Trump Says North Korea Is on His List, with or without China

Incredible as it is, Progressive Democrats and their mainstream media are blaming President Trump for "sabre rattling' while North Korea's psychotic dictator is showing pictures of ICBMs on state advertisements. • • • TRUMP SAYS IT IS TIME TO STOP NORTH KOREA. In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, President Donald Trump said he is open to the possibility of unilateral action against North Korea, should China fail to join the US in pressuring North Korean leader Kim John Un over the nuclear threat his regime poses. Trump said he would discuss the issue at his Florida resort later this week in his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping : "China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone. Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you." Trump told the FT that it is "totally" possible for the US to act unilaterally, but would not provide details. The White House views North Korea as "the most imminent threat" to the U, and even former President Barack Obama finally agreed, warning Trump about North Korea. • Trump has criticized China over its economic and trade policies, but indicated ahead of the US-China meeting that he thought he could find common ground with the Chinese president. Trump said : "I have great respect for him. I have great respect for China. I would not be at all surprised if we did something that would be very dramatic and good for both countries, and I hope so." • After taking office, Trump asked the National Security Council to put together a list of options which he could present at his meeting with the Chinese president, according to two FT sources. The options include sanctions and more covert activities. Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China analyst and aide to former President George W. Bush, told The Financial Times the list could include pressure on the Chinese government to cut back on North Korean labor or more "controversial" tactics, "like taking covert action against North Korea, for example using cyber." Deputy national security advisor McFarland told the FT in a separate interview that there is "a real possibility that North Korea will be able to hit the US with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of the first Trump term." And, Secretary of State Tillerson, in a visit last month to Asia, announced that the "policy of strategic patience has ended." China voiced concerns over the threat posed by North Korea when its Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month called for a halt to its nuclear program, while also urging the US to cease military exercises in the region. Wang said : "The two sides are like two accelerating trains coming towards each other with neither side willing to give way. The question is, are the two sides really ready for a head-on collision?" • In a separate interview, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States is looking to China to take action against North Korea. Haley told ABC on Sunday : "The only country that can stop North Korea is China and they know that. We're going to continue to put pressure on China to have action." The Mar-a-Lago meeting this week will be the two leaders' encounter. Last Thursday, Trump predicted a "very difficult" summit with Xi, noting the disputes over trade policy between the world's two most powerful nations and leading economies. But Haley emphasized that at the meeting "the most important conversation will be how we're going to be dealing with the nonproliferation of North Korea." China is clearly frustrated with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile activities and recently announced a suspension of all coal imports from the North until the end of the year. Haley deemed that measure -- which was in keeping with UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program and missile program -- insufficient, saying that coal is "going in other ways. At some point, we need to see definitive actions by China condemning North Korea and not just calling them out for it." • After North Korea's March missile tests, which came provocatively close to Japan, Trump emphasized his commitment to "deter and defend against North Korea's ballistic missiles using the full range of United States military capabilities." Former US defense secretary Ash Carter, who served under Barack Obama, said the US has "always had all options on the table." Carter was also speaking on ABC, where he recalled that the United States drew up a "preemptive strike plan" in 1994 to knock out North Korea's Yongbyon reactor, during a confrontation over its nuclear program. Carter said : "We have those options. We shouldn't take them off the table." But Carter also said a US strike on North Korea would likely trigger a North Korean attempt to invade South Korea : "This is a war that would have an intensity of violence associated with it that we haven't seen since the last Korean War. Seoul is right there on the borders of the DMZ, so even though the outcome is certain, it is a very destructive war. And so one needs to proceed very carefully here." Carter seemed at odds with his own logic when he added that Washington should continue to pressure China to lean on North Korea, but said he was not optimistic that would lead to anything," because Beijing fears a potential North Korean collapse, which would result in "a unified Korea allied with the United States on their border." • President Trump, for his part, seems to be disappointed in China's lack or cooperation over North Korea. He told the Financial Times : “I do believe in alliances. I believe in relationships. And I believe in partnerships. But alliances have not always worked out very well for us." As a candidate, Trump accused China of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare Beijing a currency manipulator, though it is unclear whether Trump will follow through with either threat, but he said on Sunday that he doesn't "want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet." • • • DEFENSE SECRETARY MATTIS SAYS IT'S TIME TO STOP NORTH KOREA. Newsmax reported last Friday that during a meeting in Great Britain Mattis said North Korea must be stopped on its path toward being able to threaten the United States with nuclear attack, calling North Korea America's top national security concern at the moment. He emphasized diplomatic means of changing Pyongyang's "reckless" agenda. On his first visit to Britain as Pentagon chief, Mattis also took on Russia and said America's priority in Syria is defeating the Islamic State group rather than bringing down President Bashar al-Assad. At a joint news conference with his British counterpart, Michael Fallon, Mattis was reminded by a reporter that as commander of US forces in the Middle East several years ago, he considered Iran to be the biggest threat to US interests. Asked how he would deal with Iran as Secretary of Defense, Mattis called Teheran a problem but quickly pivoted to condemning North Korea and described the isolated, communist country as the more immediate threat : "This is a threat of both rhetoric and growing capability....We are working diplomatically, including with those that we might be able to enlist in this effort to get North Korea under control. But right now it appears to be going in a very reckless manner. That's got to be stopped." • • • NBC INTERVIEWS A HIGH-RANKING NORTH KOREA DEFECTOR. The NBC Nightly News, led by Lester Holt, is telecasting from South Korea early this week and Holt had an exclusive interview with Thae Yong Ho, a senior North Korean defector, who told him that the country's "desperate" dictator is prepared to use nuclear weapons to strike the United States and its allies. Thae Yong Ho is the most high profile North Korean defector in two decades, so he is able to give a rare insight into the secretive regime. According to Thae, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is "desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missiles]....Once he sees that there is any kind of sign of a tank or an imminent threat from America, then he would use his nuclear weapons with ICBM." • Thae was living in London and serving as North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom when he and his family defected to South Korea and were announced to the world in August. He was not directly involved in North Korea's weapons program but believes his country "has reached a very significant level of nuclear development." North Korea is estimated to have as many as eight nuclear weapons but has not demonstrated the ability to attach them to a long-range rocket, an ICBM, capable of hitting the US. But, earlier in January, Admiral Scott Swift, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, told NBC : “Kim Jong Un is a man who can do anything beyond the normal imagination,” and is ready to test-fire an ICMB "at any time, at any place....They have the nuclear capability -- they've demonstrated that. And then, where they're going with the miniaturization of that, whether they can actually weaponize a missile, that's what's driving the current concern." • Thae's interview with NBC News comes amidst rising tensions surrounding North Korea, which has significantly increased its missile and nuclear tests under Kim's rule. Admiral James Stavridis, an NBC News analyst and dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts and an outspoken critic of President Trump, told NBC : "It does feel more dangerous -- I'll give you three reasons. One is [Kim's] own precarious situation in command of the nation. Number two is the instability in South Korea. We've just seen the South Korean president indicted, arrested, and incarcerated. And, number three, a new and more aggressive American foreign policy coming from Washington." • Some analysts have warned that military action against North Korea might be very difficult and even disastrous. An invasion could risk a retaliatory strike against US allies of Japan and South Korea, whose capital, Seoul, is just 50 miles from the border. But, Thae warned America and its allies to be prepared : "If Kim Jong Un has nuclear weapons and ICBMs, he can do anything. So, I think the world should be ready to deal with this kind of person." Thae described Kim Jong Un as "a man who can do anything beyond the normal imagination...the final and the real solution to the North Korean nuclear issue is to eliminate Kim Jong Un from the post." According to Thae, Kim is obsessed with obtaining nuclear weapons because he saw what happened to Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, both of whom abandoned their countries' weapons of mass destruction programs and then were overthrown by Western-backed forces. Many analysts agree that Kim sees a nuclear weapon -- and the retaliatory threat it poses -- as an 'insurance policy' against a similar strategy being pursued against him. According to Thae, the world should look to Kim's past actions to see what he is capable of. The young leader has reportedly been responsible for purges and executions of top officials and even members of his own family -- last month, according to US and South Korean intelligence officials, he masterminded the assassination of his own half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, at an airport in Malaysia. • Thae describes himaelf as "a marked man," but since his defection, he has been giving media interviews and denouncing North Korea's brutal society. For this reason he believes he could be the next victim. He made the decision to switch sides, he said, after his two sons began asking questions about why North Korea did not allow the internet, why there was no proper legal system and why officials were executed without trial. But ,defection carried a high price, however, for while Thae was able to escape with his wife and children -- he fears his brother and sister in North Korea have been punished for his actions : "Our freedom here is achieved at the cost of the sacrifice of my family members left in North