Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[CGVT]

Played

[Dr. Strangelove]

Texas Association of Manufacturers reports a significant decline in capital and foreign investment. Says many of its members are putting expansion plans on hold until 'trade war' is over.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/article/Trade-spats-new-norm-for-sorghum-growers-13055341.php

[Kapture1]

Played

This is a process and one the North Koreans dont want to fuck around during.

have patience. Its almost as if you didnt learn your lesson by jumping to call Trump a failure when he called off the summit

i can go back and quote that if you need a reminder

[froot loops]

Great win by the Three Lions

[froot loops]

Texas Association of Manufacturers reports a significant decline in capital and foreign investment. Says many of its members are putting expansion plans on hold until 'trade war' is over.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/busines...s-13055341.php

Waiting out a trade war is an optimistic stance, this clown will dig in

[Jeff Buchanan]

This is a process and one the North Koreans dont want to fuck around during.

have patience............

I think Kapture is at least 60% right on this. If you are only taking a cursory look at the headlines following Pompeo's current visit to NK, those don't give the full picture. I'm still skeptical that NK won't continue to play the kind's of games it has played in the past. Are they truly committed to a first step of reducing the threat of a nuclear exchange on the Korean Penninsula and as a second step going forward in allowing a verifiable denuclearization? They sound like they are in a careful reading of the Reuters piece I linked to below.

I think the biggest obstacle to successful outcomes re NK nukes is that Trump has absolutely no fucking sense of a negotiating style that comports with the kinds of compromises that, subtle or otherwise, are required with countries like an inscrutable NK (China and Iran are others equally inscrutable).

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa/pompeo-says-made-progress-with-north-korea-more-work-needed-idUSKBN1JX03B?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

[Kapture1]

The obvious difference is those types of negotiating skills have got us dick in the past. That got us less than nowhere. That got us a shit deal with Iran, and yes its a shit deal. That hollowed out our contry's manifacturing industry to the benefit of China and Mexico. Normally i would be nervous with tariff talk and far more skeptical but i trust Trump. It might take a year. It might take two years and a lot of threats of walking away, a lot of ridiculous demands from either side, lots of peaks and valleys, but i ultimately think if there will ever be a deal struck and N Korea gives up their nukes it will be because of the uncompromising show of strength by the President. And the exact negotiation skills that typical career politicians don't have.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Dunno Kap ...... I think, on balance, the US has achieved a great deal through skillful negotiations over it's history as a sovereign nation. Maybe it's time to upset the apple cart in that realm, maybe it's not. I tend to think not and that opinion is based on what we've seen so far of Trump's personality. He's abrasive, rude to a fault and he's been that way for his entire adult life. In some circles, Trump is viewed as lacking the skills to run a bureaucracy like the US Federal government and in this case State. His business success has been, in some people's opinion, overrated. Jack Welsh of GE fame has hammered him for mismanagement - not in international affairs but, IMO, it translates there. Otherwise, he's a big fan of DJT's leadership on taxes and business interests within the US economy.

There's only a few sources I believe are credible with regard to International Relations and I've linked to one of those that, in January of this year gave a rather unflattering but exceptionally well argued, picture of DJT's skills as a negotiator. Here's a quote. The whole article is linked below and would support my view that Trump has absolutely no fucking sense of a negotiating style that is likely to achieve notable results when two or more sovereign nations sit down at a negotiating table.

His actions, including accidentally disclosing classified information to the Russian ambassador and trumpeting largely symbolic business deals with an increasingly assertive - China even as the other TPP countries try to move on with a multilateral deal without the United State - reveal a careless man with a naive belief in bilateral deals, not a master negotiator.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2018-01-18/trump-normal-foreign-policy-president

I'd certainly like to think differently about PDJT when it comes to international Affairs and would listen to whatever you might add to support your positive view of him in that regard. Frankly, I think he's a bumbler on the international stage and over the long term, more damage will be done than good will come of it.

[Ghengis Jon]

Trump thinks transactionally, not strategically. His obsession with immediate praise and gratification prevents him with thinking in a long term manner His serial lying makes him untrustworthy in any negotiation. China and Russia are playing Trump hard, like a $2 fiddle. Jimminy, look at his interaction with Putin. "I asked Putin if he meddled in our election and he said no. I asked him several times and each time he said no I believe him." WTF? A former KGB colonel, a mortal enemy of the US, killer of journalists and political opponents says "I would never meddle in your elections" and Very Stable Genius believes him?!?

The best thing that could possibly happen is Trump falling into a vegetative coma until February 2020 and then make a full recovery. Best case.

[CGVT]

Played

[hack]

I dunno that he's getting played by China, given Ivanka's IP rights and the timing of their announcement. Trump just isn't playing on behalf of all of us. He's in it for himself and his family. Which was obvious long ago.

[Kapture1]

The TPP was trash too, NAFTA on steroids. I see both sides of the coin, and believe free trade, or at least fair trade is a net positive for the country, i see what NAFTA has done to Detroit and Flint specifically. Net good for the country, devistating for a handfull of US cities that put all of their egg in in the auto manufacturing basket.

perhaps it is long past time for congress to stop passing the buck and take back their trade and international commerce authority but i dont trust those fuckers not to sell this country down the river for a quick buck.

[Ghengis Jon]

...given Ivanka's IP rights and the timing of their announcement. Trump just isn't playing on behalf of all of us. He's in it for himself and his family. Which was obvious long ago.

Ivanka's granting of IP rights is either a down payment for services (to be) rendered by her father, a flat out bribe, or perhaps something that could only in the most generous terms be referred to as a 'lobbying expense'. According to US News & World Report, it takes several years to get an IP patent in mainland China. Ivanka gets hers (several actually) approved in less than 9 months with her father as Prez. Hmmmm, nothing to see here I'm sure.

[AlabamAlum]

The boys should get out of that Thai cave today. They have been moved to an area where they should be able to walk out shortly. Apparently, the effforts to drain have been successful.

[CGVT]

The boys should get out of that Thai cave today. They have been moved to an area where they should be able to walk out shortly. Apparently, the effforts to drain have been successful.

That is great news!