President Trump's Carrot-and-Stick Strategy for Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin

AS WE AWAIT THE TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT, THERE ARE SOME HITS FOR VLADIMIR. He may think he can roll President Trump the way he rolls Europe. As George Gershwin said, "It ain't necessarily so." • • • KIM JONG-UN SEEMS TO BE DESTINED TO LEARN THE HARD WAY. Ed Morrissey of hotair.com wrote last Friday : "As one of my previous bosses reminded me, this is what happens when you miss a meeting. On Wednesday, North Korea failed to show up as scheduled in Panmunjom to discuss the process of repatriating the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War. That followed after officials in Pyongyang criticized Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for “gangster-like” demands during denuclearization talks, suggesting that they might want further concessions. Instead, the US responded by demanding that all oil shipments cease to North Korea." • The United States told the UN on Thursday that North Korea has already exceeded the annual cap allowed for oil imports, and asked the United Nations to order an immediate halt to all transfers of oil to the country, highlighting US -- make that President Trump -- determination to keep squeezing North Korea through existing economic sanctions until Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons that threaten the United States. In Thursday’s report submitted to the UN committee responsible for monitoring North Korean sanctions, the US said NK tankers filled up with oil using ship-to-ship transfers at least 89 times in the first five months of 2018. According to a copy of the report seen by the Washington Post, US officials calculated that even if the tankers carried only one-third of their full load, North Korea would have already exceeded the annual quota of 500,000 barrels allowed under UN sanctions. Morrissey says : "It’s almost certainly no coincidence that this report happened to be available at the very moment when North Korea exhibited balkiness in the negotiations. Both Donald Trump and Mike Pence have repeatedly stated that they would not fall into the same trap that caught previous administrations by providing concessions for mere talks. Without real concessions on denuclearization, the Trump administration has maintained, there would be no concessions on sanctions. This is the first yank on the choke chain, in other words. It lets Kim Jong-un know that we mean business, and that the administration hasn’t bought into the peace narrative so deeply as to be afraid to get tough. Trump canceled the summit two months ago after a similar no-show and eruption of angry rhetoric from Pyongyang, and the point of this demand to the UN is to show that Trump’s position hasn’t changed." • But, in the carrot-and-stick negotiating style of President Trump, he also flattered Kim last Thursday. Using a tweet, Trump posted copies of the four-paragraph note, both in Korean and translated into English, in which Kim stated that the summit was the “start of a meaningful journey” and that a “new future” between the two nations “will surely come to fruition....I deeply appreciate the energetic and extraordinary efforts made by Your Excellency Mr. President for the improvement of relations,” Kim said, according to the letter, dated July 6. That was the day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived for two days of meetings with top North Korean officials, which ended on a sour note after Pyongyang blasted the US side over a “unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization.” • In his note, Kim offered no reassurances that he is committed to relinquishing his country’s nuclear weapons or ballistic missile arsenal, but said North Korea would “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” -- without details on when or how Pyongyang would dismantle its program. Trump called it “a very nice note from Chairman Kim of North Korea....Great progress being made!” • The Trump message in the UN report noting that NK had exceeded its oil import sanctions for 2018 and the simultaneous praise for Kim's letter cannot be lost on the North Koreans. Point - Counterpoint. Is Kim more interested in a secure and economically improved future in which he is held out as a friend of the US -- or will he choose isolation, extreme and deepening poverty for his people and escalating acrimony from the leader of the Free World? • That is a question Vladimir Putin ought to be asking himself as he prepares for the Helsinki summit. With Donald Trump, especially, there are no free lunches. • • • NATO -- MATTIS IS ON THE JOB, BUT SO IS TRUMP -- READ THE WARSAW SPEECH. The mainstream media would like to convince us that Trump is a loose cannon rolling across Europe with no plan, no sense of loyalty to allies, and no brain. Just a bumbling idiot who will succumb to Russian PResident Putin's strategy of divide and conquer. • TheHill's contributor, Brent Budowsky, wrote last week that : "There is great trepidation throughout the free world and the American electorate as President Trump prepares to meet first with our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and