Category: North Korea

Will Hutton of the Observer – Complaining about how Strong the US President is…really!

Pardon the enormous amount of sarcasm and utter loathing below concerning Will Hutton’s article entitled “The world struggles to deal with Trump’s erratic and capricious ways” republished in the Taipei Times on 5/29/18 on page 9.

Will, Will, Will – you’ve been a fool for at least the past 16 years, as long as I’ve been writing in the Taipei Times. Of course you despise Trump, he is a blunt tool to Obama’s feckless, weak and impossibly hesitant administration. “Both see yet more opportunities spinning out of Trump’s incredible stupidity in deliberately destabilizing the very system from which the US benefits” – uh, excuse me. It was Obama who threw every ally under the bus, and embraced our enemies as brothers – which had the effect of allowing China and Russia to soar to new heights, empowered Iran, Syria, the Palestinians, especially Hamas, and North Korea built bombs and missiles, and Europe waffled and waffled and waffled – France was suddenly important because the US withdrew from its position under Obama. Will, Will, Will…are you kidding me?

“Has a bigger fool ever occupied the White House?” Of course – Obama, preceded by Jimmy Carter, both enshrined in the Idiot Weak Presidents Hall of Fame. Do you not understand that Obama came in on a campaign of “Change”, only the change he had in mind was de-fanging and castrating the US, and allowing its enemies a golden period of growth and hegemony? Red lines followed by terminal hesitation. Obama left the planet in FLAMES and CHAOS. Flames and chaos. Has there ever been a worse president? (I used to think Carter was the worst, but geez, it is a close race between Obama and Carter as to who is the bigger fool). Of course you like this American weakness better than a strong, unpredictable blunt tool – you hated Reagan too, but he helped bring down the Soviet Union. Europe has more clout when the US is weak. Will, Will, Will…

“Give no quarter, look for the other side’s weakness and brutally cut the deal to walk away taller and prouder yourself.” Are you kidding me? You actually reject this strategy for winning against the likes of Russia, Communist China, North Korea, Iran, and so on and so on? Are you joking? Of course you’re not joking. All we need to do is open the European Manual for Negotiation and see that the chapter on tough negotiating is 3 pages long, and the chapters on Appeasement, and Compromise are each 57 pages long, including the 7 page footnote on the greatness of the Chamberlain School of Diplomacy. Sigh. Will, Will, Will, when will you ever learn?

“NATO is tolerated because members are increasing defense spending as demanded. ” Are you suggesting the US owes it to the EU to defend it, protect it, go to war for it without the EU lifting a finger? Is there a single conflict in the Universe that the world would feel safe having the EU military defend against? Any? How could it? The non-US NATO guidebook on military conflict has a chapter on The Art of War which is 2 pages long, and there is a 77 page chapter entitled “Run Away!!” Will, Will, Will….what are you thinking?

“North Korea must overtly bend to US will if there is to be a summit.” Will, Will, Will…are you out of your mind? Is there anything wrong with bringing North Korea to heel? Are you kidding me? Are you actually in favor of appeasing it, giving N.Korea leeway, giving Kim a ….well you know? Are you insane? You think it is bad that the US President can be tough with N. Korea in a very real way, and bring about peace? It is yahoos like you and the rest of the EU that encourage evil to be brave and intransigent, because they know the EU will blink, blink, blink. Sigh. Will, Will, Will…what the hell are you thinking? Just stand back and let us do our work. Watch and learn. Or else, if you can’t look, like perhaps you watch scary movies through your fingers or from behind your popcorn, just close your eyes, and mumble to yourself. “Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada….is it over yet?”

“Foreign policy has become a series of zero-sum games: The US has to win each one.” DUH!! Is there something tragically wrong with you? Do you actually think we should LOSE a conflict? You think we need to be fair with evil such as Russia or China or Iran or North Korea? God, how can you be so stupid?? The hits just keep coming and coming. Now I understand fully why the situation in Israel has never been solved, because Europe is so feckless, so appeasing, so worried, so weak, so pathetic, we have to do it ourselves…God, you are so pathetic. So you understand that in twenty years Europe will be the Middle East? So vacuous. Will, Will, Will….what will you be writing twenty years hence, and in what language?

