Russians fear Bolton may doom Iran deal, stoke arms race

Dmitry Suslov, a program director at the Valdai Discussion Club, a Moscow think tank, believes Bolton’s appointment is in line with Trump’s strategy of “illiberal hegemony."

“Pursuing hardcore hegemony, increasing superiority over other states, intensifying containment over adversaries with a more unilateral foreign policy when the opinion of allies and partners is being dismissed, seeking a freer movement of actions for itself — all of this meets Bolton’s own convictions and it is what he was doing in the Bush administration,” Suslov told Al-Monitor.

Suslov argues that one potential contradiction between Trump and Bolton is the role of ideology and democratization in US foreign policy.