President Trump Renews Space Policy Directive…

Earlier today President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence held an event at the White House to renew a space policy for NASA’s continuing U.S. mission directives.


[Transcript] 2:58 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Vice President Pence, for helping — where’s our Vice President — great job, great job — to restore American leadership in space. So important.
Cabinet members, General Selva, Deputy Secretary Shanahan, Acting Administrator Lightfoot, members of Congress, and the National Space Council, thank you all for being here. And especially, Mike, as I said, I want to thank you. I know how active you’ve been and how important this is to you. So we appreciate it. Thank you very much.
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Ivanka Trump Attends Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India…

President Trump’s geopolitical economic strategy is most often talked about regarding trade, China and resetting a massive U.S. trade deficit therein.  However, a critical part of that strategy, generally overlooked by U.S. media, is the relationship President Trump is building with India.
Expanded economic engagement with India creates more than just bilateral trade opportunities. A strengthened relationship, and possibility of moving India to the top of the trade priority list, also creates leverage toward China and ASEAN partner nations.
While most were paying attention to Thanksgiving’s ‘Black Friday‘ shopping; China quietly, lowered U.S. import tariffs.  BIGLY.  See Here [ <– That’s a big ‘effen deal]
Chinese media watch President Trump’s ongoing engagement with India far more closely than U.S. media watch it.  Chairman Xi Jinping and his economic advisers know the scale of risk inherent to their economy with a growing U.S./India trade relationship.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, has arrived in India for the annual global entrepreneurship summit, foreign ministry officials said Tuesday.
The summit scheduled to held in the southern city of Hyderabad Tuesday is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

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What's This?… Reuters Forced To Admit Smiling Pandas Joyfully Await President Trump's China Visit…

Those who have followed the Chinese strategy of President Trump will note strong signals of success therein amid an advanced visit ground report from Reuters News Service.
BACKDROP – From the outset the Trump administration displayed a very specific strategy where respect toward China’s leadership was coupled with visible praise for their business acumen and kind words toward the culture of the Chinese people.
This became evident in Mar-a-largo when Prime Minister Xi Jinping and President Trump spent a weekend getting to know each other.
While the surface impression of the relationship is geopolitical adversaries, President Trump has also positioned himself inwardly toward the Chinese people as a modern counter cultural figure not concerned with political correctness and not ashamed of his business success.   This approach is intensely well received in the bamboo forest.
In a culture where the political and sociological influences have historically presented an outlook of affluence and influence as the measure of success, the image of unabashed and unapologetic opulent Trump represents the external personification of this perspective.
Quite simply, it becomes impossible for China’s control authority to ridicule a successful businessman -now influential politician- when they have been selling that image as an honorable goal for decades amid their own culture. The timing is remarkable in consequence.
Simultaneous to this impression, and in a very methodical plan to counter the expansive influence of China, President Trump has used the scale of the U.S. economy to create massive changes in geopolitical economic landscape.
While Trump’s Grandkids sing sweet Mandarin Chinese songs to Xi Jinping and Peng Liyaun (Xi’s wife and herself a cultural icon), he has simultaneously cultivated a powerful counter-leverage position with India’s Prime Minister Modi. In essence, President Trump has positioned himself -and as a consequence the United States- as a powerhouse to be courted by both sides.
India and China are direct and consequential economic adversaries.  President Trump has maneuvered our own U.S. economic policy into the position where that competitive dynamic is now leverage for U.S. economic engagement, trade deals, national security and long-term interests.
It is not coincidental that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson first injected the term “Indo-Pacific” into the geopolitical lexicon of U.S. policy.   It’s a brilliant strategy and paying huge dividends. Bigly.
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Ivanka Trump Delivers Speech at Japan's World Assembly for Women…

At the invitation of Prime Minister Abe, President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump speaks at the World Assembly for Women in Japan about female participation in the economy. [Transcript Below]


Thank you very much Prime Minister Abe, for that kind introduction. And thank you for your gracious hospitality to my family.
This is my first visit to Japan, and the warmth you have shown us, the beauty of your landscape, and the vibrancy of your culture are truly incredible gifts to all who come to this country. Yesterday evening, as I arrived in Tokyo, I was struck by the magnificence of the skyline – and this morning I was awed by the ancient beauty of the Imperial Palace. The wonders of this land are a testament to the creativity and resilience of the Japanese people.
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Snicker – Tillerson Chats With Big Panda While Lion Rhetoric Roars in Background of Bamboo Forest…

President Trump tweeted this morning while Secretary Rex Tillerson is in China meeting with Xi Jinping about what to do with North Korea. ….or put another way: Tillerson chats about Rocket-boy consequences with big Panda while the sound of a lion roaring is heard over the background of the bamboo forest.
If you’ve been following along, Trump/Tillerson creating the need for ‘Magnanimous Panda’ is actually quite fun to watch unfold.

