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Trump Did NOT Convince Kim to Ditch His Nukes. China Did

Mike Whitney
The Unz Review
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:07 UTC
Kim Jong-un & Xi Jinping
© Ju Peng / Global Look Press
Beijing, 7 May 2018: Kim Jong-un & Xi Jinping meet for the second time in two months (...and no, they are not sitting on their interpreters!)
Donald Trump thinks his "maximum pressure" campaign persuaded North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. But it's a bunch of baloney. The reason Kim Jong-un is planning to denuclearize is because China adamantly opposes nuclear weapons on the peninsula. That's the whole deal in a nutshell. China, who is North Korea's biggest trading partner, gave Kim an ultimatum: Ditch the nukes or face long-term economic strangulation. Kim very wisely chose the former option, which is to say, he backed down.

The situation in North Korea is really quite bleak. Consider, for example, this recent piece in a United Nations periodical titled "The 5 most under-reported humanitarian crises that are happening right now". Heading the list is this blurb on North Korea:
"....what has been drastically underreported in the last year is that unprecedented number of people who are going hungry. The UN estimates that 70 percent of the population, or 18 million people, are food-insecure and reliant on government aid. To make things worse, last year North Korea experienced its worst drought in 16 years, exacerbating an already dire food shortage. With tight control of its borders keeping out aid organizations and journalists, it's almost impossible to capture how many are actually receiving the urgent food aid they need." (U.N. Dispatch)
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Hiliter

Outrageous redactions to the House Intelligence Committee's Russia report reshape the message

Andrew McCarthy
National Review
Mon, 07 May 2018 06:30 UTC
Flynn
© Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Michael Flynn leaving US District Court, December 1, 2017.
The FBI and DOJ have been burying the investigators' questionable judgments and information helpful to Flynn.

Cute how this works: Kick off the week with some "the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted" bombast from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, by which he rationalizes that his defiance of subpoenas and slow-walking document production to Congress - which is probing investigative irregularities related to the 2016 campaign - is required by DOJ policy and "the rule of law." Then end the week with the Friday-night bad-news dump: the grudging removal of DOJ and FBI redactions from a House Intelligence Committee report on Russia's election meddling.

Now that we can see what they wanted to conceal, it is clear, yet again, that the Justice Department and the FBI cannot be trusted to decide what the public gets to learn about their decision-making.

Comment: What this tells us is that there are more purposes to redaction than protecting critical information on behalf of the innocent or in deference to the integrity of a legal case. It is also used to shape a case to meet a false requirement by blocking evidence to the contrary.

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Rocket

N. Korea to Donald Trump: 'Don't provoke us ahead of the Kim-Trump summit'

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 07 May 2018 22:05 UTC
KimTrump
© lucas Jackson/Reuters
A year ago the situation in the Korean Peninsula appeared to be sliding rapidly towards war, with North Korea pressing ahead with its ballistic missile and nuclear tests, with Donald Trump, the US's newly elected and highly inexperienced President tweeting threats of military action, with General H.R. McMaster, Donald Trump's hawkish National Security Adviser lobbying for military action, and US fleets moving backwards and forwards towards the Korean Peninsula alongside wild talk that they might be about to be used in action.

A year later the mood is transformed.

Kim Jong-un - North Korea's much demonised Great Leader - has now held successful summit meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and is negotiating the terms of a summit meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile North and South Korea have fielded a joint Olympic team at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, North Korea has announced a freeze of its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programme, and the leaders of the two Koreas - Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in - have publicly committed themselves to negotiating a peace treaty between their two countries and to the total denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

What changed?

Comment: President Trump has just pulled the US out of the JCPOA. What is the take-away message for Kim-Jong-un?

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Question

Why all the secrecy around Russiagate? (Because it's a nothing-burger)

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Sat, 05 May 2018 06:00 UTC
RosensteinMuellerTrump
© CNN/Getty Images
Rosenstein • Mueller • Trump
It's time to level with the public about the basis for Mueller's investigation.

How do you know Trump's "not a suspect?"

I've been hearing that question a lot these days. News reports indicate that Special Counsel Robert Mueller may try to coerce President Trump's testimony by issuing a grand-jury subpoena if the president does not agree to a "voluntary" interview. That has sparked a public debate over the question of whether Mueller, an inferior executive officer, has such authority to strong-arm the chief executive - the official in whom the Constitution reposes all executive power, including the power that Mueller exercises only as long as the president permits it.

I don't think he does.

To be clear, there is no question that Mueller, as a special counsel, is a federal prosecutor who has the authority to issue grand-jury subpoenas. But everyone who works in the Justice Department has a boss, including the attorney general (who answers to the president). As special counsel, Mueller answers to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the so-called Russia investigation). That means Mueller has the authority to issue a subpoena to the president unless Rosenstein - or the president - tells him not to.

