Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears on Fox News Sunday to debate Swamp antagonist Chris ‘But’ Wallace on issues related to Venezuela, Russia, China and North Korea.
Despite the Weissmann/Mueller report, Chris “But” Wallace continues advancing the Russia collusion-conspiracy… until moving forward and cheerleading for North Korea, Hamas and China.
There’s something really odd about the latest reports from South Korea about a test of three missiles the South has corrected to describe as “projectiles”. The odd part is there’s zero mention in North Korea state media about it. Fox News picked up on that aspect in a brief sentence inside their report:
[…] South Korean officials were monitoring the situation and were sharing information with their American counterparts. North Korea did not report on Saturday’s firings. Seoul’s intelligence agency said it thinks the projectiles were not missiles given their short travel distances and low altitude.
Amid a tremendous amount of recent geopolitical background moves; and given the history of China using the DPRK as a geopolitical proxy province; there’s a possibility Beijing ordered the action.
Out of caution, please note our CTH perspective is entirely outside the mainstream view on the dynamic within the DPRK and the network around Kim Jong-un. Quite simply all of the moves, counter-moves, and specifically the timing of them, align with the U.S. and China confrontation far more than most mainstream observers seem to notice.
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President Moon Jae-in the the Korean equivalent of Barack Obama. Today President Donald Trump and First-lady Melania Trump welcome President Moon and Mrs. Kim Jung-sook to the White House. During the oval office meeting President Trump took questions from the press corps [Video and Transcript below]
Put this into the geopolitical file labeled: “Things that make other things make sense”… You only need to watch the first minute and fifteen-seconds of this announcement to see the bigger BIG picture. WATCH:
[Transcript Snippet] … “This is the first time that the United States has designated a part of another government as an FTO. We’re doing because the Iranian regime’s use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft makes it fundamentally different from any other government. This historic step will deprive the world’s leading state sponsor of terror the financial means to spread misery and death around the world.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (U-DC) appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss his plans for investigative obfuscation and oversight. On a positive note, Graham is considerably less optimistic as he discusses his efforts to pressure AG Bill Barr to establish a special counsel. Previously Graham expressed “confidence”, now he’s expressing “hope”. Hmm, perhaps AG Barr is less favorable to another special counsel.
It also sounds like someone has informed Senator Graham the preferred direction for accountability is support for criminal referrals and direct investigation/prosecution. Perhaps that subtle shift is connected to his re-election effort.
The conversation then shifts to border security, China and North Korea. Senator Graham affirms he is aligned with President Trump on those three critical issues.
Something slightly delayed next week’s schedule by a few days. Quite possibly the issue with the “Sanctions”, discussed yesterday. However, that said, the next two face-to-face discussions between USTR Lighthizer and Vice Premier Liu He have been scheduled.
Statement from the Press Secretary – At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing, China, for principal-level meetings starting on March 28, 2019, to continue negotiations aimed at improving the trade relationship between the United States and China.
Yesterday the U.S. Treasury announced sanctions against two Chinese shipping firms for violating ongoing sanctions against North Korea [TREASURY HERE].
With USTR Robert Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin set to travel this weekend to Beijing for ongoing trade discussion, the sanction timing complicates the dance with the dragon. Subsequently President Trump sends the following tweet:
Slamming China with sanctions (over DPRK dragon activity) while Beijing is showing the Panda mask (during Beijing trade negotiations) is not wise. If the Panda mask drops during trade negotiations to reveal the Dragon face, then ok. However, the majority of the West, driven by a misunderstanding of the China-DPRK relationship, does not know how directly a manipulative Beijing controls Pyongyang.
Taking aggressive sanction action against China could backfire with Beijing ordering those around Chairman Kim to test a missile.
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White House Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney appears on Fox News with Chris Wallace to discuss ongoing political events. Wallace spends half the interview trying to attach the terrorist attack in New Zealand to the Trump administration before eventually moving on to issues surrounding North Korea and the border security veto.
China has no cultural or political space between peace and war; they are a historic nation based on two points of polarity. They see peace and war as coexisting with each other.
China accepts and believes opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Flowing between these polar states is a natural dynamic to be used -with serious contemplation- in advancing objectives as needed.
Peace or war. Yin and Yang. Panda or Dragon. Culturally there is no middle position in dealings with communist China; they are not capable of understanding or valuing the western philosophy of mutual benefit where concession of terms gains a larger outcome. If it does not benefit China, it is not done. The outlook is simply, a polarity of peace or war. In politics or economics the same perspective is true. It is a zero-sum outlook.
Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford confirm to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Google’s work in China is directly benefiting the government and Chinese military.
National Security Adviser John Bolton appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss recent reports that Kim Jong-un is moving toward more nuclear testing.
Obviously that discussion moves quickly into the influence of China and Chairman Xi Jinping.
The frustrating question no-one ever seems to ask is not “if” China controls the DPRK government, but rather “to what extent”?
It has become more obvious in the past few years that North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong-un has much less control over officials and military leadership within his own government than previously thought.
Does Chairman Xi and Beijing structurally control everything around Kim? Is Kim a hostage; forced to ride a dragon he doesn’t control? I think the answer is yes.