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North Korean Leader Says He Will Suspend Arms Tests, Shut Nuclear Test Site (cnn.com)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced early Saturday morning that the regime no longer needs nuclear tests or intercontinental ballistic missile tests. Kim said Saturday that "under the proven condition of complete nuclear weapons, we no longer need any nuclear tests, mid-range and intercontinental ballistic rocket tests, and that the nuclear test site in northern area has also completed its mission," state-run KCNA reported Saturday. CNN reports: A North Korea source told CNN that Kim has finally decided to open up a new chapter for his nation.
Kim has committed himself to the path of denuclearization and will now focus solely on economic growth and improving the national economy, the source said. The North Korean leader has realized the best path forward is to normalize relations with other countries, the source added. He is finally being recognized by the international community, and this is a historic, timely opportunity, the source said. The decision to halt nuclear and missile testing comes just one week before the leaders of South and North Korea are due to meet at the demilitarized zone between the two countries. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed the news, tweeting: "North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World - big progress! Look forward to our Summit."
After seeing the picture of Kim Jong-Un blushing while posing with Red Velvet I figured, OK, this might be for real, he might really be ready to focus on trade.
Plus, China told him he had to do it; he went to China and they went on the news together, and North Korea had agreed to give up their nuclear program, and China had agreed to remain their ally. Sounds like a good deal to me, right?! Good deal for everybody, actually.
So how do you soften the hearts of the Generals? With kpop. Duh.
Works for me! I'm more of an AoA fan, but I can totally see Red Velvet being better for this mission.
When the history books record peace in korea because of trump.
Not the test facility, just one of the main tunnels under the mountain.
Reports since then reported work at other nearby sites, presumably working on new tunnels.
The Chinese have warned them in the past that they were over-using the tunnels and risking a collapse, they just didn't want to do the work of prepping a new tunnel until it actually happened. Workers died, but try to understand; workers at this site are constantly dying, and they bring new ones in. They don't have radiation safety programs. Their system is simpler; important enough people don't have to do that job.
Trump was the only world leader who could speak Kim's language, and that was what finally convinced them to drop a path they had been on through MANY other U.S. presidents.
This alone makes Trump the greatest president in modern times, greatly eclipsing anything Obama ever did (or even imagined he did).
Now after we clean up Obama's gift of nuclear weapons to Iran, the world may actually be safer for once...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's a vicious cycle. (1) Blow off a nuke or two, make threats, bluster (2) Get the South and US to negotiate (3) Get food/technical assistance (4) When assistance runs out, go back to (1) We're talking about North Korea -- they have more years' experience with blackmail than the age of the average US official.
When you don't give a shit about workers' lives, money spent on safety is just inefficiency.
Besides, if a tunnel collapses and kills a bunch of people, that's less people you have to figure out how to feed when your entire country is under famine and you are a 3rd generation petulant asshole who thinks that constant threats to neighbors, ballistic missiles, and crude nuclear arms are more important than food for the citizenry. But don't worry - it's one set of rules for the peasants, and another for you and your cronies. He's still nice and pudgy.
Ahh, Communism. How great thou art.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
When news first hit, the media was broadsided and reports/anchors, even from CNN, were positive and even commending Trump.
The next morning (after their 4 AM talking points) the reports were more along the lines of "Oh, we've heard this from North Korea before. It won't really happen.".
As it continued to look more and more like it could happen, there were a few reports of chicken little bullshit about Trump playing into NK's hands, Trump falling for a NK plot that will just trigger WWIII, etc. But they didn't stick.
The general consensus among the mainstream media now, leading up to the official meeting, seems to be "Huh. Okay, this might happen. Maybe Trump being an asshole and Kim Jong Un being an asshole worked out in a Bizarro sort of way.".
I'd say his recent, first-ever trip to Beijing had a lot to do with it. Papa Xi undoubtedly set his fine young self straight on a few matters, likely starting with, "If you fire the first missile, the Americans will turn you into a parking lot, and as long as the bombs all fall on your side of the Yalu, we'll sit right here and watch them do it."
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
'Palestinians', or more accurately, local Arabs, do live in that land. What you are likely describing is them occupying Israel and doing their damndest to reduce Jews to a minority, so that they can get rid of the one Jewish country that is actually the original home of the Jews
It's been 70 years, and everywhere else in the world, when people have been displaced, they settle down in newer countries and assimilate there, rather than carry that grudge across generations. Like Crimean Tatars in Uzbekistan, or Sindhi Hindus in India. Aside from the people in the West Bank or Gaza, there are Palis who left that area to settle in other countries, such as Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, et al. There is no reason why they can't just settle down in those countries, and assimilate into their populations
Before the creation of Israel, the term 'Palestinian' was used to refer to local Jews, while the Arabs were simply called Arabs. The term 'Palestinian' didn't exist before 1967, when Arafat decided to rebrand his people that to change world opinion. Until then, everybody saw it as a few million Jews in Israel vs all the Arabs in countries from Morocco to Iraq, and Syria to Sudan. By rebranding them as 'Palestinian', he changed the perception of Israel from a David to a Goliath.
Also historically, under various Muslim rulers, there was never any entity named 'Palestine': throughout history, it was a part of either Egypt or Syria, depending on who was the ruler. If they want to revert to history, maybe a good idea would be to hand over control of them to either President Sisi or President Assad.
Actually, especially given that it came out of the AEI (to be fair, she's a fairly reputable professor at Georgetown), it was pretty light on that, I thought.
It seemed to me to be more about Xi clarifying a few things for Kim. Rephrased in the vernacular, I'm guessing it sounded a lot like, "If you want us to back you up, you're gonna lighten the fuck up, get off your high horse, show us some respect, and play by the rules, which we are listing here for your convenience...". The author posits [emphasis added],
Kim realized that US military options are more likely now than in the past, and that the Chinese were preparing for contingencies that did not involve supporting the North Korean regime.
If the US were to attack North Korea, China would intervene — not in support of North Korea, but rather in support of its own interests and would possibly even collaborate with the Americans.
Makes sense, and the collaboration bit might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. Left unsaid here--but possibly not in Beijing the other week--is that the Chinese do not actually have to wait for the Americans--they can act pre-emptively if they so choose. But that's potentially very disorderly, and China is nearly certain to prefer options that offer continued stability in the region over those that don't.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Oh, suddenly CNN is trustworthy now.
Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
And watch the media spin like GE's finest turbines.
They should invite Obama and ask him to bring his peace prize. Rip it out of his hands, give it to Trump and apologize for being partisan hacks.
Om, nomnomnom...
When news first hit, the media was broadsided and reports/anchors, even from CNN, were positive and even commending Trump.
The next morning (after their 4 AM talking points) the reports were more along the lines of "Oh, we've heard this from North Korea before. It won't really happen.".
And they're right, in a way. These deals take years to complete. Once Trump is no longer president NK will back out of any "deal" they agreed to. Their only reason for wanting peace is due to Trump's willingness to pull the trigger. If a new president, one with a more Obama-ish attitude, comes in then NK will revert to previous behaviour.
You read it here first.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.