Korea. When a defection of my level happens, the North Korean regime usually sends the family members of high officials, defectors, to remote areas or labor camps and, to some extent, even to political prison camps as well." This is not unique. More than 100,000 people are believed to have been detained in North Korea's notorious gulags, where they are subjected to forced labor, torture and executions -- treatment the United Nations said was "strikingly similar" to the atrocities of Nazi Germany. Families are taken away by the country's secret police for arbitrary crimes such as "gossiping" about the state. This is, says NBC, all part of the dictatorship's attempt to restrict information reaching North Korean families from the outside world. Most people cannot use the internet or access foreign media -- Kim's attempt to maintain the pretense that his country is prosperous and the Western world is failing. North Korea "remains one of the most repressive states in the world," according to Human Rights Watch. But according to Thae, the mask is slipping. More and more, North Koreans are able to watch South Korean films, giving them a true picture of their far more prosperous neighbor : "I'm absolutely sure that once North Korean people are educated enough, then they may stand up. North Korean population now knows well that South Korea is democratic, the society and economy here are very well." This, Thae told NBC, "has already made the North Korean population not believe what the regime has been teaching and has been brainwashing them. I think this is really a great change in people's mind, because they do not believe in the government's propaganda system. I think that is very important. And once the people do not believe in what the leadership is saying, then there is a great possibility for possible uprising: what happened in Soviet Union, what happened in communist system in Eastern Europe." • • • BUT IRAN'S DICTATORS HOLD ON TO ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM. Heshmat Alavi wrote recently that the new threat made by Iran to ignore the heavy water limit in the nuclear deal aimed at curbing its nuclear program is a necessary reminder of a very important issue. Despite all the probable results that may ensue from Iran’s upcoming presidential elections, the mullahs’ regime in Teheran will not lose its dangerous characteristics. This, says Alavi, can also be perceived as "a silver bullet against the impression, put forward by the Obama administration, that the highly flawed 2015 accord will actually transform the regime into a 'moderate' entity. While Teheran has been at the receiving end of tens of billions, any engagement between Iran and the West is a repeat of a decades-old failed appeasement policy." • Iran is also currently raising the stakes for Washington and its Middle East allies by carrying out military drills. The regime’s navy is seeking to expand its exercise campaign in international waters, according to Iran’s naval chief, and has already carried out naval drills covering a two million square-kilometer area spanning Persian Gulf waters, especially the complex Strait of Hormuz. Iran has also unveiled the Karrar, claimed to be its first advanced battle tank, despite many questioning the legitimacy of such assertions. Alavi says testing "more sophisticated ballistic missiles continues to be on the regime’s schedule, many of them having nuclear-warhead mounting capability. In the meantime, Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen are now resorting to the use of Iran-designed drone boats packed with explosives. Such practices pose serious threats to commercial and military shipping lines in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait....And, in Lebanon, reports suggest that Iran is establishing underground rocket factories for its offspring, the Hezbollah, Teheran’s terrorist client camped deep in southern Lebanon and strategically located near Israel’s northern borders. The controversial matter has continued for decades, and Israel is known to have launched airstrikes targeting Hezbollah convoys and attacking a major arms factory in Sudan." • Regarding human rights, Alavi reports that : "Teheran is escalating the crackdown against any individual deemed to threaten the intense grip the regime has established on political and social matters. Troubling numbers include nearly 3,000 executions under the watch of the so-called 'moderate' Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, including 75 women." • • • ISRAEL AND UAE HOLD JOINT EXERCISES. Against this Iranian backdrop, Thomas Lifson writes in American Thinker that : "It is a new era in the Middle East, with Arab anti-Israel solidarity a thing of the past. Arab potentates have discovered that Persian shiites are an actual offensive threat, while Israel’s desire for peaceful existence is not. While it is common knowledge in the Middle East that on a de facto basis Israel is cooperating with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, in addition to existing and open relations with Egypt and Jordan, until now there has been very little overt acknowledgement and recognition. But this military patch for the INIOHOS 2017 joint training exercise underway in Greece openly and tangibly displays Israel’s flag next to those of the US, Greece, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates." The left-leaning Israeli media outlet Haaretz reports : "The Israel Air Force began a joint exercise on Monday in Greece that included dozens of aircraft from foreign armies. Dubbed Iniohos 2017, an official report for the Greek air force noted that the air forces of Israel, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Italy participated in the exercise. The training patch for the exercise includes the flags of the countries along with the slogan "Act with Awareness." The US army reported that it had dispatched 12 F-16C airplanes and close to 220 crew members to participate in the exercise. The joint exercise, according to a US army report, is strengthening