“Furthermore, it fragments the entire alliance network — and legitimizes Russia and China. Thus Russia and the Europeans are acting in concert to sustain the Iranian denuclearization deal.” We legitimize Russia and China??? We? By opposing a ridiculous deal that allows Iran to hide its program at military sites, and develop weapons and missiles in a mere ten years?!! You idiots. YOU are legitimizing these evil regimes by deviating from your already meager senses, and scrambling according to Macron to save the deal so the EU can keep its business deals with Iran…and WE are wrong??? The EU crawled into bed with the Mullahs, the Russian Tzar Putin and the Emperor Xi to oppose the U.S….YOU GUYS DID THAT. Idiots! Will, Will, Will…what the hell is wrong with you?

“The best response is to show no weakness and stand up to him”. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Will, Will, Will…do you even realize how stupid you sound?? You are advocating standing up to Trump to punish him for standing up to the world’s worst regimes… How stupid is that? Idiots. Sure, throw your ally under the bus, that is the European way, isn’t it? With friends like you, who needs enemies, right? Will, Will, Will….What the hell is wrong with you?!

“However, Macron and Merkel have the power of the EU behind them, itself now the world’s best and most powerful custodian of a rules-based international system. *** Britain is a weakened onlooker — a flyblown lion unable to muster more than a whimper. Our capacity is reduced by Brexit, just as we — and the world — need so much more.” Oh God. Will, Will, Will…you think that is going to bring evil to heel? You really think “the power of the EU” is scary to anyone except some poor EU worker who earns a Euro and has to contemplate paying 80% of it to the EU government for taxes? Power of the EU??? In what universe are you dreaming, Will? You think Xi, Putin, Kim, the Ayatollah, Assad all go to sleep at night thinking, thinking, thinking how to deal with the big bad EU? Or so you think they think of the EU, see dollar signs, smile in their sleep, and dream of visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads? God, you are so dumb. How is it even possible? Will, Will, Will….and you wrote this and published it…in the Observer…for all to see? That should give you nightmares. What the hell were you thinking??!!!

Newsflash: Bad people are brutal, and people die in wars.

Sigh. Newsflash: people die in wars.

Eradicating an enemy who kills without conscience can be costly, but is absolutely necessary.  Regarding an article out of AP today about deaths in Mosul during the raging battle with ISIS there in March, 2017 (Taipei Times Dec. 21, 2017 p. 1 “More than 9,000 dead in battle to oust ISIS from Mosul”), it is clear that the number of civilian casualties are directly proportional to the absence of morals or ethics or care or concern for human life by the adversary, because our systems provide for adherence to those norms, but theirs do not, and in fact they use brutality as a weapon against us. However, when the adversary is bereft of conscience, it all goes out the window and you are in the fight of your life. Period.

President Obama micromanaged conflicts and we made almost no progress against ISIS. The supposed “progress” made during his administration was miniscule, chaotic, disjointed, betrayal, and incompetent (e.g. stepping aside (Obama’s chief policy) and turning the fight over to Russia, who by the way, WAS FIGHTING FOR THE OTHER SIDE – DUH!). When facing an adversary like ISIS (and Assad, the flavor of the month of Arab strongman with no compunction about murdering hundreds of thousands of his own people), who uses people as human shields, you simply cannot allow them to control the battle in this way. It is sadly like removing a cancer, which often involves death of good cells as well. People who are placed thus are already dead, because hesitation will embolden them to kill ever more, take more, be more cruel and brutal (as ISIS proved), as opposed to obliterating them finally so they can kill no more.

This is war. During WWII tens of millions died at the hands of the Nazis and Japanese (often brutally and bereft of human conscience), and finally the US ended the Pacific war with awful weapons, saving millions of lives and costing hundreds of thousands. I offer no apology for this. Those attacks ended the war within a week.

ISIS needed to be crushed, and attacking them with pebbles from 1,000 yards on alternate Sundays when the moon was in decline was an idiotic approach, and prolonged the war to destroy ISIS for years while hundreds of thousands died and millions were displaced. The refugee crisis today in the world is directly related to the absence of any conviction to win the battle on the ground because the Commander in Chief was a wimp and tied the hands and legs of his warriors.

We cannot control the depths of depravity that some adversaries sink to except to destroy them. If you are unwilling to do that to save families and children and the future, stand aside. Others will step into the fray and accomplish the task, in our case, with far more discretion than in previous conflicts in history. There are bean counters who will whine and weep. So be it. Stand aside.

