Guest Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Tuesday 12/06/2018 - 7.30 REPORT "US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un have met in Singapore. Leigh Sales talks to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and former prime minister Kevin Rudd about the significance of the summit." This is a 20 min video of questions addressed by one of our more reliable Australian television jornalists, Leigh Sales. https://iview.abc.net.au/show/7-30 (Go to "Latest Episode" at top of page) Final 10mins of the 30min video addresses an entirely urelated subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 IT’S OFFICIAL! Look Who Just Nominated Trump for Nobel Peace Prize! June 13, 2018 Two Norwegian lawmakers representing the populist party in the country’s legislature have nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenScapularedHuman Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Some people can be so incredulous and so biased that they can't tell the difference between reality and their imagination. The two Norwegian members of parliament represent a very minor far-right party that have virtually no power or clout.... they are also very not on the Nobel prize committee... so their 'nomination' carries as much weight as little2add's nomination... meaning it carries none... actually considering how far-right these two MPs are and how out of power they are it might actually further stigmatize even the potential of nomination as they are considered fairly close to neo-nazis in Norway... So... its worse than little2add's nomination it is actually an anti-nomination. But some people.... they hear and think according to their bias and right-wing media bubble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anomaly Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Many people can’t see their bubbles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenScapularedHuman Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 https://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korea-portraying-kim-jong-uns-historic-summit/story?id=55856234 As to be expected North Korea's state-ran propaganda mouthpiece are hailing the summit as a major victory for North Korea over the United States, that Trump came to heel and venerate the greatness of the dictator, that there were no commitment of disarmament, that the United States agreed to halt the war-games, that the United States agreed to security assurances to North Korea, and that the United States will relax/end sanctions against North Korea... All of which is true excepting the portion on sanction relief... at least so far from the news that has trickled out from the summit. Trump went to meet with North Korea, gave them everything they ever wanted for nothing, then came home. Trump is a traitor and has blown up >70 years of strategic posture and alliance in East-Asia. All the more troubling is that the ending of war games was signaled by the Kremlin as of 2017 and as if that was not obvious enough Trump admits that Putin talked him into ending the war games before the summit. Could it be any more painfully obvious that Trump lies like a rug in front of Putin's fireplace? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 South Korea and Japan seem to be happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenScapularedHuman Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 The reaction of Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United Nations, and others so far has been cautious optimism. Russia and China because apparently Trump did signal that they could relax sanctions on North Korea very soon (with no assurances or actual progress by North Korea to meet any significant concessions) and Trump committed to end the war games which Russia and China both oppose. Japan because Trump brought up the long time issue of repatriation of Japanese nationals who were abducted by the North Koreans. South Korea because Trump's bombastic bellicose speech alarmed them, in polls in South Korea they were vastly more concerned with Trump starting a war than Kim, so the easing of language from Trump greatly eases their anxiety. The United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United Nations because they generally speaking have a much more liberal/open imagining of diplomacy which doesn't shut the door. None of them 'seem to be happy' but all cautiously optimistic to this point... With that said South Korea and Japan strongly object to the idea of sanctions being relaxed for nothing and the war games stopped... South Korea and Japan has received no official notice of the war games being off and Trump's extreme propensity to flatly lie they aren't taking this seriously. Russia and China want to see American influence in the region to DECREASE, so Trump's signaling to back-out of the East Asian region is fantastic news to them, if Trump doesn't then China and Russia will resume being very frustrated. The United Nations, the United Kingdom, and the European Union all just want diplomatic talks at some level to continue (which low level talks is how it usually starts, setting the ground work for higher and higher officials to come in) which is very unlikely how Trump sees diplomacy working... so very likely they are to be disappointed too... So while they are in fact cautiously optimistic I think a much more reasonable and factual assessment would be to be moderately concerned. Trump has offered assurances to other nations that contradict and are problematic... he can't do it all. In the end it will likely further weaken distance and discredit Trump/the United States from the world. Considering North Korea has absolutely no intention or even motivation now to make concessions, to cooperate, and/or