An Intimate Evening With John Bolton

This evening I attended an informal sit down with former US Ambassador John Bolton, the one who brought Marxisms to the highest international governing body in the world, to discuss US foreign policy for the next president (and, by "informal" I mean there were about 15 of us; by "sit down" I mean standing around; and by "Marxisms" I mean Groucho, of course). Us card carrying members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy were offered this special opportunity to ask Mr. Bolton some questions and absorb his wisdom.

There were two general topics I wanted Mr. Bolton's opinion on: 1) sovereign wealth funds, and CIC in particular; and 2) China's participation in the Six-Party Talks. As the tenor of the talk was nuclear proliferation, I chose to ask a question about whether China was fulfilling its obligations in the Six-Party Talks.

His answer was that China is fulfilling its obligations, but he insinuated that the Six-Party Talks appear to be more of a dog and pony show for two reasons: 1) "The whole concept [that talks among the interested Parties will get nukes out of North Korea] is flawed" because North Korea will not give up its weapons; and 2) the Talks give the US and China a high profile opportunity to agree with each other on something and say look how good we're all doing working together towards a common goal.

His primary concern with China is that the US has simply failed to properly engage China on issues of true consequence with the proper tone. The issues and tone he had in mind, I don't know... In this vein I replied that my colleagues, by which I opaquely meant my Chinese colleagues, appreciated President Bush 43's free trade hands-offish approach to China, and I asked what we could expect in regards to China from our 44th President. His response was well-reasoned: we simply don't know because Barack Obama has at various times, and as the audience warrants, embraced and denigrated free trade. Mr. Bolton believes that the determining factor is how much President Obama will want to reward the unions for their support during the elections.

All-in-all, that was probably the best 45 minutes of procrastination that I've engaged in all week (though, as I type a valiant battle wages between pirates and great cats for control of the NFC South).

ANOTHER TAKE ON THE EVENING: From my friend, Chuck Billinger.

OFF TOPIC NOTE: I was expecting someone much more angry and red-faced than the calm and composed man that showed up, but I'm pretty sure that my brain has been washed by media sources that Americans don't like.

WAY OFF TOPIC NOTE: The school needs a new salami supplier, and a new chicken supplier. The salami was slightly plasticky, and the flavor was tame, characterized not by a spicy greasiness, but a simple greasiness. The chicken smelled like tuna, and the last I checked chicken is not the tuna of land.