Appeasement gets nowhere and accomplishes absolutely nothing. We need to stop appeasing evil. This means China especially, and Russia, Iran, terrorists, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, PLA, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and many others. Kumbaya diplomacy accomplished nothing the past ten years. It is time for a new paradigm which does not involve hand-wringing, whining, caving in and running away. Stand aside.

I wrote about this yesterday here regarding the world’s appeasement of the Palestinians who have only grown more intransigent and belligerent with every European appeaser’s vote of betrayal of the US and Israel.

Stand aside. Get out of the way.

Letter to Europe Upon Betrayal of the US and Israel – What the Hell is Wrong with You?

Dear Europe,

I will use polite language. What the Hell is wrong with you? Have you learned absolutely nothing in the last 100 years? What does it take for you to actually learn from a disaster? Have you learned absolutely NOTHING about the failure of appeasement as a strategy?

I hearken back to a notable statesman from your past who was one of the few Europeans who actually understood the danger and refused to yield. When Hitler rose up, Europe quivered and quaked, moaned, whined and appeased, appeased, appeased. And 50 million died, including 6 million Jews exterminated. Appeasement, appeasement, appeasement. It is the ONLY policy in Europe that keeps coming back despite the historical fact that no evil regime backs down because of appeasement – ever.

Consequently, Chamberlain appeased, and begged, Hitler built a monster war machine, France submitted to Vichy, the rest of Europe yielded, and tens of milions died. Consequently, only Winston Churchill’s backbone drove the war effort against the German machine. Appeasement merely encouraged Hitler and threw gasoline on the fire. Have you learned NOTHING??

More recently, kneeling beside President Obama, the spineless American President, you basically invited Iran to become a nuclear nation, and helped the UN join Obama in his betrayal of the American legislature and appeasement of Iran, which included billions of dollars, which has financed its hegemony and terrorist efforts throughout the Middle East.

You joined the idiotic Agreed Framework with North Korea in 1994, agreed to by another master of appeasement, Bill Clinton, even though the agreement was breached while the ink was drying. And now North Korea has nuclear weapons and missiles because you constantly did nothing, because you are incapable of acting. Have you learned NOTHING??

Now, instead of actually joining forces with the US in Syria (France’s debacle, among many in that region of the world) and wiping out Assad and ISIS, Europe twiddled its thumbs, whined and moaned about the conflict, and now basically by appeasing Assad, Russia, Iran and who knows who else, the many millions of displaced refugees have changed the very nature of Europe (and not from a good standpoint) and within a few decades, the Europe we know will have changed completely. Have you learned NOTHING??? NOTHING???

Now, when the American President had the “temerity” to actually speak the truth about Jerusalem, that it was (and has been since 1,000 B.C.) the capital of Israel, Europe wrung its hands, wept, moaned, tutted, shook its head, and actually betrayed the United States and Israel in the United Nations Security Council by appeasing the Palestinians. French President Macron actually used the word “appeasement” in his response to the American President’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Europe collectively moaned that this changed U.S. policy. Of course it did not. The policy was stated in the law from 25 years ago that mandated the U.S. Embassy be moved to Jerusalem. All of the intervening Presidents appeased the Palestinians. And the result??? Peace? No. Discussions? No. Movement by the Palestinians? No. Cessation of terrorism? No. Improvement in the lives of Palestinians? No. Education ? No. Jobs? No. Infrastructure? No. Bombs? Yes. Rank, genocidal Antisemitism? Yes.

When I taught negotiation skills in Asia for over ten years, I always mentioned the difference between American and European negotiation strategies. American negotiators negotiate to prevail. European negotiators negotiate to please (otherwise called “appeasement”). This is nowhere more apparent than in the 100 years of appeasement of evil that Europe has engaged in over and over and over and over and over. Having no stomach for conflict, Europe is an easy mark for butchers like Hitler.

The Palestinians only understand one thing – an ultimatum, something they never ever ever ever get from the UN, from Europe, and from spineless American presidents, such as Carter, Clinton, Obama. Yielding to the Palestinians has NEVER yielded any progress in peace. It has only emboldened the Palestinians to commit more murder and mayhem in Israel, to teach their children in school to hate Jews and that all of the Jews in the world must be destroyed. Sadly (and sickly) these feelings are not alien to Europe, which has practiced Antisemitism for the last 1,000 years, or more.