then with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin behind closed doors....The first battlefield pits Defense Secretary James Mattis, an invaluable defender of the post-war alliance that has protected our peace and security for seven decades, against President Trump, the only post-war president who has been consistently contemptuous of the NATO alliance. The second battlefield pits Trump against our NATO and democratic allies, who he often criticizes and undermines while praising unsavory dictators like the Russian strongman who attacks us and abuses his people. The third battlefield pits NATO and the democratic world against Putin, who seeks to divide and conquer democratic institutions, security relationships and economic alliances that have protected our security and enhanced our prosperity since World War II. The fourth battlefield pits Putin and Trump against special counsel Robert Mueller, who seeks to unravel the conspiracies surrounding the Russian attack against democracy and prosecute any individuals who may have colluded or conspired in this attack." • Budowsky lavishes praise on Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis : "Believers in freedom and democracy owe a profound debt to Defense Secretary Mattis, who towers above all others inside the Trump administration as a bulwark of the democratic alliance. Mattis is a good man, a modern throwback to the days when allies made common cause in defense of our common values and shared security." • But, for Trump, Busowsky is way off base, saying : "By contrast, Trump, whose sense of history extends no further than the latest news cycle, and whose defense of democracy extends no further than his latest attacks against democratic leaders and praise of foreign dictators, is seen by NATO allies as a threat to their security, not a guarantor." • I don't know what Mr Budowsky reads, or even IF he reads, but he obviously has failed to read the July 6, 2017, speech President Trump gave in Warsaw. it is the seminal speech of the 21st century -- outlining his defense of western civilization. President Trump began by addressing the history of his host country, Poland : "Poland is the geographic heart of Europe, but more importantly, in the Polish people, we see the soul of Europe. Your nation is great because your spirit is great and your spirit is strong. For two centuries, Poland suffered constant and brutal attacks. But while Poland could be invaded and occupied, and its borders even erased from the map, it could never be erased from history or from your hearts. In those dark days, you have lost your land but you never lost your pride. So it is with true admiration that I can say today, that from the farms and villages of your countryside to the cathedrals and squares of your great cities, Poland lives, Poland prospers, and Poland prevails. Despite every effort to transform you, oppress you, or destroy you, you endured and overcame. You are the proud nation of Copernicus -- think of that -- Chopin, Saint John Paul II. Poland is a land of great heroes. And you are a people who know the true value of what you defend. The triumph of the Polish spirit over centuries of hardship gives us all hope for a future in which good conquers evil, and peace achieves victory over war. For Americans, Poland has been a symbol of hope since the beginning of our nation. Polish heroes and American patriots fought side by side in our War of Independence and in many wars that followed. Our soldiers still serve together today in Afghanistan and Iraq, combatting the enemies of all civilization....Our two countries share a special bond forged by unique histories and national characters. It’s a fellowship that exists only among people who have fought and bled and died for freedom. The signs of this friendship stand in our nation’s capital. Just steps from the White House, we’ve raised statues of men with names like Pulaski and Kosciuszko. The same is true in Warsaw, where street signs carry the name of George Washington, and a monument stands to one of the world’s greatest heroes, Ronald Reagan." • In the Warsaw speech, President Trump then defends Europe and warns Russia : "A strong Poland is a blessing to the nations of Europe, and they know that. A strong Europe is a blessing to the West and to the world. One hundred years after the entry of American forces into World War I, the transatlantic bond between the United States and Europe is as strong as ever and maybe, in many ways, even stronger. This continent no longer confronts the specter of communism. But today we’re in the West, and we have to say there are dire threats to our security and to our way of life....We are confronted by another oppressive ideology -- one that seeks to export terrorism and extremism all around the globe. America and Europe have suffered one terror attack after another....During a historic gathering in Saudi Arabia, I called on the leaders of more than 50 Moslem nations to join together to drive out this menace which threatens all of humanity. We must stand united against these shared enemies to strip them of their territory and their funding, and their networks, and