Tit for tat for (pota)toe…
No way is diversery in the same league as covfefe!
You forgot Russia. N.K is leverage for both Russia and China against the west. Trump has been leveraging oil and gas financially against Russia for the past 6 months (yes I know the press are fascinated by two scoops of ice cream and cover non of this), he has also been leveraging China financially through multiple avenues. Plus he is leveraging them militarily (thaad missile defense systems in Japan and S.K) the threat of nuclearization of the region and even Taiwan. Nothing is off the table when it comes to removing the threat of ICBM and a nuclear attack from N.K.
The prediction is China and Russia will fold, a lot of concessions will be made behind doors, N.K. will give up it’s nukes and there will be a de-escalation, lifting of sanctions and so on. Things are not as chaotic as they seem.
Sit back, relax and enjoy a tune.
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I can laugh a both, but I’d have not opened a post or written a reply pointing out how pathetic obama was for misspelling “respect”.
His policies were enough to prove the point.
So the best case scenario is NK offers up the nukes as a bargaining chip and hoping they honor it. Forgive me if I don’t really trust kim Jung un In honoring that agreement if made. He’s even more unpredictable than trump. Worst is no agreements are made and everyone is just in a worse position and closer to the possibility of war.
N.K. is a pawn in all of this, the mistake previous administrations made was trying to deal with N.K. when the key was with Russia and China who prop up the regime and essentially call the shots.
When China and Russia decide the threat posed by increasing economic and military assets being built up against them, and Trump can keep doing this, whereas they got nothing. Then you see a call for 6 party talks, which is already happening but predicted long ago.
Everything else is theater for now.
So back to my original point. The Korean Peninsula is once again pawns in a high stake proxy war with the south basically having to just play ball and hope for the best. Both the north and south are pawns at this point.
So best case is still NK gives up nukes with everyone hoping kim honors it. Sanctions lift and basically NK will still be ruled by the kim regime with no end in sight. And no one will do anything as we just watch them continue to run a ruthless regime with no regards to human rights. With a good chance somehow someone pisses someone off or NK isn’t happy or kim needs to resolidy his power and bring back the nuclear program.
Worst case, possible war again.
Seems like a messed up situation for Korea.
I think you summed it up nicely, perhaps there may be an opportunity to move the needle on human rights.
But the worst case scenario is do nothing, N.K perfects it’s nuclear and ICBM technology, sells it to other states like Iran and eventually it ends up in the hands of some ISIS or al qaeda entity who will actually use it.
The whole thing should have been dealt with ages ago, proper incentives to keep N.K. from developing nukes and proper oversight to make sure they kept to the deal. That’s the problem with how politicians were dealing with issues, wanting to come away with everything from the table while at the same time giving nothing away. They backed N.K. into a corner and gave them very little incentive to behave in any other way than how they did.
I think we should be tearing down MLK monuments. After all, as the JFK files allude to, he was a real kinky misogynist. 
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article182651026.html
That’s a narrative, but not about Trump. 
Also, it’s not new (well, maybe some of it…).
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Sure it is – was released under his watch. And there is some new specific information in addition to what we knew before.
Spoken like a true monarchist. 
In the first year of the reign of Donald I, the FBI begat the MLK papers…
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It’s all speculations about a man who was assassinated for fighting for civil rights. And I believe it’s well known that MLK was rumored to be a womanizer. Just makes him human. Not sure what this really has to do with the narrative about trump.
And you really want to be the guy that shits on the guy who was shot because he fought for civil rights? Even if you are absolutely correct, I’m not sure what is it you’re trying to prove? Not a good look. And misogyny? Maybe you don’t known the definition of it? Sounds more like he was the opposite of a misogynist with all those women.
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I think the term Oligarchist would be more apropos.
And the FBI was doing what they could to paint him -and his peers- in a bad light, for posterity.
But, you know, it is not like blacks are, or have ever been singled out for “special treatment” by law enforcement.
Yeah, forgive me for not exactly trusting a document made by a racist organization at the time hell bend on stoping any black movements. They murdered black panther leaders like Fred Hampton.
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I am staying for the tunes.
Good points. But, I would believe Iran would be easier to approach than NK.
For openers, while openly hostile towards the West in general, and the US in particular, the rhetoric has been toned down since “the deal” was reached a couple of years ago.
Iran is not a closed society. Western social media is openly available in the IR. People tend to get out of Iran.
While Iran does not hide its distaste for the “Occupiers of Palestine”, unlike the “friendly” SA, synagogues and Jews live in the IR. As do christians and churches. Even Zoroastrianism has little embers there (get it?).
Making nice with Iran would, in my opinion, assist the US in two ways. One, it would -or could- put an end to Russian dreams of a pipeline to the Gulf, and that could be a tool for the EU to have a backup if/when Putin turns off the taps. Having another power player in the region would balance it out. Yes, I am well aware that there are a million details to be ironed out. But…
Yes, I am aware that the number one road block to dealing with Iran is Netanyahu. The number two is the rest of the Likud.
Second, one less card China can use to cater favors from the US vis a vis Taiwan. I am fairly certain that any concession Beijing would make to reign Kim in would involve some sort of reduction of US presence in the area and lessening support for Taipei. Not solid, but little reason to think otherwise. I do not think Russia would be an actor in this, unless China drags them in.
The “death to America” schtick is wearing thin in Iran. Again, they are an open (more or less) society. More so than SA! And definitely more so than NK.
Edit: This could work. By focusing attention away from NK and solely on Iran, Kim will get anxious and frustrated since no one is paying any attention to him. He might do something stupid that would give the US license to react. Then, behead the Kim regime and let SK go in and pick up the pieces, while providing tactical support and keeping a watchful eye on Taipei. Maybe have a “wounded” battleship make port in Keelung or have a place carrying SecState or SecDef “suffer a malfunction” and be forced to land in Songshan. You know, for “repairs.”
Good post JB, Netanyahu and Israels relationship with Iran is particularly noteworthy and you get the geopolitics of the gas pipeline.
As an engineer you learn there are many right ways to solve a problem, Trump brought in Rex Tillerson to deal with this and I trust he has more insight and strategy than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama combined and then some. The shift has been towards an energy independent USA, in fact to make them a net exporter of oil and gas, the pipeline I believe becomes largely irrelevant to the US.
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Just imagine the outrageous stories the relevant authorities in various places have probably written about Forumosans… 
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To keep us all on topic, here’s a narrative about Trump. 
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I like your idea of an energy independent US and Europe. Maybe a complete weening off of fossil fuels would do the world good. And the rush to improve technologies would be a boost for the overall global economy.
I hope you are sitting down, because I will agree that Tillerson may be the right person for the job. However, I DO NOT think his boss will allow him to go in and hammer out a deal using all that is necessary. I think Tillerson understands you cannot play Persian baseball with an American bat. He needs to go in with an understanding of both sides of the Iranian political and social strata. His boss, is too ego driven and for a number of reasons, I do not think his personal interests, and the interests of the American people, and people the globe synch up.
Iran IS a democracy. More so than SA, and about as democratic as Israel. Women DO have rights. They hold power positions. I have never been there. As a US citizen, there are a lot of hoops to go through to get in. And it is quite expensive. The people I have met from there all paint, more or less, the same picture. The describe it for what it is without damning it, or romanticizing it.
I have often wondered about Israel being a true democracy. I mean, are Israeli-Arabs allowed to vote?
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