
Ok.. so now what, UN?
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Ed.: 080617 – Words: 988 – Audio: 08:02
Well, it is indeed rare when you get a unanimous decision from the UN security council on anything, but apparently they all agreed on new, tougher sanctions for the Dear Leader. Nikki Haley, our UN ambassador, has said that this is a “gut punch” to North Korea. Well…. not. Or rather, not likely. What makes me so damn positive I know more than all these world leaders? I’m old, wise, and have seen stuff like this before. More to the point… I’m fairly good at measuring up people that are renegades and mavericks (hence the reason for my blog here). Besides that… I can make a scientific wild-assed guess just as well as the next guy.
The first thing I was reminded of when I heard of the new sanctions and all the bravado that the North will now capitulate to the West’s demands was… well, does anyone remember the Ho-Chi Min Trail? At present the North has been getting all their necessary imports from various black market sources.. and non-black market sources, like China. China has not done a lot to stop imports to North Korea.. and to date all we’ve been hearing is China’s reluctance to do anything, in spite of the great tasting chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago. They are a permanent member of the UN Security Council and obviously their vote for these sanctions was part of the unanimous vote. Well.. here’s what the sanctions are supposed to do…
“The resolution targets North Korea’s primary exports, including coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. The sanctions also target other revenue streams, such as banks and joint ventures with foreign companies.
The sanctions will slash North Korea’s annual export revenue of $3 billion by more than a third, according to a statement from Haley’s office.”
Sorry. I’m not buying any of this. Yes.. the world is trying a “peaceful” way to work the problem… but the problem is not with the world.. it’s between Kim and the U.S. Just telling him to shut down the nuke project simply will not work. Here’s the strange thing to all this…. Kim is asking for international respect and most assuredly respect from the U.S. as an equal on the world stage. He has made NO demands on the U.S as far as I am aware. None. But we are sure making demands on him. That clown in the White House who is supposed to be the art of the deal maker… this would be a coup of a lifetime if he can deal his way with North Korea. But America is making the wrong demand, and that demand is the big problem. So.. change the demand. Let him have his nukes. Let’s convince him there’s no reason to threaten to use them.
Then there’s this little possibility…
CNN reports…
On Sunday, Ri Yong Ho (North Korean Foreign Minister) and Rex Tillerson will both be in the Philippines for the annual Association of Southeastern Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Regional Forum, a dialogue to discuss security issues which includes 27 countries. It’s the highest-level annual encounter between North Korea and the United States, says Mike Fuchs, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and the first during the Trump administration.
“It will be a very important opportunity again for the United States and North Korea to send messages — unvarnished, with no middle-men — to one another about their policies,” Fuchs said.
Well, we can hope.
But this sanctions nonsense? I’m sorry. The problem with North Korea is the fault of the U.S. and we are missing a big opportunity to fix this once and for all without a conflict.
Carry on America.
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Sanctions are almost always just a “feel good” measure…..it allows one party to look as if they are doing something when they are actually doing little. Makes great headlines but in action will do little.. Have a good Sunday my friend….chuq
You are correct on the “feel good” of sanctions.. the idea either wastes time or kicks the can down the road, or both.
..and you have a good rest-of-the-weekend yourself, sir.
Doug that is what we Americans do best….kick that damn can down the road…….would like to ask….have you closed down Boomer Rants? chuq
It’s dormant, of sorts. I’m not posting to it but I am not shutting it down. It’s a resource I pull from, from time to time (like my reference on your Big Bang post). I seem to get a fair number of replies from folks searching on “Quill Corporation” (former employees) and ending up on one of my “Quill” posts.
You making the query because it’s not skittish like my new blogs? Pete has suggested recently that I go back to that WordPress.com thing because of the issues on my new blogs.
I did have a bit of a problem posting a couple of comments over at Doug.Lite……I finally got thru but anytime I get sidetracked I get cranky…LOL chuq
If you take a piss-poor country and make it poorer. If you take people with little reason to carry on, and give them even less reason to want to live. If you take an egotistical man and try to make him lose even more face than he already does. If you do all this, you are goading the DPRK into some kind of retaliation, and stirring a pot that is already close to boiling over. Better to give them stuff, as I always say. Embarrass them with kindness. They will be all-too aware that it not a sign of weakness, believe me.
Best wishes, Pete.
Agreed, Pete. But no one in D.C. is listening to us.
Well, we could use the the approach we used with the Iranians. We could give the North Koreans a $150 billion to help them finance their terrorism and WMD programs.
Why don’t you suggest Trump give Obama call? Wouldn’t Obama be the perfect guy to head up the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN), the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance (AVC), and the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (NDF) at the State Department? Doesn’t Obama have plenty of experience helping tyrannical regimes feel good about themselves. He can almost certainly convince them of the incredible fecklessness of America’s government.
Seriously. You don’t have a better idea, and I don’t either. Whether these sanctions will work we don’t know. However, if China does what it has promised to do — big if — it is a cinch China participation will make it far more difficult for the tyrant running North Korea. Without China’s support, he will have a big problem staying in power.
What is the issue? We have to convince China of two things: peace benefits both of us and China needs good relations with us more than they need good relations with North Korea. Our problem is to make certain China does not benefit by keeping the North Korean threat alive. We cannot allow China to see the threat of North Korea’s nukes as anything other than a negative for both of us. Because past American presidents have not stood firm, that will be tricky.
I think you and I agree that China can be a key to all this… and for sure any idea we come up with is apparently not an option for Washington. But because you and I are not in the loop we have no idea what secret intel they have that supports what they are doing. We are just armchair critics for sure.
Agreed.
I agree with your assessment One Hundred percent and I am just hoping that any “Resolution” does not entail American Taxpayers shelling out millions of dollars in “Appeasement” money (Korean Aid) that would surely be used to build more NK weapons ….I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.
Well, John.. if we can at least get in there to look around we might be able to monitor better exactly where any aid might go. And you are correct.. trusting them is doubtful.
We have tried the monitoring thing before with them with no success as they finally just expelled the monitors and did whatever they want to do.