Views
To make a donation to the
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION
go to the website
www.djnfoundation.org
The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at
29200 Northwestern Highway, #110, Southfield, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at
Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to:
Detroit Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Hwy., #110, Southfield, MI 48034.
Arthur M. Horwitz
Executive Editor/Publisher
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
F. Kevin Browett
Chief Operating Officer
kbrowett@renmedia.us
| Editorial
Associate Editor: Jackie Headapohl
jheadapohl@renmedia.us
Story Development Editor:
Keri Guten Cohen
kcohen@renmedia.us
Digital Editor: Allison Jacobs
ajacobs@renmedia.us
Multimedia Reporter: Corrie Colf
ccolf@renmedia.us
Staff Photographer/Videographer:
Derrick Martinez
dmartinez@renmedia.us
Social Media Coordinator:
Chelsie Dzbanski
cdzbanski@renmedia.us
Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello
smanello@renmedia.us
Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin
dannyraskin2132@gmail.com
Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar
rsklar@renmedia.us
Contributing Editor: David Sachs
Contributing Arts Editor: Gail Zimmerman
gzimmerman@renmedia.us
Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Suzanne Chessler,
Annabel Cohen, Keri Guten Cohen
Ben Falik, Stacy Gittleman, Judy
Greenwald, Mike Smith
| Advertising Sales
Vice President of Sales: Keith Farber
kfarber@renmedia.us
Account Executives:
Kelsey Cocke, Annette Kizy,
Ryan Griffin, Michael McDonald
Sales Support:
Sarah Busemeyer, Ashlee Szabo
| Business Offices
Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner
| Production By
Farago & Associates
Manager: Scott Drzewiecki
Designers: Jessica Joannides,
Kelly Kosek, Michelle Sheridan,
Susan Walker
| Detroit Jewish News
Partner:
Arthur M. Horwitz
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
Partner:
F. Kevin Browett
kbrowett@renmedia.us
Partner:
Michael H. Steinhardt
Operations Manager:
Andrea Gusho
agusho@renmedia.us
How to reach us see page 38
8 | SEPTEMBER 19 • 2019
1942 - 2019
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
jn
P
erhaps it was as much
about personalities as
policy. The notoriously
brusque and hard-driving John
Bolton was always an awkward
fit as national security adviser for
a president like Donald T
rump,
who prefers subordinates to be
sycophants. The relationship
between two men
with, to put it
mildly, very strong
personalities was
probably always
fated to be of rel-
atively short dura-
tion. But there’
s
no avoiding the
conclusion that the events that
precipitated T
rump’
s demand for
Bolton’
s resignation were driven
by their profound disagreements
about how the United States
should deal with rogue nations
like Iran, North Korea and
Venezuela, as well as the question
of whether to sit down for talks
with the Taliban.
So while those predicting a
sudden shift in American foreign
policy are probably wrong, there’
s
also no question that without
the stubborn Bolton acting as a
break on the president’
s neo-iso-
lationist “America First” instincts,
the chances that Trump will con-
tinue to push for dramatic dip-
lomatic breakthroughs on those
fronts that are probably illusory
will certainly increase.
The last straw for T
rump was
almost certainly the result of the
fallout from the announcement
that his proposed Camp David
summit the second week in
September with leaders of the
Taliban was cancelled. T
rump,
with the reported support of
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
was eager for some kind of an
agreement about winding down
U.S. participation in the war in
Afghanistan. Bolton opposed
the proposed deal with the
Taliban and was rightly against
the idea of hosting terrorists
with American blood on their
hands at Camp David to seal the
agreement, especially just days
after 9/11. Having the Taliban at
the presidential retreat was a ter-
rible idea, though the dramatic
nature of the gesture apparently
appealed to T
rump.
The effort collapsed when
T
rump was finally persuaded
that the Taliban wouldn’
t cease
involvement in terrorism and
couldn’
t be trusted to keep the
peace in the wake of a U.S. with-
drawal. The president deserved
credit for having the guts to walk
away from a bad deal, despite
badly wanting to conclude a pact
that would have allowed him to
keep his promise to withdraw
American troops from the coun-
try’
s longest war.
Yet reportedly, T
rump couldn’
t
stand Bolton taking credit for a
decision that came with no gains
and so finally got rid of him.
So, the question now must be
whether Bolton’
s departure leads
to a significant shift in U.S. for-
eign policy, particularly toward
Iran.
The reason why it has been so
hard to predict T
rump’
s inten-
tions on this issue is that he has
always been torn between his
disdain for Obama’
s dangerous
nuclear pact and his instinctive
abhorrence for American involve-
ment in overseas conflicts. The
basic contradiction between these
two impulses only seemed to be
resolved in the last 18 months,
once he put a foreign-policy
team in place — in the form of
Bolton and Pompeo, who agreed
on getting tough with Iran and
commentary
With Bolton Gone, Will Trump
Make a Deal with Iran?
Jonathan
Tobin
continued on page 10
So, the question
now must be
whether Bolton’s
departure leads
to a signifi
cant
shift
in U.S.
foreign policy,
particularly
toward Iran.
— JONATHAN TOBIN