Before we come to whether the deputy AG should clip the special counsel's wings, let's address one point of confusion. Many people believe, as I do, that the president should not be subjected to questioning by a prosecutor on the facts as we presently know them. From that premise, however, they argue that Mueller may not subpoena the president, or that the president may ignore any subpoena. Neither of those things is true.

Comment: So far, there is no convincing reason for Trump to submit to a Mueller interview. If there was, it would have taken place by now. In that it hasn't, the president should leave well enough alone.

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Clipboard

Putin's Russia plan: Halve poverty, join world's five largest economies, increase life expectancy


RT
Mon, 07 May 2018 16:07 UTC
Putin red carpet
© Russian Presidential Press Office
President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin unveiled an ambitious vision for Russia for his new six-year term - including rapid economic growth, a rise in life expectancy, and a drop in inequality - hours after his inauguration.

Titled "National ideas and strategic aims for the development of the Russian Federation by 2024" the 17-point decree, "in force as of today," touches on dozens of areas from mortgages, to road safety, and the creation of a national youth orchestra. Here are the highlights...

Joining the big five

According to the document, Russia is to become one of the world's five biggest economies, maintaining GDP growth above the global average, while retaining macroeconomic stability.

Measured by nominal GDP, Russia is outside the top 10 biggest economies, and would have to produce near double-digit growth to catch up in the next six years. However, using purchasing power parity GDP, which is a better measure of the real value of the economy, Russia sits in sixth place, just behind Germany, so the target is not unrealistic, and hitting it would help halve poverty, another stated aim in Putin's plan.
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Arrow Down

The lie that Comey's leaks were non-criminal is biting the dust

Robin Ridless
The Federalist
Wed, 02 May 2018 00:00 UTC
Comey
© WJLA Washington, D.C.
Former FBI director James Comey
When former FBI director James Comey disclosed at a congressional hearing last June that he had disseminated memos to a friend, his defenders scrambled to make excuses for him. The mainstream media launched either fake news or a series of legal justifications to whitewash his violations of a litany of federal rules and laws protecting his private conversations with the president.

Now that the memos have been perused, the theories of a number of such legal commentators, which were based on sketchy information to begin with, have unsurprisingly proved to be full of errors, irrelevancies, and overstatements. Rather than walk back their defense of Comey's leaks, however, they have doubled down on heroizing him.

No, Comey's Memos Are Not His Personal Property

Last May, the Washington Post called White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders a liar for saying Comey leaked privileged information. At the time, legal professor Jonathan Turley wrote eloquently in her defense. Today, he confirms his position, arguing that the media continue to allow their bias to overwhelm their objectivity in reporting on Comey's culpability.

Comment: See also:

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X

WH denies report on troop drawdown in S. Korea

John Bowden
The Hill
Fri, 04 May 2018 08:23 UTC
Bolton
© Getty Images
National Security Advisor John Bolton
The White House on Friday strongly denied a New York Times story claiming the administration is talking to South Korea about reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed in that country.

"The New York Times story is utter nonsense," national security adviser John Bolton said in a statement. Bolton said the Pentagon has not discussed a troop drawdown with South Korea. "The President has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea," he added.

The Times reported late Thursday that President Trump had asked the Pentagon to consider reducing the number of troops on the Korean Peninsula. The request reportedly worried military officials who raised concerns that it could undercut U.S. ties with South Korea and alarm Japan.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White also dismissed the report at a briefing on Thursday. "This department has not gotten any word on that," White said about a possible withdrawal. "Our posture remains the same."

Comment: This is how 'not news' becomes 'news.' The source of the story isn't verified before MSM goes to print or the story is meant to alter the facts. Either way, the public is misinformed.

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Snakes in Suits

Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping meet for the second time


RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 11:29 UTC
Kim Jong-un & Xi Jinping
© Ju Peng / Global Look Press
Beijing, 7 May 2018: Kim Jong-un & Xi Jinping meet for the second time in two months (...and no, they are not sitting on their interpreters!)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has met China's Xi Jinping for the first time since historic intra-Korean talks and pledged to shut down its nuclear weapons program. It is Kim's second visit to China in a several weeks.

"Xi held talks with Kim and hosted a welcome banquet for him," China's state-run Xinhua agency reported on Tuesday. Chinese state media have confirmed that the leaders shared a "cordial and friendly atmosphere" during the talks and a luncheon in the Chinese city of Dalian.

The duo discussed bilateral relations between Beijing and Pyongyang as well as "issues of common concern."

Kim said that there would be "no need" for North Korea to be a nuclear state as soon as "relevant parties abolish their hostile policies and remove security threats."

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who is to meet Kim in the nearest future, tweeted that he will discuss North Korea with the Chinese leader on Tuesday morning.