any form of ideological support that they may have. While we will always welcome new citizens who share our values and love our people, our borders will always be closed to terrorism and extremism of any kind. We are fighting hard against radical Islamic terrorism, and we will prevail. We cannot accept those who reject our values and who use hatred to justify violence against the innocent. Today, the West is also confronted by the powers that seek to test our will, undermine our confidence, and challenge our interests. To meet new forms of aggression, including propaganda, financial crimes, and cyberwarfare, we must adapt our alliance to compete effectively in new ways and on all new battlefields. We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere, and its support for hostile regimes -- including Syria and Iran -- and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defense of civilization itself." • And, to conclude, President Trump took up the role of freedom-loving people who defend western civilization : "Finally, on both sides of the Atlantic, our citizens are confronted by yet another danger -- one firmly within our control. This danger is invisible to some but familiar to the Poles : the steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and wealth of the people. The West became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies. Americans, Poles, and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come from inside or out, from the South or the East, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. If left unchecked, these forces will undermine our courage, sap our spirit, and weaken our will to defend ourselves and our societies....Our citizens did not win freedom together, did not survive horrors together, did not face down evil together, only to lose our freedom to a lack of pride and confidence in our values. We did not and we will not. We will never back down....As long as we know our history, we will know how to build our future. Americans know that a strong alliance of free, sovereign and independent nations is the best defense for our freedoms and for our interests. That is why my administration has demanded that all members of NATO finally meet their full and fair financial obligation. As a result of this insistence, billions of dollars more have begun to pour into NATO. In fact, people are shocked. But billions and billions of dollars more are coming in from countries that, in my opinion, would not have been paying so quickly. To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated not merely with words but with its actions that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual defense commitment. Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection -- and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this -- Europe must do more. Europe must demonstrate that it believes in its future by investing its money to secure that future....That is why we salute the Polish people for being one of the NATO countries that has actually achieved the benchmark for investment in our common defense....We have to remember that our defense is not just a commitment of money, it is a commitment of will....The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it? We can have the largest economies and the most lethal weapons anywhere on Earth, but if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive. If anyone forgets the critical importance of these things, let them come to one country that never has. Let them come to Poland. And let them come here, to Warsaw, and learn the story of the Warsaw Uprising. When they do, they should learn about Jerusalem Avenue....The memories of those who perished in the Warsaw Uprising cry out across the decades, and few are clearer than the memories of those who died to build and defend the Jerusalem Avenue crossing. Those heroes remind us that the West was saved with the blood of patriots; that each generation must rise up and play their part in its defense and that every foot of ground, and every last inch of civilization, is worth defending with your life. Our own fight for the West does not begin on the battlefield -- it begins with our minds, our wills, and our souls. Today, the ties that unite our civilization are no less vital, and demand no less defense, than that bare shred of land on which the hope of Poland once totally rested. Our freedom, our civilization, and our survival depend on these bonds of history, culture, and memory. And today as ever, Poland is in our heart, and its people are in that fight. Just as Poland could not be broken, I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph." • That Warsaw speech, we say to Brent Budowsky, is what Donald Trump is all about. It is what he stands for. It is what keeps him going as the defender of America and the free wrold while fools and knaves attack him and the values of the West. If I were Vladimir Putin, I would read that Warsaw speech a hundred times before Monday. It contains the words of a leader, a man, who will never give up, who will never cede an inch, who will never be defeated. • • • WHAT IS SPECIAL COUNSEL MUELLER UP TO?? American Thinker's Don Sucher