Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Ghengis Jon]

China's biggest fear is a unified, pro-Western Korea on its border. Any conflict will trigger a flood of malnourished NK refugees into China. The current status quo is perfect for China as it keeps the US off balance. The US ceded economic influence in the region to China by withdrawing from the Trans Pac trade agreement. Countries like the Phillipines and Japan are gaining a credible "US out" segment of the voting population. Having to deal with nuclear psychos like Kim ties down the US military, allowing for things like China creating islands/building naval bases where they shouldn't be. Then when the POSOTUS goes to China, he gets his ego stroked and what became of his 'tough on NK' talks? Nothing, NK launches (yet another) ICBM in Japan's direction.

Sanctions do nothing other than harm the general population. China enables 85% of NK's hard currency. China is quite happy with the status quo. At this point, there are only two options for neutralizing NK's nuclear program: a military strike or a coup from within.

Time to tell China straight. Have your lapdog terminate his nuclear program or we will remove the regime. You got thirty days.

Lots of options for formenting trouble within NK, less than a military strike. Time to draw up plans and put China on notice.

[hack]

"Time to tell China straight. Have your lapdog terminate his nuclear program or we will remove the regime. You got thirty days."

Ultimately it stops as soon as China wants it to stop, because when you provide 70% of food and energy to a country, you own it. It's tons easier for them to remove the regime than for us to do it. Us doing it would require a massive amount of stealth if it's a military solution, or money if it's a intelligence-backed coup. We know so much less about how the place works than China does. But if we don't do it ourselves, and instead demand that China do it, then that finally settles the question of who the real regional power is, and that would be in favor of China and against the US in terms of the global power balance. You can't be the guarantor of security in the region, and reap all the soft-power benefits of that, if you can't solve the problem yourself. On paper it looks like a massive loss of influence with Korea and Japan and perhaps Australia and Indonesia. These are massive economies and crucial countries to have sway over.

Maybe what we're seeing here fits with the other big steps China has taken lately. For years the status quo has benefited everyone -- a Kim gets to grandstand, China has NK as a tool to test the US, and the US gets to pretend it still is potentially the regional power. Maybe China now feels ready to finally force the issue, because it's their economy that will suffer the most from regional instability because of how export depended they are. So, escalate this and then shut it down. Take advantage of an ignorant POTUS who may not fully understand the power dynamic, and make clear who is the rising power and who is the falling one. They know, according to their plan, that the time will come to make this move. Maybe in the past they thought it was further off into the future, but they also know that as long as Trump is president they have an opportunity for intellectual arbitrage that may never present itself again.

[crashcourse]

so muellers investigation is trying to say Flynn was using his position in the white house to leverage a middle east nuclear deal

basically all I've learned is you cant come from the private sector into the government without some overlap and conflict and no one really stands a chance that something wont be found that coulkd screw you

especially when you got a whole team of investigators microinvestigating every aspect desparate to find something

since the original intent of the investigation is going so well

[froot loops]

Flynn was a career government official, not exactly a private sector product. The easy thing would have been not hiring that compromised POS.

[entropy]

Trump's really outdoing himself on twitter this morning. Retweeting anti-Muslim videos from one of the leaders of Britain First, commenting on Fox & Friends stories, bashing NBC, commenting on Matt Lauer, calling for a boycott of CNN, lol...what a shitshow

all things that matter...... (sigh)

[entropy]

You can blame DJT for a lot of things. A nuclear NK sure as fuck isn't one of them.

this I agree with... This didn't just start 12 months ago.

[hack]

Compared to Ken Starr's epic journey that led him all the way to consensual sex in the White House, this is going to end up looking like an afternoon's work. I was expecting it to go a lot longer, but things are pretty clear now. Flynn's flipped, and that only happens when the flipper can deliver you the goods on someone more high profile. That's basically Trump and his family, probably Pence, maybe Sessions, and maybe the GOP as an institution, if we're to believe in the Eastern District of VA investigation into a money-laundering>campaign-finance scheme. Am I forgetting anyone?

I still am confused and skeptical on the Middle East nuclear deal. As reported, that would be poaching business from Russia.

[entropy]

I'm ok if china plays the largest role in curbing NK. In fact, I've been of the opinion the security council members all need to share in stabilizing the world, not Russia and the US (when they feel like being involved or have an interest in the region).

[hack]

I think regardless of whatever logic we bring to the table as individuals about it, geopolitics has its own logic.

[Wild Hoss]

all things that matter...... (sigh)

Yeah, just like the day before when Elizabeth Warren (of all things) was pinging around inside his bubble-head. He gets triggered and acts impulsively, sometimes with little rhyme or reason, sometimes by whatever happens to be passing in front of his face at the moment.

He's got bad wiring between the ears, and and its not going to improve as he continues to age.

[hack]

Well a day of Pocahontas outrage or Islamophobia outrage potentially displaces a day of tax-reform outrage. He may be way out of his element here, but he's not a complete idiot.

[THE_WIZARD_]

...hack speak with fork tongue...

[iam416]

Heh. Pocahontas. Still classic.

[hack]

...hack speak with fork tongue...

WRONG AGAIN. Sporked.

[THE_WIZARD_]

My bad.