Maybe they will be close in case our embassy needs rescuing. I can't imagine another scenario where it's any of our business.

C'mon. Stand up for the American people. Think of all that oil that will fall into the hands of Exon & Chevron, the people's oil company.

Maybe we can organize elections within 8 days in France, where the yellow vests seem to have more legitimacy than Macron. O, also in England, an unelected prime minister with doubtful backing and legitimacy. Then there's Merkel, whose immigration stance is opposed by the great majority of "the people." Let's not forget America, where the elites and the press and half the population and even the justice system considers Trump the usurper to be a Putin puppet. And this time, let's have international observers to grade the fairness of America's election process, b/c I keep reading they have worse quality control than most African and middle-East states, with open fraud and corruption.

I think it says "5,000 troops to Columbia..."

As in the GI Bill. College. Next generation of Ivy League doctors, lawyers and journalists...who are not snowflakes.

Makes sense. Finally get some peace in Afghanistan after 18 years and reward the troops with a good education.

"If this was a "shithole" country in Africa, to phrase Trump, we would not give a damn"... except for, there are a lot of countries in Africa that do have oil and we are there. The news doesn't report that until, unfortunately, four American soldiers were ambushed and killed last year and the alternative news reported that and it spread like wild fire. Well I guess the MSM can't hide everything and that's what their fuss is all about.

Calm down. That seems to me about the right ized force to provide security and evacuation logistics for our embassy personnel and ex-pats. Right now, China has seized all Venezuelan oil production in payment for China's "Belt Road initiative" loans. President Trump could be interested in interrupting those repayments, no?

Unlike other government bureaucracies, security agencies are NOT populated by people with appropriate merit. They are filled with people who conform to a certain behavioral standard, or way of thinking. Very usually that means patriots, too ignorant to question the direction and integrity of their government...

Consequently, after so many years of this kind of "tribal bias" in the selection process they have become citadels to second rate scientists and establishment cronies. They are definitely not frequented by the kind of intelligent, out-of-box thinkers needed in an organization whose purpose it is to objectively surveil, police and uphold the rule-of-law.

So, on the possibility that this notepad scribble might be a feed to the press to gauge public reaction of a US troop deployment. This whole thing appears very suspect to me. Anybody taking the bait?

Trump needs a war to bolster his approval rating, distract from his impending indightment, and create more refugees that he can screech in terror about in support of his moronic wall. It’s win win win.

The cost? He won’t pay it, so it doesn’t matter.

There's always the possibility that Bolton is "accidentally" allowing known spies and leakers gain access to such musings. If so, I suggest next, "...but can we win the pr war resulting from sinking that many Russian and Cuban transport and supply ships trying to prop up Maduro...?

The map shows "Mishtalk" is located south of Colombia, but I thought "Mishtalk" was located in Illinois.