Russian President Putin is on Washington’s hit list while some key policymakers are suggesting establishing contacts with Russian military officers with the target of stating and coup and ousting Vladimir Putin from power. Another source said, while Ukraine clearly is enjoying massive support in the international media, several diplomats in Russian missions in a number of countries are discouraging non-Russian newspapers from extending support to Moscow and even are signaling of refraining from publishing articles and reports favorable to Vladimir Putin.
Commenting on such strange behavior of the Russian diplomats, an analyst said: “Possibly they are unwilling to risk their career by openly extending support towards President Putin. Or, they may have secret dislike towards him and his actions”.
Regarding America’s recent policy on Vladimir Putin, John Bolton said, “Putin is a legitimate military target… he needs to know that he’s on our target list at this point”.
Just as the world thought that the lack of basic etiquette (diplomatic or any other) in the United States establishment couldn’t possibly get worse, that same establishment goes beyond anyone’s imagination (or worst nightmares in this particular case).
On Friday, October 7, during an interview on CBS, former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, infamous for his insistence on starting wars against Venezuela, Iran and North Korea or escalating the ongoing ones (such as Syria, Libya, Yemen, etc), said Russian President Vladimir Putin is on the US target list and threatened he might be assassinated.
“I think we should make it clear publicly so that not just Putin but that all the top Russian leadership… that if Putin authorizes the use of a nuclear weapon he’s signing his own suicide note”, Bolton said.
John Bolton insisted that Putin is “a legitimate military target” since he heads the command and control structure of all Russian strategic forces. Bolton further stated that this should be official US policy.
“He’s a legitimate military target… he needs to know that he’s on our target list at this point”, he concluded.
Commenting on John Bolton’s remark, pro-Moscow analyst Drago Bosnic in an article wrote: “Bolton’s comments effectively boil down to calls for the US to use any opportunity to assassinate the president of Russia. It cannot possibly be overstated just how dangerous, destabilizing and irresponsible such rhetoric is, especially coming from high-ranking officials, regardless if they currently hold office or not. However, Bolton’s statements are simply a continuation of a string of his recent provocative actions. He also discussed an op-ed he recently authored for the online military journal 1945, where he openly called for a coup in Russia.
John Bolton in the op-ed wrote: “There is no long-term prospect for peace and security in Europe without regime change in Russia. Russians are already discussing it, quietly, for obvious reasons. For the United States and others pretending that the issue is not before will do far more harm than good”.
“To avoid the war simply grinding along indefinitely, we must alter today’s calculus. Carefully assisting Russian dissidents to pursue regime change might just be the answer”.
“Bolton stated that a color revolution-style coup (or “regime change” as he calls it) was necessary, or at least an attempt to sabotage and cause division in the Russian establishment from the inside.
“Actually effecting regime change is doubtless the hardest problem, but it does not require foreign military forces. The key is for Russians themselves to exacerbate divisions among those with real authority, the siloviki, the ‘men of power.’ Disagreements and animosities already exist, as in all authoritarian regimes, exploitable as dissidents set their minds to it. Boris Yeltsin standing on a tank outside the Russian White House in 1991 evidenced the fracturing of the Soviet ruling class. Once regime coherence and solidarity shatter, change is possible”, Bolton wrote.
“John Bolton called former US Defense Secretary James Mattis (also a retired US Marine Corps general nicknamed “Mad Dog” and “Chaos”) too “soft”. One of the very first things Bolton did while serving as the US National Security Advisor was to make sure the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal (officially JCPOA). Immediately after, Bolton refocused on advocating for invasions and/or coups in Iran, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Yemen, North Korea, etc. His tendency became too much of a liability and a major point of contention between Bolton and the then president Donald Trump, so much so that he was eventually fired after approximately a year and a half in office”.
With such strong statement from John Bolton and Russian diplomats discouraging international media in supporting Moscow and Vladimir Putin, it is a critical question as to whether key policymakers in Kremlin would simply dismiss or ignore everything altogether or start giving serious thoughts to these issues.
It may be mentioned here that the latest news from Ukraine is giving an impression to everyone that Russian forces are gradually becoming weaker with Kyiv receiving full support from the Western nations. Such perception is becoming stronger because of international media’s support towards President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian people. At the same time, Moscow already is on the losing end as far as soft war or media and cyber war is concerned. There is a growing speculation in the minds of majority of the people in the world that a desperate Vladimir Putin may finally apply nuclear weapons against Kyiv with for the sake of saving Moscow from a grand humiliation, while others say, Russia will face a similar fate that Soviet Union had faced in Afghanistan decades ago.