Europe, all of it, and in particular France and England, betrayed the United States and Israel yesterday in the Security Council (did they think Obama was still President, and Oppeasement was the order of the day?) Have you learned NOTHING???? NOTHING at all????

Europe has been appeasing China and its so-called fake One-China Policy, which is actually China’s excuse to try to destroy democracy on its doorstep, and Europe appeases China, and turns the other way, and ignores Taiwan. Does appeasement help? No, it only gives greedy European capitals Kommunist Kash.  And Europe condemns Israel, when Europe itself is corrupt and bereft of ethics. Europe is such an easy mark. What the Hell is wrong with you? Have you learned NOTHING???

The Palestinians want genocide against Israel and Jews everywhere. Is Europe insane?? Does it pretend that looking the other way will make it go away? or that it will lead to a resolution, peace? What the Hell is wrong with you? Have you learned abolutely NOTHING??????

Let me put it to you straight. Israel will prevail. When Jews say “Never again” they mean NEVER AGAIN. Appeasement is ridiculous, nearly wiped out the Jewish race, and resulted in tens of millions of deaths. Europe has been appeasing over and over and over and over for 100 years. What the Hell is wrong with you??? Have you learned NOTHING????

We will do this with you or without you. The way things are going, you will be gone in a few decades, as you appease yourselves out of existence. Have you learned NOTHING? What the Hell is wrong with you??

Fondly,

The Pyongyang Shuffle Redux

The Chinese Communist Party’s strategy of playing the White House and the EU for suckers is in full swing with attempts to resume the six-way talks with North Korea once again, only this time after North Korea violated every single other agreement, developed long range missiles and a hydrogen bomb all because Obama and the West did nothing about it, except take away Kim Junior’s allowance. This was Obama’s solution to every single international problem (sanctions, or lifting them) and I can’t think of a single example of it working, and in fact it made each situation worse (Russia with Crimea, Ukraine, or Iran, Cuba, N. Korea, Syria, etc.) because it left the actions with little downside and emboldened each horrible regime to double down on infamy.

We imagine Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is on his way to North Korea, riding the secret train, and right now we are back in the midst of the Pyongyang Shuffle Redux, a dance choreographed by the CCP and Kim Jong-il, and now Kim Jong-un, which has been the number one hit in China and North Korea for the past 20+ years.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when the two “leaders” meet (Li has been diminished as Xi has been elevated, and Kim Junior leads by exterminating all perceived enemies, it seems, including family members).

Kim: (to Li, while watching some old Elvis movies): “Congratulations on sixty-eight years of absolute power. It is almost as long as my family’s 69 years of absolute rule.”

Li: “Thank you. One party rule is definitely the way to go, especially when your family or your best friend runs the party (they both laugh). Now, as for the purpose of my visit, we want you to try to be nice for a change.”

Kim: “I’m always nice.”

Li: “Yes, well, the Americans don’t understand that. We want you to offer them something. A meeting perhaps in exchange for movement on your nukes. Give Tillerson something he can work with.”

Kim: “I’m not giving up the nukes.”

Li: “I know that, you know that, but they don’t know that, and we like it that way. As long as they think you are being genuine, we will have this very useful leverage over them. It’s called ‘six-way talks’, but we know it’s ‘four plus two talks’. As long as they don’t know that, it’s better. If you play along with us, we will take care of you, as always.”

Kim: “Yes, and along those lines, I need some more beluga. And lots more of that Dom Perignon you sent last time, the limited edition – though I hear there’s a nice Perrier-Jouet limited edition for a mere fifty thousand Euros – you can have someone stop off in Epernay next time you’re scamming the Europeans. And duck – fat, juicy duck, and lots of it. You know what I like.”

Li: “Anything for your people?”

Kim: “Oh, them. You can also send along some trainloads of rice and cabbage. The people love rice. You can never have enough rice – or kimchee.”

Li: “Okay. So, this is how it works. Right now, the world is anticipating this trip of mine. I will go out there, and face the cameras, and put on a look of serious contemplation, like this (makes a stern face – Kim laughs). Then I will tell the reporters with a straight face that we have made some progress towards denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, talk about peace in Asia, common goals, blah blah blah. Maybe I will call it a breakthrough, give a little gift to Trump.”

