Inside Story

Is the United States becoming more belligerent?

Foreign policy hawk John Bolton is to take over as US national security adviser.

Donald Trump‘s choice for new national security adviser appears to match the US president’s confrontational views on the rest of the world. 

“The Legal Case for Striking North Korea First” and “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran” are just two of the articles penned by John Bolton in leading US newspapers over the years.

The muscular stance seems to reject consensus-building and supports using American economic and military power to punish anyone who doesn’t fall in line.  

What signal is the White House sending to the rest of the world?

Presenter: Sohail Rahman

Guests: 

Jim Walsh – Senior research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Programme 

Evan Resnick – Coordinator in the United States Programme at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies

Ali Fathollah-Nejad – Visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center