wrote on Sunday about the indictment of twelve Russians for hacking Dem Party computers, releasing the supposedly confidential info there, and thus messing around with an American election : "This act by the Department of Justice has no meaning in a legal sense. The Russians ain't done nothing (yes, double negative -- perfect for here) that they (and the US government) have not been doing since at least 1918. In this case, it had absolutely no effect on any outcomes apart from raising the decibel level....Think of how much there is right now that the "Department of Justice"...needs to drown out. The Mueller idiocy. The success of the Trump administration's policies. The slow reveal of the DoJ's own malfeasance in trying to upset the last election. How better to do this than by a phony 'bust' of some ugly Ruskies?" • Sucher asks if the DOJ really expects the Russian government "to extradite these people for trial here? (Would they bust 'em if that were even a possibility? With the Russians thus able via American criminal law practices to demand access to all that information the DOJ won't even allow congressional committees to see? Really?" • And, another thing, says Sucher : "What about the timing? This is occurring just as 1) a key FBI official is telling Congress between smirks that 'I will not answer your questions -- the FBI lawyers tell me I cannot' and 2) President Trump is about to meet with Russian president Putin -- and pull off who knows what State Department mortifying surprise." • So, for Sucher, the Russians here are not "the target. We are. You, me, and our elected president. Our growing self-confidence and demand for taking control of what is ours -- control that threatens everything the so-called "DOJ" and the rest of State looks upon as its own....The bulk of thinking Americans will see it as just what it is -- another attempt at gaming us through the old and now largely ignored media circus. No, they -- those perpetrating this farce -- won't go away. But their hold is day by day, and act by act, weakening. This entire gambit is equally an example of that -- and an accelerator of their demise." • Another American Thinker analyst, Andrew Thomas, points out the "thirteen alleged Russian trolls and three Russian companies, headed by Concord Management and Consulting, LLC, that were indicted by the Mueller investigation team for conspiring to wage 'information warfare' on the US presidential election in 2016. Wait a minute, you might say. Aren’t those guys the same as the twelve Russian officials that Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein just announced have been indicted for hacking into Clinton campaign servers? Nope. It’s a confusion any low information casual observer (i.e., most of the US population) might have. In this hand we have thirteen Russian trolls, and poof, they’re gone. In the other hand, twelve Russian hackers magically appear in their place." Thomas asks : "What happened to the original group of indicted Russians and Russian companies? Something very embarrassing and potentially devastating to the Mueller team prosecutors. One of the accused fought back. Concord Management demanded their right to a 'speedy trial' and their right to see the evidence against them via the discovery process. Totally unprepared for this aggressive defense (or any defense at all), the Mueller team tried several delaying courtroom tactics, finally dumping nearly two terabytes of untranslated Russian social media data on the defense as their 'discovery' evidence. It would be interesting to know how the prosecution explained to the court exactly how untranslated Russian social media could possibly influence a US presidential election, but we probably never will. Mueller has added 4 assistant US Attorneys to handle the now-embarrassing case, and according to what Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post advises us, it seems that that Team Mueller seems to be cutting its exposure to ultimate humiliation." AND, that first trial was set to resume on July 9, 2018, but Thomas points out : "What happened on July 9? Nobody seems to know. All of the media outlets and internet sources are silent. The trial has been forgotten. It’s easy to see why this is being kept quiet by the anti-Trump media. A prosecutorial defeat or dismissal would indicate extreme incompetence by the Mueller investigation team, possibly snowballing into calls from Congress to end the investigation. So now we turn our attention to the newly-indicted group of twelve Russian officers, intelligence agents, or 'spies' (take your pick) who allegedly hacked into Democrat party servers. The timing of these indictments is truly a 'magician’s trick.' " The truth is that this newest set of twelve Russian indictees "will almost certainly never show up for a trial, as opposed to the inconvenient appearance of the previous defendants. The new defendants can be proudly displayed as shining examples of the effectiveness and competence of the Mueller investigation, which will allow it to extend its existence into perpetuity. The Mueller team will never have to present their 'evidence,' which appears to be even more questionable than the