Kim: “But we’ll know better (chuckling).”

Li: “Right. Do you want to stand next to me?”

Kim: “No, not this time. We can find some old footage. I put on a lot of weight with that champagne and caviar diet, and I look fat and a little puffy and weak. I can’t appear to be the powerful juggernaut I am commanding a two million man army if I weigh more than 150 kg and have trouble walking. It’s okay. It’s part of my enigmatic personality if I don’t appear. The people accept my lofty nature.”

Li: “Okay then. So, we offer them some movement, and then let’s plan to string out these latest talks until after Trump’s next State of the Union address in late January, 2018. That’ll give him something to brag about, and soften him up on human rights, democracy, Taiwan and Tibet, and other areas, like trade. We can make some good progress in our plans. Then, say March, you can pull out, or fire some missiles or anything to justify breaking away from the talks, and we will start all over again. Just don’t hit anything with the missiles.”

Kim: “Can I hit something uninhabited? It’s getting boring spending all this money to sink my missiles in the ocean. The boys need something to encourage them.”

Li: “Not at this time. It’s a delicate balance with all those American ships and the aircraft carrier parading around in our sea just off our coast. And don’t get too close to Guam. Ever. This guy in the White House is not the same as Obama, who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Trump is just itching to roll out some nukes. We don’t need that right now.”

Kim: “Okay, okay. I get the point. You know how to make me happy. What will your position be in March?”

Li: “Mock surprise and horror of course. But don’t worry, it’s only for show. I’ll send along some nice dumplings and a few hundred fat ducks on the next train, and see if I can get someone to stop off in Epernay. And maybe some Krug 1995.”

Kim: “There’s one other thing. My son.”

Li: “What about your son?”

Kim: “Well, that’s the thing. I’m not finished making sons yet, so I don’t know. But when I do know, I need your promise you will support him in all that he asks. He will need to consolidate his internal power. I will have taught him to play this little game of ours. At this rate, it can keep going for at least another 30 or 40 years years. By the way…”

Li: “Yes..?”

Kim: “I’ve got a little something going on the side with that nice fellow, the Ayatollah. Quite a little supply thing going on. It’s good cash right now. Any problems?”

Li: “No, not at all. But do understand that at the U.N. we will sound upset. But we won’t vote upset. Don’t worry. And stop using ships that can be tracked.”

Kim: “Okay. That guy is always begging for a nuke. ‘Give us one, even a little one, something nuclear, anything…’ He won’t take no for an answer.”

Li: “Well, you can give him something very small, but make it defective, and you can blame it on the sand or Israel. This nuclear intrigue gives us more leverage over the Americans, but we need to control the Iranians in different ways. They copied this game from you and play it well, and we go along with them on watering down the Americans’ sanctions, but they don’t listen to us like you do – they don’t like champagne and caviar, and they don’t want nukes just to play – they want to actually use them. You at least understand us. The Iranians hate us, and love us at the same time. Actually, they call us ‘infidels’ behind our backs, but they buy our weapons every day, anyway. As long as we can use them to make the Americans sweat without risking nuclear war, we’re happy.”

Kim: “Yes, well, they are all westerners as far as I’m concerned. Maybe they will kill each other off. Here, have some more kimchee, and a Big Mac. Wash it down with this Moet you sent me for my birthday.”

Li: “Don’t mind if I do.”

Stay tuned for more of the Pyongyang Shuffle as the saga continues.

Appeasement is not a Viable Strategy with North Korea, as 25 Years of it has Shown

An article appeared in the Taipei Times on Sunday, October 29, 2017 on p. 6 regarding the North Korean crisis entitled Talking Must be the Only Answer by Ian Inkster  http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2017/10/29/2003681233/3

Mr. Inkster very instantly and blithely dismisses the most important concept identified by President Trump, that “the US has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years,” at the outset of Inkster’s article.  President Clinton made the horrific mistake of trusting North Korea in 1992, and the agreement with North Korea was violated by North Korea before the ink was dry. Years of Chinese prevarication, talking, and “statesmanship”, as Mr. Inkster lovingly suggests, in particular over the past 8 years by the great statesman President Obama, produced nuclear weapons, long range missiles and a hydrogen bomb. So much for statesmanship. As I mentioned before in my blog post, and here, and in others, President Reagan scared the Iranians so much they released the hostages they had held for a year within hours of his inauguration, after years of wimpiness from President Carter. Curiously we find ourselves in a similar position, with 8 years of extraordinary wimpiness from President Obama followed by a very loose and sometimes scary but apparently resolute cannon (despite not being the brightest bulb in the marquee of life).