President Trump will never use the U.S. military to solve this regional issue.  The national security strategy is based entirely on economics (leverage) and diplomacy (ownership).  President Trump’s words and rhetoric against Kim Jong-un, and the response from Jong-un in kind toward President Trump, creates the foundation of a need for magnanimous panda to step in.
Remember, Beijing doesn’t want to take ownership of DPRK.  China prefers to retain influence over behavior, they are the enablers, but not be directly responsible for the enforcement of any agreement which comes with attached consequences (economic punishment) for DPRK violations.
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"Magnanimous Panda" Diplomacy – Secretary Tillerson and Xi Jinping Hold Talks on North Korea…

Ahead of an upcoming trip by President Donald Trump, and against the backdrop of economic sanctions by Trump/Mnuchin and the U.N. toward North Korea, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson works on the “Magnanimous Panda” strategy within the Trump Doctrine.
The ‘Big Picture’ goal is for China to accept responsibility, publicly, for spearheading the denuclearizing program within an established “six party talk” framework.  China ultimately becoming the guarantor of a denuclearized DPRK, and President Trump stroking the Panda Fur (praise) while simultaneously controlling the amount of bamboo in the Beijing forest.  So far, things are proceeding swimmingly.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping offered warm words for U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday, calling him a friend and saying he expected Trump’s visit to China in November would be “wonderful”.

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Saudi Arabia King Salman Issues Decree Allowing Women To Drive…

Some people might remember a specific and strategic Trumpian approach toward social reform in Saudi Arabia which was highlighted by Rex Tillerson during his senate confirmation hearings.  WATCH AGAIN (prompted to 06:09 – just hit play):

Secretary Tillerson’s explanation of the Trump administration position was then followed by the respectful administration strategy during their Saudi visit.  First-Lady Melania Trump figured prominently in that strategy during the February delegation visit.
Well, today:

RIYADH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Saudi King Salman on Tuesday ordered that women be allowed to drive cars, ending a conservative tradition seen by rights activists as an emblem of the Islamic kingdom’s repression of women.
The kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, has been widely criticized for being the only country in the world that bans women from driving, despite gradual improvement on some women’s issues in recent years and ambitious government targets to increase their public role, especially in the workforce.

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China Recommits To U.N. Sanctions Against North Korea…

Things are going swimmingly, strategically, seemingly according to plan.  When the full measure of history allows time to review, observers will note the strategic victory was achieved on August 5th, 2017; that’s the original date when Russia and China agreed to the U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea.  That first, historic, Russia and China U.N. Security Council vote against North Korea came as a result of eight months of assembled economic leverage created by President Donald Trump.
As a result of this ongoing strategy, every time North Korea’s Kim Jong-un takes an action, President Trump hits China’s Xi Jinping with an additional economic squeeze.  As Beijing feels the squeeze, they tell Kim Jong-un to act. Every time Kim Jong-un acts, President Trump squeezes Beijing with more economic pressure.  Wash-Rinse-Repeat.
Communist Beijing has boxed themselves into this inescapable cycle. The only way out of the box is to concede and lay the DPRK defeat at the feet of Kim Jong-un.  The conceding will evidence itself when Beijing inevitably calls for ‘Six Party Talks‘.  Today:


(Via Associated Press) Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says his country will “fully and completely” abide by U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions on North Korea.
Wang told reporters Wednesday China would work with other members of the council on how best to react to North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday.
He says, “We will make a necessary response.”

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President Trump Watches Eclipse (Video)…

It looks like the First Family’s review of the eclipse took place just before, during, or shortly after, a POTUS debriefing of last weeks NAFTA negotiations.  That’s US Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross together with Attorney General Jeff Sesssions, Ivanka Trump, First-Lady Melania Trump and President Trump included in the video:


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