IANS World Exclusive: Worried about Soros’ views affecting United States, says former US NSA

New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS) Calling him a “left-winger” who has “an awful lot of money”, former US National Security Adviser (NSA) John Bolton said on Wednesday that the controversial Hungarian-American billionaire’s views should not be labelled as Washington’s stand on several key issues.

“Look, Soros is a left winger in American political terms and he has an awful lot of money. He uses a lot of it in American politics and certainly there are reports that he uses a lot of it around the world also. Some reports of what he’s doing are more accurate than others, but I think his overall worldview is not one that I share. Therefore, I worry about what its effects on the United States are. Perhaps people are misinterpreting Soros, his activity as representing official American policy, which it certainly should not,” Bolton told IANS in an exclusive chat.

The BJP has blamed Soros-backed Hindenburg for spreading “anti-India propaganda” and attempting to oust the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Over the last few years, the nonagenarian investor has openly declared his intention to remove nationalist governments from power, including in India, through massive regime change efforts.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar too had referred to Soros as an “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous” for making repeated attempts to hurt India’s image and democratic structure.

Bolton, meanwhile, backed India’s policy of safeguarding and promoting its national interests in the current volatile geopolitical scenario.

“I don’t dispute at all that a country should look out for its national interest. I would just say in the case of India, Russia, looking backward, the relationship has been very strong. And that explains a lot of current Indian policy. But the real issue for India is looking forward. And whether you want to maintain that kind of relationship with Russia or whether you want closer relations with other countries, again, looking forward would be more beneficial to India,” he told IANS.

He maintained that, just like PM Modi, the next US President would also put the US’ interests first.

“In America, one of the blessings we have is that we have people from all over the world and they become politicians. Some become more successful than others. Nikki Haley and the Republican Party, for example, tried to get the Republican nomination against Trump and didn’t succeed. But I think Kamala Harris and a number of other people of Indian subcontinent and Indian descent are increasingly important figures in American business and politics.

I view that as a mark of great success for the American model. But I think, when it comes to really assuming the presidency, whoever it is, whatever they’re background, would put US interests first. And I think that’s what people look to. Just as Prime Minister Modi puts Indian interests first, as he should,” remarked Bolton.

–IANS

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