Mr. Inkster refers to the Cuban Missile Crisis. He must have viewed it as a young teen through the foggy mist across the pond. From here, in New York, a hop, skip and jump from Washington, I saw and felt President Kennedy’s “bluster”, which Mr. Inkster says Kennedy did not display, but his spine, and his temerity, his willingness to meet move with move and show of strength with show of strength, and the backdoor channel ready to receive a message of contrition from Khrushchev is what made the Russians back down and get the missiles out of Cuba, not “statesmanship” alone. In those days, the US had 16 times as many nuclear weapons as the Soviets, and Khrushchev knew it. Were Kennedy instead Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama, Cuba would be a colony of the Soviet Union with nuclear missiles on our doorstep. Make no mistake. Kennedy played chicken well, and Khrushchev blinked, and then a basis for resolution was found. Junior knows the score. He is crazy but he is not an idiot. He looks for weakness and tries to exploit it. But like a rat, he has no desire to die.

In Europe, the strategy for everything has always been, compromise, compromise, compromise. Even with Hitler. Even with Russia. Even with Iran. Even with N. Korea. Particularly with China. It is this unwillingness to show strength to achieve compromise that has always led to horrible deals. I am not surprised by this (and Europe had a willing partner in Obama, whose foreign policy was taken directly from Europe’s playbook, which is why his foreign policy was reviled in the US, and loved abroad).

As soon as Trump spoke his mind (and the more unhinged he sounds, the better at present for strategic purposes) the European members of NATO were on their hands and knees begging for talks with N. Korea. To what end? To what compromise? To give a lunatic encouragement? Let an insane regime have a hydrogen bomb? There will be no resolution to this situation unless NATO grows a spine and plays its part (which is not begging, but rather trying to convince junior that Trump would love to test the US arsenal), and when North Korea weighs its options well, it will find a way to save face and back down.

And the answer is not relying on China. China has been playing the North Korea game for 25 years, playing every President and every administration and Europe for fools, just as the Palestinians have. It is a farce. Bullies only understand one thing. A punch in the nose, or the very real threat of one. Tea on the veranda is not the approach.

 

The Problem for Taiwan and Israel is not China or the Arab World – It’s European Appeasement…Again….Will They Never Learn?

In an article by Alexander Gorlach, which appeared in the Taipei Times on Saturday, October 21st on Page 8 entitled “Taiwan, China: the European view” Mr. Gorlach states: “Declining support for the values of Western liberal democracy across the world in recent years, which not only led to the Brexit vote but also to a rise in mostly far-right xenophobic movements, does not serve as a breeding ground for compassion and action for a far-away nation such as restricted Taiwan.”

This is a somewhat delusional statement. To think that “liberal democracy”, particularly European liberal democracies, are either compassionate of foreign struggles for democratic evolution or capable of taking action to actually support and protect foreign democracies, is laughable, at best. Two examples which immediately come to mind are Taiwan and Israel, two of the smallest and brightest stars in the celestial glow of democracy, both completely abandoned by those useless “European liberal democracies”.

The height of liberal democracy might be considered the administration of the recent liberal God, President Obama, whose foreign policy doctrine of Oppeasement basically betrayed all of the American allies, most pointedly Israel and Taiwan, and allowed the world to erupt into flames, and evil dictators around the world to hastily move with aggression (and celebrate) while he danced and sang Kumbaya, and said to Putin, “be my guest” as he sped by into Syria to take over the fight there, but on behalf of Assad, not the opposition, betrayed by Obama over and over. Obama did nothing for Taiwan. European democracies have their lips pressed too hard to Daddy Xi’s buttocks to even notice Taiwan, welcoming the One Belt One Road honey trap (extolled on these very pages in article after article by George Soros’ ultra liberal Project Syndicate) with open arms, rubbing their hands together and chortling at the prospects of Kommunist Kash filling their coffers.

