Serial fibber Brian Williams leads his interview segment with a moment of honesty.  During his introduction to a panel segment he leads with the set-up: “tonight our job is to scare you”. WATCH:

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Seriously folks, CTH readers, MAGA supporters, and those who travel the deep weeds of politics and have followed Donald Trump can spot the strategy he is deploying.  The strategy is all about economics and leverage.  The media will NEVER discuss it, because they need to act willfully blind to it and use fear as a weapon.
The media is simply taking advantage of “fear” to position yet another anti-Trump narrative. However, all of their hyperbolic analysis of the North Korea situation takes on new understanding when idiots like Williams let it slip that their job is to “scare people to death on this subject.” He makes it clear their goal is to drive down the public’s trust in the President to handle this threat.
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President Donald Trump, together with Labor Secretary Acosta and Education Secretary Devos, spoke about jobs, his apprenticeship initiative and answered questions about North Korea during a statement at a workforce roundtable in New Jersey on Friday.
President Trump is meeting with Ambassador Nikki Haley and Secretary T-Rex later today.  Everything is going according to plan.

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There’s something rather enjoyable about watching President Trump discuss North Korea when you fully understand he has ZERO, Nada, Zippo intent on a military approach. When you accept words are just words, and the real confrontation will take place with China over economics, this entire enterprise takes on a rather interesting and enjoyable dynamic….
President Trump has the media, and the entire globe, right in the sweet spot where he likes and enjoys them; everyone is laser focused on the dancing red dot.
Seriously, no kidding, only he could pull this off.  Epic.
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The totalitarian left is beginning to rise up in defense of North Korea.  Partly they are doing this because they are ideologically aligned with a similar totalitarian world view of order that they alone demand to be in control; the globalist view.  However, they do this also as an outcropping of the economics – a generational defense of China.
President Trump will never take first-strike action against North Korea; it’s not his approach.  Instead Trump prefers to take on the economic side of the conflict and he is more than willing to wage thermonuclear economic war against the DPRK’s enabler, communist China.
Remember, e.v.e.r.y enterprising nuclear power needs nuclear allies to protect them during the end-stages of their accomplishment.  History has a perfect track record on this dynamic. It has always been thus…. Always.

To wit, and taking the bait to expose her ideological world-view, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rises up to defend Kim Jong-un from possible military action.

GERMANY – German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Friday against “the escalation of rhetoric” in the wake of rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, adding that she didn’t see a military solution to the issue.

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Life is a weird circle at times. Pay close attention to this very familiar picture. If you were stunned to see previous “conservative” allies drop their masks on immigration when Trump announced his run for office, well, let’s just say we haven’t seen anything yet.

When it comes to North Korea and China – Over the course of the next three months we are all about to witness domestic and international leadership, who claimed to be allies of freedom and democracy, ‘out’ themselves as supporters for the tank ideology in this image.
Watch closely and you will see the international-left rise up in defense of totalitarianism.
Because in full measure of international economic freedom and liberty, well, U.S. President Trump is ‘Tank-Man’.
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There is a considerable amount of debate surrounding how much pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping is receiving from the hard-line communist party apparatus.  Some believe Xi Jinping is actually in conflict with the party apparatus and most of the old guard of Hujintao.
There is a line of logic that states the current Chinese rhetoric is not Xi Jinping’s outlook, but rather the position of the communist party controlling the narrative and trying to reassert itself to cause diversion from the tenuous economic position of the Chinese economy.  Whichever perspective might be true, China just officially announced a position that is rather concerning.  According to the latest official communist party position:

♦If North Korea strikes first, China promises to remain neutral.
♦If The U.S. strikes first, China promises to fight on the side of the DPRK.

CHINA – […] Beijing is not able to persuade Washington or Pyongyang to back down at this time. It needs to make clear its stance to all sides and make them understand that when their actions jeopardize China’s interests, China will respond with a firm hand.
China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral. If the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so.

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Speaking from Bedminster New Jersey, President Trump answers questions from media surrounding the ongoing issue with North Korea, and the intransigent republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his inability to move legislation.

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It’s always about the economic folks.  President Trump is the first U.S. president to fully appreciate, and utilize, economic leverage to achieve U.S. national security objectives.

…”If China helps us with North Korea I will feel a little differently about trade”…

~President Donald Trump

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Apparently CTH and Asian expert Gordon Chang are on the same intellectual page in analysis of the ongoing North Korea issues.  In this interview Mr. Chang outlines the dynamic between U.S. President Trump, North Korean President Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Gordon Chang also agrees that mounting economic pressure on China will be the pathway to getting the DPRK into line.

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The North Korean commentariat today has all been centered around a “response” to a precipitous strike by the United States. As previously outlined by Secretary Tillerson, via the “four no’s”, and backed up by the entire U.S. policy team, there is no intent on the U.S. to initiate a North Korean regime change. That leverage approach is China’s to utilize; while we hold China accountable.
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Well, many of us were waiting for this – and we have discovered exactly what most CTH readers anticipated, China is a paper tiger.
Last night China finally delivered the official communist government position outlining their perceived leverage over the U.S. and President Trump’s economic diplomacy and economic security platform.
China has always used The Global Times to communicate their official communist state positions.  Last night China delivered their warning; oh, you’re gonna love this:

“US needs correct logic in dealing with North Korea”.

[…] The US asks China for help when it cannot solve its problems with North Korea. Some US elites even want to urge China to claim full responsibility for the issue or they will threaten to retaliate. Under this logic, isn’t it reasonable for North Korea to attack its southern neighbor when it is under military threat from the US?
Moreover, those US elites may not have considered the leverage China has over the US. What if China restricts the usage of iPhones and the number of Chinese students to the US, or imports fewer US agricultural products? (link for more)

Now, it is critical to emphasize this is the official outlook of the Chinese Communist regime and what they perceive as their leverage over the United States.  This is the official outlook of the party apparatus behind Xi Jinping.
So let’s look at their position in sequence.
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State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert delivers the press briefing for August 9th, 2017.  The insufferable media gnats remain fixated on President Trump’s remarks about North Korea – remarks, combined with months of created leverage, that are actually delivering results.
After ignoring all of the action President Trump, Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mnuchin, and Secretary Ross have taken to shape the geography; and without even seeing the leverage Trump has positioned on China, Russia and North Korea; the pool reporters are floating questions from a parallel universe called ‘bizarro world’.
Seriously, questions about possibly needing a new “diplomatic direction” are ridiculous against the backdrop of the greatest international diplomatic win in years happening only a few days ago with the 15-0 UNSC unanimous vote on North Korea sanctions.
U.S. journalists are embarrassing.

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[Transcript will be added later]
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Speaking today in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany, Defense Secretary James Mattis gave a statement to the media before the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan at the George C. Marshall Center:

“The United States and our allies have the demonstrated capabilities and unquestionable commitment to defend ourselves from attack.

Kim Jong Un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council’s unified voice, and statements from governments the world over, who agree the DPRK poses a threat to global security and stability. The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”

“President Trump was informed of the growing threat last December and on taking office his first orders to me emphasized the readiness of our ballistic missile defense and nuclear deterrent forces.

While our State Department is making every effort to resolve this global threat through diplomatic means, it must be noted that the combined allied militaries now posses the most precise, rehearsed, and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on earth. The DPRK regime’s actions will continue to be grossly over matched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.”

~ U.S. Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis

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