Trump’s NSA-designate John Bolton hated Shashi Tharoor and blocked his attempt to become UN General Secretary

Donald Trump’s decision to pick John Bolton as his NSA, replacing HR McMaster has sent alarm bells ringing in Asia. A former US ambassador to UN, his hawkish stance advocating the use of military force against North Korea and Iran made him the talk of Washington.

He is also not a great fan of India, opposed the India-US Nuclear Deal and Shashi Tharoor’s bid to become United Nations Secretary-General.

Fuming over Tharoor’s bid to nominate himself to the United Nations Secretary-General post, he had famously written in his book that Tharoor was ‘arrogantly anti-American’, had a personal website that would do ‘Bollywood’ proud and was his ‘own biggest advocate’. He had also lambasted Shashi Tharoor for ‘criticising the US for its inattention to cricket’.

He wrote in his book Surrender is Not an Option: “… he (Tharoor) was a well-known fiction author in India, with a person website that did 'Bollywood proud'. He was his own biggest advocate. Arrogantly anti-American in the unconscious way that was so typical of the UN Community, he later wrote a NYT op-ed criticising the US for its inattention to cricket, saying, among other things, 'Baseball is to cricket as simple addition is to calculus’.”

He added India's aspiration for Tharoor was breaking one of UN's unwritten conventions that General Secretaries come from smaller countries.  He wrote that Tharoor never stood a chance: "In short, Tharoor was never going to make it, although he was the last person in New York to figure that out."

Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor wrote in a piece how John Bolton had blocked his attempt to become Secretary General.

Tharoor writes that President George W Bush said he had left the UN role to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her policy was implemented in New York by – in Tharoor’s own words – ‘neo-conservative ideologue’ John Bolton.

Tharoor writes: “… Bolton disloyally reveals that his instructions from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were: “We don’t want a strong Secretary- General”. Bolton’s book confirms that Wang had voted for all the Asian candidates on the first ballot; China then abstained on my candidacy on subsequent ballots, but as it promised, it never used its veto against me. That was done by the United States, which, Bolton reveals, backed Ban to the hilt and lobbied on his behalf with other Security Council members.”

 Bolton was also on record against the India-US nuclear deal, out of fear that ‘Indian nuclear technology could be passed on to third parties’.

Pramit Paul Chaudhary wrote in 2006 for Hindustan Times, that his resignation from the UN in  2006 came as a relief to almost all other UN members, ‘including India’.  

Described as a neocon (neo-conservative), he had once famously said in 1994: “There is no such thing as the UN. The US makes the UN work when it wants it to work. If the UN Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it would not make a bit of difference.”

The announcement of McMaster's ouster, who the White House said had a "good working relationship" with Trump, is the latest in a string of high-profile White House departures since President Trump took office in January 2017.

"I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, John Bolton will be my new National Security Adviser," Trump said on Twitter.

"I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9," Trump said.

According to a White House official, Trump and McMaster mutually agreed that the latter will resign as the National Security Adviser (NSA). He will retire from the US Army after 34 years of distinguished service.

"The two have been discussing this for some time. The timeline was expedited as they both felt it was important to have the new team in place, instead of constant speculation. This was not related to any one moment or incident, rather it was the result of ongoing conversations between the two," the official said.

The White House has described Bolton, who replaces McMaster, as one of the strongest voices and experts on the full range of national security issues and challenges facing the country.

Bolton served as US Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2005-2006 and as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 2001-2005.

Bolton, during his tenure at the United Nations, was a leading voice on the need for the Security Council to take strong and meaningful action against international proliferation and terrorism.

Along with France's ambassador, Bolton led the Security Council to approve a unanimous resolution to end the summer 2006 Hezbollah war on Israel, to authorise UN peacekeepers and to create an arms embargo against Hezbollah. He also assembled an international coalition that blocked the bid of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's Marxist strongman, to join the Security Council.

As Under Secretary, he repeatedly advocated tough measures against the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction generally. He led negotiations for America to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty so that the Bush administration could proceed with a national missile-defence program.

Author of "Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the UN and Abroad", Bolton currently is counsel at Kirkland & Ellis LLC with a focus on counselling clients on domestic and international issues in complex corporate, litigation, internal investigations, regulatory and competition matters.

(With inputs from PTI)