In 70 years, the US is the only ally with the guts to pass law after law in favor of Taiwan and keep China at bay. NATO couldn’t without the US, the European powers cannot and will not, nor will the UN. This trend has nothing to do with the death of liberal democracy, but in fact is the direct result of liberal democracy’s tendency to retreat in the face of danger or conflict, and prefer to “negotiate” rather than confront (e.g. totally misunderstanding evil such as N.Korea, and rather than employing an enormous stick and a teeny carrot and a kick in the teeth, are on their knees holding a gigantic carrot and a toothpick, begging Kim to come to the table and talk (and doing the same with Iran, which is an order of magnitude more dangerous)), having NOT learned the lessons from World War II of the dangers of APPEASEMENT and the unquenchable hunger of evil regimes for more power, more land, more death, more everything. Actually, in the case of Israel, its biggest problem is not the Arab nations that surround it (who know they cannot defeat Israel) but rather liberal democracies in Europe, which have done everything in their power to destroy Israel by being weak in convictions, weak in morality, weak in policy, weak in support, weak in their faux liberal democratic ideals.  The same can be said for Taiwan, which cannot rely on liberal democracies around the world for support, except the United States Congress.

China is not a problem of Trump’s making, nor is Iran or N. Korea or the Middle East. These are problems left on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office by Blinking Barry and his Oppeasement policy on the way out. President Trump has extraordinarily difficult tasks ahead undoing the damage done by Obama in eight years of weakness and betrayal, and in this instance specifically to Taiwan and Israel.

I am skittish about President Trump’s meeting with Xi. Not because Trump is not a liberal, but because he is not the brightest bulb in the marquee of life, and while China has always played three dimensional chess, Trump is having difficulty with checkers because there are two colors. However, I have less fear of Trump meeting Xi than Obama, who bowed to the Chinese leader on several occasions and projected such a weak image of the US, that China has become far more belligerent and aggressive than before Obama’s era of Oppeasement.

When you show me liberal democracies growing spines, I will listen to this “European View” drivel. In the meantime, so long as they appease evil around the world, I will ignore them as the weak, timid, fearful, feckless, useless regimes they are, pretending to be important, while planning the next business trip to Tehran or Beijing. (“hey, China is not so bad, just because the Communist Party is the worst totalitarian regime in the history of the world – they have pandas and lots of money, we just have to say “One China” and keep Taiwan out! And if we sell jets and missile and nuclear technology to Iran, of course they won’t bomb us – they’ll bomb them (Israel)!”).

North Korea Debacle – Another gift from Obama, with an assist from Bill Clinton

Appeasement does not work with men like Kim or Hitler or Castro or Putin or Mao, as history has shown.

President Trump is not facing a situation with North Korea created by anything he has said or done. He is dealing with a debacle clearly laid at his feet by a naive and starry eyed duo of Clinton and Obama, two moron bookkends of a tragedy written by the Kim family and published by Beijing.

An article appeared through Associated Press in the Taipei Times on September 8, 2017, p. 9 (“S. Korea and Japan feel the heat as the North aims nukes at the US” By Bradley Klapper, Robert Burns and Matthew Pennington/ AP, WASHINGTON http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2017/09/08/2003678017/1 ) basically arguing the US will back off because of North Korea’s capabilities.

This article says: “Twenty-six years ago this month, in the hopeful aftermath of the Cold War, then-US president George H.W. Bush announced the unilateral withdrawal of all land-based and sea-based tactical nuclear weapons, including from South Korea. * * * He then pulled all air-delivered nuclear bombs from the South, in part because officials believed they were no longer needed for an effective defense. That was years before the North demonstrated its nuclear prowess with a first explosion in 2006.”

The last sentence is patently false, and in fact points to one of the reasons for the North’s nuclear weapons journey. After the then recent fall of the USSR, George Bush, Sr. withdrew nuclear weapons abroad, as the article states. However, as the article neglects to mention, Clinton, as would Obama, had faith the North Koreans would abide by an agreement, and in 1994 entered into the Agreed Framework, which gave the North Koreans billions in exchange for empty promises to stop development of nuclear weapons, an agreement which was violated as the ink was drying on the toilet paper on which it was written (part of the negotiating team for that disaster was unbelievably used by Obama for the Iran deal).

