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Friday, August 18, 2017

Trump Ends Tough Talk Against China Over North Korea

July 9, 2017 12:00 pm

Facing Down The North Korean Threat

July 9, 2017 11:40 am

Reprinted with permission from Creators.

Imagine this situation: The United States faces a hostile and possibly deranged dictator ruling an Asian communist state tightly closed off from the outside world. He has developed nuclear weapons and is on the way to building missiles capable of carrying those devices across the Pacific Ocean and vaporizing American cities. What can we do?

I’m reminded of the story about the pastor who was asked whether he believed in full-immersion baptism. “Believe in it?” he exclaimed. “I’ve seen it done!” We know how to deal with the threat posed by North Korea because we’ve encountered it before.…

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Danziger: Despicable Meme

July 8, 2017 10:40 pm

Jeff Danziger’s award-winning drawings are published by more than 600 newspapers and websites. He has been a cartoonist for the Rutland Herald, the New York Daily News and the Christian Science Monitor; his work has appeared in newspapers from the Wall Street Journal to Le Monde and Izvestia. Represented by the Washington Post Writers Group, he is a recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army as a linguist and intelligence officer in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. Danziger has published ten books of cartoons and a novel about the Vietnam War.…

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National Memo China: Top Posts
6 Countries Trump Has Already Insulted And Provoked
Here’s a list of six countries and major international institutions that Trump and his team have threatened—injecting anything but stability into international affairs. Certainly this behavior is silly, unnecessary, and stupid. The question is, will these provocations and others to likely follow lead to serious new international conflict.
China Lodges 'Stern' Protest After Trump Call With Taiwan President
China's Xinhua news agency said Trump should know Beijing can be "cooperative" if Washington respects China's interests, including the issue of Taiwan.
North Korea Says It Is 'Ready for War'
North Korea is “ready for war” the foreign ministry said the day after the U.S. redeployed an aircraft carrier from the Western Pacific toward the Korean Peninsula. According to a statement reported by state media channel the North Korean Central News Agency ( KCNA), the government has promised “catastrophic consequences” to any further “reckless moves for invading” by the United States.
Trump: 'Would Not Be Happy' With Another North Korea Nuclear Test
U.S. President Donald Trump says he "would not be happy" if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, which would be its sixth. "I can tell you also, I don't believe that the president of China, who is a very respected man, will be happy either," Trump said of Chinese President Xi Jinping in an interview that aired Sunday on the CBS television network's "Face the Nation" show.
President Trump Sued Over Foreign Government Payments To His Firms
The lawsuit filed in federal court by the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington contended that Trump is "submerged in conflicts of interest" because of ties with countries such as China, India, and potentially Russia. It seeks to stop Trump from accepting any improper payments, citing a constitutional provision known as the "emoluments" clause that bans them.
North Korea Has One Last Chance To Engage With The West
Moon, who won elections in South Korea in May, has tried to engage with North Korea by inviting them to co-host the Winter Olympics and trying to provide Pyongyang with life-saving Malaria medication, both of which were turned down. Moon asked Obama for advice on how to deal with his northern neighbor and discussed recent talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. Obama meanwhile “wished Moon success during his leadership,” according to a spokesperson from the Korean Presidential palace.
Rick Scott Figures Some Dictators Aren't So Bad -- If They've Got Money
Governor Rick Scott recently warned Florida's seaports that they could lose critical state funding if they make any shipping deals with Cuba. He later told reporters: "I don't believe any port in our state, none of them, should be doing business with a brutal dictator." These would be stirring words if they didn't reek with hypocrisy.
Taiwan Was The First Salvo In Trump's Looming Showdown With China
Economists are calling for the use of a stiletto in trade (especially with China), but Donald Trump seems more inclined to use a blunderbuss.
National Memo China: Archive
China Wants To Step In As A Rift Between The US And Its European Allies Widens
“[Trump’s] rhetoric certainly leaves the road open for China. The question is: Is China ready to take it?,” said François Godement, director of the Asia and China program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Some reports indicate that China could take a more prominent role, in partnership with Germany.
July 7th, 2017
Trump On Course Toward War With North Korea
The combination of Trump’s ignorance and belligerence has worried U.S. and international nuclear experts from the start of his presidency. Now North Korea’s response to Trump—fast improving ballistic technology and Kim Jong-un’s own brand of belligerence—has the world growing alarmed.
July 6th, 2017
North Korea Has One Last Chance To Engage With The West
Moon, who won elections in South Korea in May, has tried to engage with North Korea by inviting them to co-host the Winter Olympics and trying to provide Pyongyang with life-saving Malaria medication, both of which were turned down. Moon asked Obama for advice on how to deal with his northern neighbor and discussed recent talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. Obama meanwhile “wished Moon success during his leadership,” according to a spokesperson from the Korean Presidential palace.
July 5th, 2017
Why The Opioid Flood Is So Hard To Stop
Two thirteen year old boys, Grant Seaver and Ryan Ainsworth, were best friends growing up in Park City, Utah. When their parents found each of them dead over a two-day period last fall, they had little idea of what might have killed them. Upon searching their social media accounts, they found conversations with another local teenager and talk of “pink”—the alias for U-47700, an extremely powerful opioid...
July 2nd, 2017
Danziger: Guanxi In Oz
June 15th, 2017
Rights Groups Urge Ivanka Trump To Speak Up After Arrest Of Labor Investigators
The case of three labor rights activists detained in China for trying to investigate a factory that makes Ivanka Trump brand shoes highlights the pervasive problem of labor abuses and lax enforcement by authorities. But rights activists said President Donald Trump's daughter, who is also his assistant, could help make a difference if she speaks out about the case.
June 13th, 2017
New Documentary Exposes Deadly Conditions Faced By Smartphone Workers In China
At 24, Yi Yeting was diagnosed with leukemia after three years of nonstop exposure to benzene, a toxic chemical endangering the health of a million-plus Apple workers in Shenzhen. "We are all benzene patients," the victim-turned-activist told attendees at an organizing rally in February 2014. "For those of us who are alive, we need to fight for our rights."
June 12th, 2017
Trump's Climate Decision Weakens America On The World Stage
That means America has abandoned a role it has held since the end of World War II as the unquestioned leader of the free world, the widely respected force for global good, the premier defender of human rights. There is, after all, no human right more basic than the right to clean air and water, the right to live on a planet that provides basic resources, the right to an Earth that is a friendly host to the human species.
June 6th, 2017
North Korean Envoy Says Kim Planning Next Nuclear Test
Echoing the official stance of his government, Choe asserted North Korea's right to maintain and develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent to foreign invasion. Though he said he was unaware of a specific date for another nuclear weapons test, he stated that one would be conducted on leader Kim Jong Un's terms regardless of U.S. pressure.
May 11th, 2017
Danziger: How Do They Say 'Guanxi' In New Jersey?
Danziger detects a pungent whiff of guanxi, or influence peddling, in the spectacle of Nicole Kushner Meyer -- sister of presidential son-in-law Jared -- hawking EB-5 visas in Shanghai while raising money for another family development. It's just like Jersey.
May 8th, 2017
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