previous data dump of Russian garbage. Thomas states : "As Sundance explains : The entire indictment...is based on the premise of the FBI conducting some -- unexplained and unsubstantiated -- form of forensic data-analysis to formulate their detailed conclusions. However, can anyone explain how this FBI forensic data-analysis was possible when the FBI was never allowed access to the DCCC, DNC and Clinton Campaign servers?....it could be just plain old dishonesty, corruption and/or incompetence within the Mueller/FBI/DOJ /CIA presidential coup cabal. But whatever corruption and incompetence may exist in the Great Russian Witch-Hunt, I’m confident our trustworthy media masters will make it soon be forgotten." • • • TRUMP GOES AFTER THE REAL RUSSIA SCANDAL. Black-Eye Politics pointed it out last Friday : "Since the day President Trump won the election, the left has been calling him a 'Russian puppet.' Despite evidence pointing to the contrary, they are convinced that Trump answers to Russia when making policy decisions. But Trump just proved them wrong while exposing the real Russia scandal, and it’s shocking. When talking about Russia, the first thing the left tries to do is claim that President Trump is beholden to them. It doesn’t matter that Trump has been one of the harshest Presidents ever when it comes to Russia, and that the Russian government has spoken out against him. The left continues this lie because it is harmful to Trump, and it is backed up by the liberal media who pushes the idea that Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. Needless to say, all of that is untrue." • BUT, some countries and hteir leaders have been cosying up to Russia -- Germany and Chancellor Merkel for example in the German lead in building the new pipeline from Russia to Germany -- thus skipping over the 'troublesome' Ukraine. And, while this Russia ploy is ongoing, NATO, which is supposed to be a mutual defense alliance, has been extremely unfair to US taxpayers, who pay up to 90%, according to what one counts, according to Trump, of the NATO treaty costs. Black-Eye Politics states : "Under the NATO agreement, if Russia were to attack Germany, the United States would defend Germany. So President Trump feels that with Germany 'making Russia richer,' it is damaging the strength of the NATO agreement. Not only is Germany making Russia richer, the dependency could end as a strategic nightmare for Germany. If a heated conflict broke out between the two countries, Russia could easily cripple Germany simply by refusing to sell oil and gas to them. That is why President Trump has spoken in the past about making it easier for European countries to ship natural gas products in order to break up the monopoly that Russia has in place. Not only would that make the NATO alliance stronger, but it would weaken Russia financially." • Would a President TRump who sides with Russia go out of his way to tell Germany to stop the pipeline? No. He would say, that's a great idea. Would he offer US natural gas to germany nad Euroe to replace its energy dependence on Russia? No. He would say, great idea. Trump is not Russia's ally. He wants to strengthen Europe so that it can break its dependence on Russia. • • • DEAR READERS, Kremlin aides said Friday that Russian President Putin sees President Trump as a “negotiating partner.” Putin's goal when the two leaders hold their first official meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday, according to Putin advisor Yuri Ushakov, quoted by the French AFP media outlet, is to improve the state of bilateral relations, which is very bad : "The aim of this meeting is to begin setting right the negative state of bilateral relations, to agree on concrete measures to improve them and to establish a more or less acceptable level of trust.” The Kremlin diplomat talked about possible future visits to Moscow and Washington, DC, saying Russia hopes the negotiations will “contribute to the creation of an atmosphere that will allow us to talk about continuing contact.” Ushakove said : "One of the main subjects to be discussed will be the Iranian military presence in Syria." • Reportedly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will also discuss Russian election meddling. • President Trump commented : “[Putin] is representing Russia. I’m representing the United States. So in a sense we’re competitors. [It’s] not a question of friend or enemy.” The President remarked that his summit with Putin could end up being the “easiest of them all” after a strained NATO summit. • Beside raising the issue of Russian meddling in the US presidential election, which the Kremlin still denies, other issues, including the poisoning of an ex-Kremlin spy in Britain and Russia’s military aid to the brutal regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, will be on the agenda. • We can be sure that President Trump will say all the nice things he usually says about foreign leaders who are problematic. But, like his carrot-and-stick for Kim Jong-un, President Trump will certainly have a stick at the ready when he addresses the world in his post-meeting joint press conference with President Putin. • More tomorrow.