FOREIGN POLICY/ISRAEL/NATIONAL SECURITY/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Trump’s national security adviser, John R. Bolton, fleshed out his boss’s ‘America First’ foreign policy on Monday [9-10-18], disparaging an international organization vilified by conservatives and reaffirming a pro-Israel tilt by announcing the closing of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington. But on one of Mr. Trump’s signature projects, nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, he parted company. On the same day that the White House welcomed a letter to Mr. Trump from Kim Jong-un, proposing another meeting of the two leaders, Mr. Bolton struck a markedly less optimistic tone, expressing frustration that Mr. Kim had not yet begun to fulfill his promise to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons…Mr. Bolton’s remarks came after a speech to the Federalist Society — his first major public appearance since taking his job in April — in which he threatened the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it investigated American troops in Afghanistan. His announcement of the closing of the P.L.O. office reinforces how far the White House has moved from the role of a broker in the region.”
–Mark Landler, “Bolton Expands on His Boss’s Views, Except on North Korea,” The New York Times online, September 10, 2018