trust in the good-faith of the United States it likely will later inflame the tensions in the East Asian region. There isn't any logical way for this to go well... and evidence suggests that even if Trump did this 100% right that because its North Korea (also China and Russia) that there is very likely no way to really resolve these issues to the standards that the West, the United Nations, and/or the United States would want. The sad reality is that Trump did this in many ways almost utterly wrong short of immediately provoking an escalation. And... just to note... the leaders of the world like South Korea and Japan are both on the record that they complement Trump and thank him for things not because they are sincere... but because they are trying to placate and negotiate with him. Sad state of affairs when the world treats the US President in such a manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenScapularedHuman Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Perhaps more disturbingly than getting a McDonalds is that that photo is actually of them celebrating a successful test of a nuclear device. A nuclear program, arsenal, and threat that every single expert left to right agrees has not been solved, deterred, lessened, or even slowed. Are we going to start putting captions to images that are wholly inappropriate? Whats next? Holocust camps as weight loss centers? This grim repackaging of a photo for something less grim, a McDonalds, just isn't dishonest is disturbing.... I suppose with American democracy on is death bed thanks to the orange little tyrant it can't be helped. I would of liked to think we wouldn't lose to such a fat idiot loser... I mean really its like learning you lost and were outsmarted by a rotten orange with a smiley drawn on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linate Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 it was whack to see kim with trump... like we are 'okaying' a brutal dictator. the liberals go too far in saying it was a pointless meeting, cause we need a truce to keep them from going too far, but conservatives go too far in thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread.... it was as vague as possible and almost meaningless given the lack of specificity, and it's around the same terms korea has been doing for decades, except yes this time it is about halting actual nukes an not just development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Let’s hope the US really ends it’s war games and pointless saber rattling with North Korea. This policy clearly isn’t working. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenScapularedHuman Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 On 6/18/2018 at 7:23 PM, linate said: it was whack to see kim with trump... like we are 'okaying' a brutal dictator. the liberals go too far in saying it was a pointless meeting, cause we need a truce to keep them from going too far, but conservatives go too far in thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread.... it was as vague as possible and almost meaningless given the lack of specificity, and it's around the same terms korea has been doing for decades, except yes this time it is about halting actual nukes an not just development. I'm a little half-and-half on the giving credibility to Kim. I see that bottom-up diplomacy has not been very effective in the past (as in virtually ineffective) and that regardless if anyone likes it North Korea is right this very second a nuclear power... But the manner that Trump did it was very over-the-top. It could of been a private meeting with little show and for Trump to just get a 'feel' for Kim. To get the ball rolling. This is actually what Trump said going into the meeting. But what was it really? A giant propaganda tool for North Korea, Trump giving US concessions, and getting almost nothing in return. And the even crazier thing about ending the war games is that Trump now says North Korea didn't even bring it up... But... regarding if it was useful. The diplomatic papers signed has no force, is substantially less than what has been obtained by past US administrations, is substantially less than what South Korea agreed to just this year with North Korea, and has no actual verification and/or process forward. The US making concessions, and giving up the war games which North Korea has wanted to end so badly they would do almost anything for that, Trump gave to them for absolutely utterly nothing without being asked to do so (except by Putin, by Trump's own admission). As conservative actual experts on North Korea have said that its really kinda an embarrassment, obviously Trump trying to distract from a failing domestic and international agenda, and that the entire situation remains utterly unchanged except for a change in tone from Trump... And that change in tone from Trump is good. So... when the only praise you can say is that the dear leader at least calmed down... thats a really good indicator that you have a tyrant. And while Trump has started this really messed up argument that it cost too much to conduct the war games... it doesn't and its also earmarked by Congress... because Congress wants it to continue... its even more messed up because it ignores the fact that China, Russia, and NORTH KOREA conducts their own war games... and North Korea literally threatens invasion and war with South Korea and Japan... and North Korea literally fires missiles and cannons at inhabited areas of South Korea and Japan... So the stopping of the war games is kinda like... "Well... you know... you got your wife held at gun point and we the police are just hanging out outside... maybe if we all just leave you two will be better? So have a goodnight you two. Get more