International security

Rachel Marsden: Trump's neocons have found a way to legally terrorize the world

Apparently, someone left Donald Trump's bellicose national security adviser, John Bolton, alone in the White House with the fancy stationery last weekend.

As Americans were winding down from their weekend barbecues, Bolton was firing off a written threat to Iran on White House Press Secretary letterhead. It's a step up in formality from the "5,000 troops to Colombia" note that Bolton had scribbled on a yellow legal pad before walking into a press conference to announce sanctions against Venezuela in January, sending the press scrambling to make sense of it.

The overwhelming consensus among experts is that Bolton has entered the realm of psychological warfare, or bluffing. That doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.

It's one thing to troll countries on Twitter, but now it's happening with weapons -- like warships. The USS Abraham Lincoln was in the Mediterranean Sea with the USS John C. Stennis at the end of April to "represent 100,000 tons of international diplomacy" in opposition to Russian interests, according to U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman.

"Diplomatic communication and dialogue, coupled with the strong defenses these ships provide, demonstrate to Russia that if it truly seeks better relations with the United States, it must cease its destabilizing activities around the world," Huntsman said.

Now it's Bolton who's using the multibillion-dollar USS Abraham Lincoln to troll another country, this time Iran. It's the ship on which former President George W. Bush gave his notorious "Mission Accomplished" speech less than two months into the Iraq War.