The situation today is a direct result of that inane agreement (which, by the way, is the model for the equally suicidal Iran agreement, which Iran violated while the ink was drying, but before Obama delivered $1.50 billion in cash to Iran moments before he left office).

The article goes on to say: “Now that the US faces its own threat of North Korean retaliation, the most pressing security question of the next years could be: Would Washington risk San Francisco for Seoul? * * *“It’s the core dilemma of extended deterrence for allies in the nuclear era: Will the US actually risk one of their population centers for our defense?” said Sheila Smith of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank. “It’s hard to believe the answer is ‘yes.’”” This is the statement of a small child hoping that Daddy (Clinton or Obama) would do everything to protect them, not realizing “Daddy” in this case would sell his underwear and his child to avoid conflict, including creating a monster with a ravenous appetite.

And this is the reason we are in this situation – the Clinton-Obama deficit, an unwillingness to actually act on the US military dominance, and therefore the absence of deterrent effect. Words have meaning, but actions have impact. President Obama never actually provided any evidence he would act on anything at any time for any reason. He drew meaningless red lines and embraced America’s worst enemies, paid others billions, and agreed to anything to avoid a scuffle. Kumbaya, Barry. The effect was to remove any deterrent the US might have had. Russia, Iran, North Korea, China all put their ambitions in overdrive and sped right over Barry’s blinking weakness.

Looking at the nuclear impunity of North Korea, it began spiking in 2013, North Korea speeding up its development before Obama would leave office, because North Korea knew that it could act brazenly while Obama would do nothing concrete except take away Kim’s allowance (which he got right back from Beijing, his puppet master and masterful puppeteer, playing Barry like a five dollar fiddle). Sanctions did not have an effect on Kim because the castle always has running water, champagne and caviar, and the people have been taught to die for Kim, a deity of sorts.

The North Korean nuclear train was well on its way and speeding forward long before January, 2017. This was another gift (like DACA and Obamacare) that Barry left on the Resolute Desk when he left the Oval Office.

Weakness does not produce agreements with evil dictators. Neither Chamberlain with Hitler, nor Clinton with Kim Jong-il (Junior’s father) or Obama with Hu or Xi or Putin or the Ayatollah or Assad or Hamas, or Chavez or Maduro, or Fidel or Raul, or Osama, or ISIS (or ISIL as Obama found it necessary to say) produced peace, they produced a path to turmoil and even more dire situations just down the road.

Keep this in mind — Israel was prepared to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities before they were made invulnerable tucked away in bunkers under the ground, as it had destroyed Iraq’s and Syria’s…and Barry said no. Blinking Barry said no. He opted for the most insane agreement with an enemy who could never be trusted in order to create the identical debacle we have now with North Korea, ten years from now. Barry, like Bill, is an idiot, and this nuclear standoff is the child of Bill, George and Barry, the three blind mice.

Now that the situation is infinitely more complicated, Barry, retired but not silent, as his predecessors were, has suggested quiet and reassuring words. Of course he does. He emasculated the U.S. over 8 years of indecision and inaction, and his eunuch approach to diplomacy set us up for disaster after disaster.

Trump has his own blustery style (which makes most people alternately laugh and cringe), and it is hard to determine what will be effective. I am just reminded of the difference between Jimmy Carter, the spineless model for Blinking Barry, and President Reagan, whose reputation produced a reaction in Iran that released the hostages there right after he took office. The fact that Reagan never took overwhelming response off the table had its effect. But we were not dealing with someone like Junior back then, who is likely out of his mind most of the time, living in Korealand, a kind of magic kingdom where reality is what he says it is and his new toy produces pretty mushroom clouds.

Clearly the only way the situation is resolved is when Junior is no longer in power, accomplished in whatever way is most expedient with the least amount of loss of life. But as usual, it could be too little too late because Barry sat on his hands for 8 years using sanctions on a country that could care less and had a back door to essentials through China, another dire enemy masquerading as a “partner” and with a legendary skill at prevarication.

Good luck to President Trump being handed someone else’s disaster. Ignore anyone involved with Clinton or Obama before, they all failed. Don’t believe China. Get people familiar with the landscape and determined to resolve it one way or another (sort of like John Bolton). Nothing used before has worked. Think outside the box.