flies with honey than vinegar. Because for some reason we want flies." And now there is the whole separating children from their parents and holding them (possibly illegally) at detention centers in many cases in a manner that parents are not reunited with their children and/or children are not released to family here in America when it is very possible to do so. It is no surprise that the Trump administration doesn't want photos of these recently setup tent cities to hold children and it is really no surprise that the Trump administration doesn't want photos of the facilities holding children <9 years of age. But its really only a matter of time now. And if the Trump administration is worried about the optics considering how bad all of this looks and how they seem to take some pride in this twisted policy they enacted... how bad can these camps be that Trump said 'no, we don't need them seeing that.' The US economy, which has been performing well within a medium average of what it has been for years now (well into the Obama years)... which Republicans have finally noticed (funny that)... is still underperforming regarding workforce participation, wages, and several other significant areas... and claims from Republicans that the Obama administration was 'cooking the books' seems to have vanished with the Trump administration despite the Trump administration being so staggeringly more dishonest and deliberately deceptive... Which not that its very important but almost all indicators that the Trump administration wants to gloat about... the rate of improvement has actually slowed by a lot since the Obama years... and on a more meaningful measure of GDP (PPP) the US economy has actually slowed by a lot... The Congressional Budget Office told us before the tax plan that Trump backed was past that it would actually injure the economy and workers... among other things... like that it substantially cut taxes for big corporations and the wealthy than it did those who are not wealthy or not big corporations... the tax cuts for everyone else were temporary... Despite that pushing forward Trump's trade war has finally put a dent in the stock markets as they plunged again as they are starting to maybe consider that Trump is serious about blowing up the world economy all on his lonesome because Trump doesn't seem to understand that trade deficits isn't a bad thing. The United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council... because wait for it... Trump didn't like the international watchdog on human rights complaining how the US is increasingly doing worse on human rights... because you know... Trump's extremely thin skin, throwing insults at everyone else, and being a tyrant just isn't obvious enough... And now Republicans are saying that the Muller investigation should wrap up. Despite the fact that Special Counsel investigations traditionally last (at least) two to three years (the Muller probe is in its first year)... also as a disturbing note the Muller investigation has had more indictments and convictions than the Watergate Special Counsel had in its first year... and that is contrasted also with the constant unrelenting Republican witch hunt on Obama and Clinton that continually turn up absolutely nothing except that there was maleficence and/or unethical behavior on part of the investigators into them... and now despite the fact that the reviews of the Muller investigation that they are above board doing more than what the law and ethical standards have set for him. Muller a life-long Republican, a well respected career FBI and DOJ man, appointed by a Republican DOJ that was appointed by Trump, supervised by a Republican controlled Congress... is allegedly unfair to Trump... if this were a movie it would be rejected as too insane, incoherent, and dumb. Ignoring also that Trump is basically at war with his own DOJ and Jeff Sessions... Because nothing says rule of law like offering to hand out pardons to get your way, criticizing investigations into you, criticizing the justice department, trying to undermine the intelligence/law enforcement community of the United States, and trying to pretend that all the lawful indictments and convictions against his Trump organization campaign and administration is a witch hunt.... really a lot less the rule of law and a lot more the rule of Trump. And if it were not enough... the near universal condemnation the Trump administration received for their abhorrent self-imposed gunshot wound to the head policy regarding child separation from parents... Republican voters when polled increasingly support this policy!?!? This is despite the fact that >65% of he American people disapprove of it. What will it take for Republicans to wake up to see that Trump is a madman tyrant who has turned the Republican party into a personality death cult? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenScapularedHuman Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 As a lover of comedy... during the summit Trump actually made a very good joke... though I don't think he meant it to be a joke. He said that North Korea has lovely beaches, great hotels could be built on them, you see them all the time when they are shooting cannons off of them. Part absurdist humor and part Trump can't stop peddling his hotels even if he wanted to. I like Seth Meyers as a comedian... I dont think he is as virulently anti-Trump as say Stephen Colbert is... and I think he does a better job deconstructing and criticizing Trump too... But he did a quite amusing tease of Trump on his Space Force idea... which makes me think that maybe.... its just Star Trek in Trump's own words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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