing and implementing many tough, aggressive, and military-style foreign policies.

Having served as US Deputy Secretary of State, with hot files with US diplomatic and security circles such as: North Korea, Iran, Russia, Mr. Bolton always expressed a strong viewpoint of "using war to have peace".

The US press said that Mr. Bolton was the one who opposed the nuclear deal between the US and North Korea more than 20 years ago, according to which Pyongyang froze its nuclear program for 8 years in exchange for fuel and economic support. That deal eventually collapsed in 1994.

Mr. Bolton was also one of the people who “helped” build the hypothesis that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had a huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, which led the US to launch the Iraq war in 2003. However, this hypothesis was later proven to be false…

The plus point in Mr. John Bolton's current political career is that his views are quite in sync with President Donald Trump.

Not only is he tough on foreign affairs, Mr. Bolton is also a follower of the "America first" ideology, opposing multilateral institutions.

This politician once bluntly declared that “the United Nations is nothing” and that America is the “only power” in the world.

In addition, Mr. Bolton is described as someone who knows how to "listen" and "please" his superiors. This personality is an important part of why President Donald Trump "keeps an eye" on him.

Because from the recent major personnel changes in the White House, it seems that Mr. Trump wants to choose people who "know how to listen" to his point of view rather than those who "like to oppose".

At the time of Mr. Bolton's appointment, many were concerned that the US-North Korea summit would collapse under the "iron hand" of a politician who had supported a military solution to the North Korean nuclear issue.

John Robert Bolton was born on November 20, 1948, into a working-class family in Yale Heights, USA. His father was a firefighter. He studied law and received a master's degree from Yale Law School in 1974. Before becoming National Security Advisor, Mr. Bolton was a lawyer, political commentator, Republican consultant and former Deputy Secretary of State. Mr. Bolton has been married twice and has only one daughter with his second wife, Ms. Gretchen Smith Bolton, a financial planner.

Mr. John Bolton worked under President George W. Bush. White House photo.

In fact, the meeting was almost postponed because Mr. Bolton proposed solving the North Korean problem according to the “Libya model,” which upset Pyongyang. However, everything eventually went smoothly.

And this trip to Russia with the responsibility of arranging the Russia-US summit of Mr. Bolton shows that this could also be another intention of the White House in the upcoming negotiations with Moscow.

Despite his “hate” for Russia, according to Mr. Bolton, the Russia-US summit is necessary for the national interests of the US. Let’s wait and see how Mr. Bolton will “measure” the national interests when advising the White House owner on the agenda of the upcoming Russia-US summit.