Mr Bolton's replacement could represent a change in policy making. AP
Mr Bolton's replacement could represent a change in policy making. AP
Mr Bolton's replacement could represent a change in policy making. AP
Mr Bolton's replacement could represent a change in policy making. AP

Trump says Bolton was a 'disaster' on North Korea and 'out of line' on Venezuela


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US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that John Bolton, dismissed a day earlier as national security adviser, had been a "disaster" on North Korea policy, "out of line" on Venezuela, and did not get along with important administration officials.

Mr Trump said Mr Bolton had made mistakes, including offending North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un by demanding that he follow a "Libyan model" and hand over all his nuclear weapons.

"We were set back very badly when John Bolton talked about the Libyan model. What a disaster," the president said.

"He's using that to make a deal with North Korea? And I don't blame Kim Jong-un for what he said after that, and he wanted nothing to do with John Bolton.

"And that's not a question of being tough. That's a question of being not smart to say something like that."

Mr Trump also said he disagreed with Bolton on Venezuela but offered no specifics.

"I thought he was way out of line and I think I've proven to be right," he said.

Mr Trump said Mr Bolton, with his abrasive, hardline approach, "wasn't getting along with people in the administration that I consider very important".

"John wasn't in line with what we were doing," he said.

Mr Trump said he got along with Mr Bolton and hoped they parted on good terms.

"Maybe we have and maybe we haven't," he said. "I have to run the country the way we're running the country."

Mr Trump had been growing more impatient with the failure to oust socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro through a campaign of sanctions and diplomacy, in which Mr Bolton was a driving force.

He was also a chief architect of the Trump administration's hardline policy on Iran.

Mr Bolton had opposed moves such as easing sanctions on Iran to secure a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani at this month's UN General Assembly, something at which Mr Trump has hinted.

"We'll see what happens," the US president said.

North Korea has denounced Mr Bolton as a "war maniac" and "human scum".

Last year, it threatened to call off a first summit between Mr Kim and Mr Trump after Mr Bolton suggested the Libyan model of unilateral disarmament.

In the past, he proposed using military force to overthrow the country's ruling dynasty.

Mr Trump's efforts to engage with North Korea nearly fell apart altogether in February after he followed Mr Bolton's advice at a second summit in Hanoi.

He handed MR Kim a piece of paper that called for the transfer of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and bomb fuel to the Us.

Mr Trump announced he had fired Bolton a day after North Korea signalled a new willingness to resume stalled talks on ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

But it then proceeded with its latest missile test launches.

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Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE

Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”

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Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Analysis

Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.

The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement. 

We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.