Comment: If Bolton gets his way and NK 'denuclearization' "follows the Libya model", China has pledged support to NK should the US 'overreach' its welcome. Then again, his agenda may be to provoke NK into not 'denuclearizing'. The Deep State needs the Korean peninsula on a permanent war footing.

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Nuke

Yuge mistake: Trump pulls out of Iran deal, plans more sanctions - Iran calls decision illegal, plans to keep deal


Moon of Alabama
Tue, 08 May 2018 19:17 UTC
trump
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters
"Iran bad, Trump sad"
With a very belligerent speech Trump nixed the nuclear deal with Iran. He also lied a lot in it. Neither is a surprise. The United States only keeps agreements as long as they are to its short term advantage - just ask native Americans. One can never count on the U.S. to keep its word.

Trump will reimpose U.S. sanctions on Iran because:
  • The nuclear deal was negotiated by the Obama administration and thus must be bad;
  • Israel wants to keep Iran as the boogeyman;
  • the Zionists and right wing nuts in the U.S. want the U.S. to attack Iran;
  • MAGA - Trump needs Iran as enemy of the Gulf states to sell more U.S. weapons.
Three European countries, Britain, France and Germany, were naive enough to think they could prevent this. The EU3 offered the U.S. to put additional sanctions on Iran for other pretended reasons - ballistic missiles and the Iranian engagement in Syria. I was disgusted when I first read of the plan. It was obvious from the beginning that it would only discredit these countries AND fail.

Luckily Italy and some eastern European countries shot the effort down at the EU level. They were not willing to sacrifice their credibility over the issue. The nuclear agreement was signed and should be followed by all sides. They pointed out that there was no guarantee from Trump that any additional European effort would change his view.

Comment: Trump's speech:

Trump promised more sanctions (the "highest level"!) in the next 3-6 months, calling the deal "decaying ... rotten ... defective at its core", alleging it provided Iran funds for its "malign behavior" in the Middle East (that's rich) and promising "bigger problems than [Iran] has ever had before" if Iran develops nuclear weapons (a hollow threat, given Iran has had no such intention).
"Therefore, I am announcing today that the US will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal," Trump said. "Today's action sends a critical message: the US no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them."
And the U.S. no longer honors its deals. Good move to inspire confidence, right?
Powerful US sanctions against Iran will go into full effect, Trump said, and any country that aids Tehran's nuclear or missile programs will find itself sanctioned as well. ...

Trump professed admiration for the Iranian people, history and culture, but denounced the "dictatorship" that has held the country "hostage" for almost 40 years ...

The US president concluded his remarks on a strangely conciliatory note, saying he would be ready and willing to talk if the Iranian leadership decided to "make a new and lasting deal."

"There has been enough suffering, death and destruction. Let it end now," he said, before signing the presidential memorandum withdrawing the US from the JCPOA.

US sanctions will be reimposed over the next three to six months, the Treasury Department said following Trump's announcement. Iran will be barred from buying or acquiring US dollars after 90 days. After that, sanctions will also be reimposed on sales of steel and coal, aluminum, the automotive sector, and passenger aircraft parts and services. Financial and oil-related sanctions will be back in place after 180 days.
EU leaders decried the withdrawal and vowed to work with each other to maintain the deal. Iran's leader Rouhani responded:
Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Iranian nuclear deal is illegal, illegitimate and violating international agreements, Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, in a televised address.

Rouhani said that Iran has always complied with the nuclear deal and is going to stay in the accord despite the US pullout. The Iranian Foreign Ministry was instructed to hold talks on the nuclear deal with the EU, Russia and China within the next few weeks.

"If we achieve the deal's goals in cooperation with other members of the deal, it will remain in place... By exiting the deal, America has officially undermined its commitment to an international treaty," Rouhani said.

The President called Trump's decision to quit the agreement "a historic experience for Iran," adding that Washington had never fulfilled its commitment as part of the 2015 international agreement.
But the only thing that matters: Israel is happy.

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Star of David

Keep your friends close: Netanyahu guest of honour at Russia's Victory Day Celebration

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sun, 06 May 2018 17:48 UTC
putin netanyahu
© AFP Photo/Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their meeting in Sochi on August 23, 2017.
The Russian government has confirmed that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has been invited to attend Russia's forthcoming 9th May Victory Day Celebration as the guest of honour. He will also hold high level talks with the Russian government and with President Putin.

The Kremlin's website has published a statement to that effect:
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu will make a working visit to Moscow on May 9. He has been invited to attend a military parade marking the 73rd anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Mr Netanyahu will also hold talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Comment: The author doesn't grasp the depth of Lieberman's disingenuousness: Israel doesn't need to 'join the sanctions' because its agents set that trap for others to fall into!

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