© KCNA / Reuters
Almost certainly the two recent telephone conversations between US President Trump and Russian President Putin have touched on this.
The unusual secrecy in which the negotiations were conducted meant that when the sanctions resolution was finally agreed and was voted for unanimously by the UN Security Council it came as something of a surprise.
In the run up to the vote the US had however been making fully clear what sort of pressure it wanted the UN Security Council and China specifically to impose on North Korea: a total embargo on all supplies of oil to North Korea along with a naval blockade and an effective cessation of all trade between North Korea and the outside world.
The important point to take away from the UN Security Council meeting is that China again rejected these demands.
Comment: Is the US provoking North Korea into a no-win situation leading to ultimate war or are recent reports just more sabre-rattling for the US to prove its relevance?
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While its unlikely to happen Washington might do well to consider a more diplomatic strategy given this: Washington's flag-waving myths about attacking North Korea need a serious dose of reality