Today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson went to the United Nations to deliver a strong diplomatic message to the North Korean regime about their ongoing nuclear ambitions.
President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson are asking Chinese Chairman/President Xi Jinping to cut off the oil supply to the DPRK.
If you have not watched the prior ‘deep weeds discussion‘ by T-Rex on the specific reason why the U.S. cannot, ever, accept a DPRK with nuclear weapons, you should.  Two very specific reasons why also explain why traditional state adversaries China and Russia are willing to put aside their differences with the U.S. and work to denuclearize N-Korea:

• #1) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to use nuclear weapons as a larger strategy, a shield per se’, toward advanced conventional military action in the region.  And more importantly…
• #2) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to commercialize nuclear weapon manufacturing and distribution, thereby selling completed nuclear weaponry on the global market.

Given the unconscionable risk of having terror state actors gaining nuclear weapons for use against any nation, the threat of such a stunning and dangerous possibility can never be accepted.  Which leads to three important videos from today:

(TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE HERE)

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The decision by President Trump to announce recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was obviously a long planned strategy.   The U.S. State Department via Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley were seamlessly aligned with the White House on the initiative.  Ambassador Haley discusses the move below:

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During several months of discussions deep in the weeds of President Trump’s geopolitical strategy toward the North Korean nuclear missile crisis, CTH extensively outlined a particular economic approach that would likely surface ONLY AFTER President Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley walked methodically through the sequential elements needed.
The most important part of that sequence involved getting China and Russia to accept the cornerstone of a denuclearized DPRK.  They did.  The “Unanimous” U.N. Security Council resolution against the DPRK was passed.

The next phase was to get the international community to agree to the strongest ever massive economic sanctions. They also did.  As this was occurring, Defense Secretary James Mattis positioned U.S. Navy assets forward into the region, and close-quarter drills began in South-East Asia ocean trade routes near merchant vessels.
Evolutionary talks between President Trump and the newly empowered Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping established the framework for President Trump’s zero-sum economic position; both President Trump and Chairman Xi were clear on the possibility.  Following their meeting, China sent an emissary to the DPRK and the U.S. State Dept. labeled North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism.
As anticipated, in the State Department response to the latest ICBM test, we now see the elements of a pending U.S. naval blockade.   [Paragraph #2, Sentence #3]

[…]  In addition to implementing all existing UN sanctions, the international community must take additional measures to enhance maritime security, including the right to interdict maritime traffic transporting goods to and from the D.P.R.K.…

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Defense detected and tracked a single North Korea missile launch today at about 1:17 p.m. EST. Initial assessment indicates that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The missile was launched from Sain Ni, North Korea, and traveled about 1000 km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan, within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). We are working with our interagency partners on a more detailed assessment of the launch.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America, our territories or our allies.
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President Trump’s geopolitical economic strategy is most often talked about regarding trade, China and resetting a massive U.S. trade deficit therein.  However, a critical part of that strategy, generally overlooked by U.S. media, is the relationship President Trump is building with India.
Expanded economic engagement with India creates more than just bilateral trade opportunities. A strengthened relationship, and possibility of moving India to the top of the trade priority list, also creates leverage toward China and ASEAN partner nations.
While most were paying attention to Thanksgiving’s ‘Black Friday‘ shopping; China quietly, lowered U.S. import tariffs.  BIGLY.  See Here [ <– That’s a big ‘effen deal]
Chinese media watch President Trump’s ongoing engagement with India far more closely than U.S. media watch it.  Chairman Xi Jinping and his economic advisers know the scale of risk inherent to their economy with a growing U.S./India trade relationship.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Ivanka Trump, the daughter and adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, has arrived in India for the annual global entrepreneurship summit, foreign ministry officials said Tuesday.
The summit scheduled to held in the southern city of Hyderabad Tuesday is being co-hosted by India and the United States.