ties among the participating countries, maintain[ing] joint readiness and interoperability." • Lifson says "the Mad Mullahs of Teheran have managed to supercharge the process of reconciliation between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors, a process that is now robust enough that it can be openly acknowledged and commemorated. This isn’t the first time for joint Israeli-Emerati exercises. Last August’s Red Flag training mission, was an “aerial combat training exercise in Nevada which [had] the participation of the air forces of Israel, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Spain, in addition to the United States.” But, concludes Lifson; " this time around, it is a step more open and officially recognized." • • • ISRAEL'S "DAVID SLING" AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM OPERATIONAL. Israel Today reported on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the ceremony marking the operational integration of the David's Sling air defense system at the Hatzor Air Force Base in southern Israel. "The three tiers of Israel's anti-missile defense technology now comprises of Iron Dome, which covers short range rockets and missiles (up to 70km range), David's Sling the medium range system (70 – 300km range), and the Arrow III exoatmospheric anti-ballistic missile system." David's Sling was developed in the last 10 years by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in cooperation with the IDF, as an answer to medium range kamikazi drones, rockets and missile fire. Unlike Iron Dome, which is stationary and defends specific areas of Israel, David's Sling is portable, providing national coverage." • • • DEAR READERS, as President Trump gives the US Department of Defense more leeway than it ever had under Barack Obama to exercise control over defense decisions, more US troops have been deployed acoss the Middle East and Africa. And, last week President Trump gave the US military more authority to conduct offensive airstrikes on al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia. The changes in President Trump's first two months in office underscore his willingness to let the Pentagon manage its own day-to-day combat. Under the Obama administration, military leaders chafed about micromanagement that included commanders needing approval for routine tactical decisions about targets and personnel moves. But delegating more authority to the Pentagon and combat decisions to lower level officers carries its own military and political risks -- especially civilian and American service member causalties. And, Alice Hunt Friend, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cited yet another concern : Military operations becoming "divorced from overall foreign policy" could make both civilian leaders and the military vulnerable to runaway events : "Political leaders can lose control of military campaigns." • But top military leaders say they need to be able to act quicker against US enemies. And they've been staunchly supported by Trump, who has promised to pursue islamic extremists more aggressively and has echoed the view of Pentagon leaders that the Obama administration's tight control over military operations limited effectiveness. The DOD has quietly doubled the number of US forces in Syria. It has moved military advisers closer to front lines in Iraq. It has publicly made the case for more troops in Afghanistan. The White House is tentatively scheduled this coming week to discuss providing intelligence, refueling and other assistance to the UAE as it fights Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to unnamed officials who weren't authorized to speak about a confidential meetings. The US military wants some decisions quickly. Iraqi forces are trying to complete the recapture of Mosul, an ISIS stronghold, and more American advisors closer to the battle can help. US-backed fighters are closing in on Raqqa and the Pentagon is pushing to accelerate the effort. Conducting both operations at the same time, the DOD argues, will put a lot of pressure on ISIS. • And, our hearts and prayers go out ot the victims and families of the explosion on Monday afternoon that shredded part of a subway train in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, killing at least 11 people and injuring 47 others. It reminds us that we do not have a moment to lose in attacking ISIS and other islamic terrorist groups. The blast occurred as Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting St. Petersburg, his hometown. Witnesses described seeing a man throwing a backpack onto the train moments before the deadly blast, according to the Daily Mail report. Police are looking for two suspects. Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee says it has found and de-activated a bomb at another St. Petersburg subway station. Putin said investigators are treating the explosion as a terror attack. He offered his condolences to the families of those killed. Viktor Ozerov, head of the upper house of parliament's security committee, said : "All the signs of a terrorist attack are there. The complex of measures against terrorism in the country failed." St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city with over 5 million residents, is its most popular tourist destination. The two stations that were targeted are some of the subway's busiest. Russian transport facilities have been hit by terrorists before. Double suicide bombings in the Moscow subway in March 2010 killed 40 people and wounded more than 100. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for that attack by two female suicide bombers, warning Russian leaders that "the war is coming to their cities." And, the high-speed Moscow-to-St.Petersburg train was also bombed on November 27, 2009, in an attack that left 26 dead and 100 injured. Umarov's group also said he ordered this attack. • The US Department of Defense leadership has good reason to want to get started quickly on erasing the years of Obama inertia in the face of islamic terrorism.