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CTH has been looking, unsuccessfully, for China SME’s who have insight on the DC lobbying angle by Chinese foreign nationals and the hidden story of how the Trump administration might be confronting that aspect.
Gordon Chang briefly touches on that note during a discussion segment on the overall outcome of President Trump’s 12-day visit to Asia.
Apparently, if Chang’s sources are accurate (likely they are), the notification by POTUS Trump toward Chairman Xi Jinping, of the lobbyist warning did take place [Video 02:25].

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The foreign influence lobbying is a critical element for us domestically in the larger geopolitical strategy.  Chinese nationals pay our congressional representatives millions of dollars to purchase U.S. foreign policy.  CTH is cautiously optimistic this is a key element of Robert Mueller.
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Yesterday while exiting the White House, President Trump told reporters he had just finished a 90 minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“We had a great call with President Putin. We’re talking about peace in Syria — very important. We’re talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half. We’ve just put out a release on the call. But we’re talking very strongly about bringing peace for Syria. We’re talking about very strongly about North Korea and Ukraine.” (transcript)

Important to note that conversation was longer than would have been possible at any of the Bilat’s (Bilateral Discussion) during the ASEAN Summit or APEC Meeting in Asia.  A further review of the White House readout:
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UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were arrested in China for shoplifting while attending basketball tournament. UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said the players stole from three stores in China including sunglasses stolen by LiAngelo Ball from a Louis Vitton store. They were facing 10 years in prison. President Trump asked President Xi Jinping for leniency. The three players were released.
Thug life on display – After watching this bizarro interview with his father I can completely understand why LiAngelo Ball thought it would be perfectly okay to shoplift in China and live a life beyond the boundaries of ordinary moral behavior.  Somehow this guy thinks he’s making a point that will benefit his son – epic fail.
The father of the UCLA basketball player who was arrested in China for shoplifting sunglasses appears on CNN to explain why he feels President Trump did nothing to help his son get released from Chinese authorities.

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$64 billion of the current annual trade deficit with Mexico stems from the auto sector alone.
For over a decade auto manufacturers have moved to Mexico in order to import parts from Asia, assemble and install them, and then ship the completed cars into the U.S. through NAFTA without duties (tariffs).
The U.S. auto ancillary business groups (parts suppliers) have been pushed out of competition in the auto sector by this corporate profit strategy.  Thousands of U.S. jobs have been lost in both the plant assembly and the ‘auto-parts’ manufacturing sector.
CTH has called attention to this bastardized supply chain for years.  Foreign auto-parts, made by foreign workers, assembled into U.S. owned manufacturing, and sold as U.S. automobiles. The weird supply chain and assembly process is essentially a multinational corporate scheme (in the auto sector) which exploits one of the loopholes in the 25-year-old NAFTA agreement.
If the assembly plant was on U.S. soil the foreign (mostly Asian) parts would be taxed as imported parts.  However, so long as the assembly is in Mexico (or Canada), the origin of the parts is currently irrelevant, and the finished automobile crosses the border into the U.S. avoiding the taxes using NAFTA.
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Holy Cats… things are moving exponentially fast now…
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is now disclosing the nature of his resignation, and why he left Lebanon to spend time in Saudi Arabia.  It appears the Saudi and regional partners provided evidence that Iran and Hezbollah were planning an assassination targeting Hariri and his family.
Saad Hariri traveled to France for a meeting with French President Emanuel Macron.
Yesterday President Trump and President Macron had a phone conversation where they agreed on the need for continued cooperation and partnership with regional allies, namely Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gulf States and coalition members to confront the destabilizing efforts of Iran and Hezbollah:

JEDDAH: US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday agreed on the need to partner with allies to respond to the destabilization activities of Hezbollah and Iran in the region.
The two leaders’ telephone conversation came in the aftermath of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation, which he announced during a recent trip to Saudi Arabia.
“Both presidents agreed on the need to work with allies to counter Hizballah’s and Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region,” a statement from the White House said.

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