Amid ongoing maneuvers by China and Russia to influence the activity of North Korea; and amid both Chinese and Russian interests in violating ongoing trade and economic sanctions against North Korea; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley meet with the U.N. Security Council.

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[Transcript] SECRETARY POMPEO: Good afternoon, everyone. First I want to commend my good friend Ambassador Haley and her excellent team here at the United Nations. Her leadership in advancing American interest on North Korea and many other issues has been evident here this morning, and she’s got a great team behind her helping. So thank you, Nikki.
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There is a key issue in every NAFTA discussion that is omitted purposefully.  The issue always hidden is that NAFTA is not a North American “Trade Bloc”.
Most people mistakenly equate NAFTA with other multi-nation trade partnerships like the EU (European Union).  The NAFTA partnership is nothing like the EU trade bloc; it is not even close.

Within the EU example, each nation is committed to only trade with outside nations on terms of agreement within the trade bloc.  All trade parameters must meet and comply with the terms within the EU trade agreements.  The terms of trade inside the group are connected to the same terms outside the group. It is an agreement between themselves and their commerce toward all other external nations.
However, in NAFTA, the Canadian and Mexican trade ministers can negotiate freely with outside nations.  There are no restrictive parameters on their independent decisions.  NAFTA is more similar to an access agreement with *only* terms of internal trade and commerce between the U.S., Canada and Mexico subject to the agreement. NAFTA is only an agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico and does not extend to external nations.
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FBI director Chrisopher Wray says Moscow continues to engage in ‘malign influence operations‘; however, China is the biggest current counterintelligence threat. Fox correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

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It is becoming increasingly obvious there are two larger motives for the Obama IC officials current disposition; two parallel operations which present a risk if exposed:
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It is more than likely President Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross knew this was in the making several months ago.  In hindsight it now appears Germany presented a false proposal to U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell intentionally to poke him in the eye.
Germany has sealed the fate of their auto-industry with a multi-company agreement to manufacture vehicles in China and share all their intellectual processes therein.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German companies signed a series of agreements with Chinese partners at a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Berlin on Monday, according to a document seen by Reuters. Following are details of them:
♦BASF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Guangdong Province to look at building a highly-integrated chemical production site there, BASF said.

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President Donald Trump used twitter today to begin a process. [BACKSTORY HERE] This is another example of using brutal honesty in digestible doses to change the reference points of most international observers.  Few have any real understanding of the dynamic between the U.S. and North Korea vis-a-vis China.
This tweet is serious business.  It is fired directly into the heart of Beijing.  It is the mother of all truth bombs, and it takes away the ability of Chairman Xi to act in sunlight.

“Subtle” like a brick through a window. [Backstory available here.]  President Trump is removing the Panda mask to reveal the authentic nature of Chairman Xi Jinping.  Simultaneously Trump is trying to rescue Kim Jong-un from the clutches of the Red dragon behind the mask.
Watch Steven Mnuchin to see if enhanced treasury sanctions resurface now.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha hold a joint press conference following a trilateral debriefing of ongoing negotiations with the U.S. and North Korea.

[Transcript] FOREIGN MINISTER KONO: Thank you. It is my glad pleasure to welcome Secretary Mike Pompeo and Minister Kang Kyung-wha to Tokyo for this trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting. The last time we gathered in Seoul was less than a month ago, immediately after U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore. The timing and the frequency of the meeting have enabled smooth and effective trilateral coordination; its outcome could then be fed into the process between the U.S. and North Korea.
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With McCain dying, and Corker and Flake retiring, the Decepticon side of the deep swamp is being purged.  President Trump’s direct America-First policies and pragmatic common sense has severed one head from Cerberus, the three headed hound protecting Hades, DC.
In the geopolitical realm President Trump is using the U.S. atomic sledgehammer to reset decades of insufferable economic policy constructed specifically to the financial benefit of ideological ‘allies’; who have elevated their financial standing on the backs of U.S. deficits.
With Decepticons weakened, and many in DC realizing President Trump isn’t going to stop swinging the battle axe until the last one is crushed, politicians like Lindsey Graham have begun talking more truthfully about issues.  Watch in this interview as Graham is questioned about North Korea, and he immediately -and somewhat surprisingly- accurately identifies the core issue…. it ain’t North Korea.

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One of the strongest geopolitical alliances exists between the U.S. and Japan.  President Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are not only good friends, but also work well together toward regional goals for a denuclearized Korean peninsula.
Additionally, the U.S-Japan alliance is bolstered by a respectful economic partnership; and the appearance of Secretary Pompeo arriving in Japan to brief Prime Minister Abe on his discussions with the DPRK also highlights the importance of the relationship.

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White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro appeared on Fox Business last night to outline the U.S. position in the ongoing trade reset against communist China.  Almost all of the financial media and economic punditry are intentionally obfuscating the underlying nature of China’s economic model.
China is a communist central government controlled economic system.  Free-market principles do not apply when dealing with China; therefore trade strategies based on ‘free markets’ cannot succeed against the centralized planning of a communist regime.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea amid the backdrop of the U.S. -vs- China trade confrontation.  The geopolitical economic issues form the structural disconnect between the ongoing U.S. negotiations and the responses from China through their proxy province in North Korea.
Secretary Pompeo debriefs the media shortly before departing the DPRK; and expresses a generally positive disposition about the ongoing talks:

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However, unnamed officials, likely elements within the central North Korean government who are control agents for Beijing, send a more confrontational message at the conclusion of the meetings:

(AP) North Korea says high-level talks with a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were “regrettable” and has accused Washington of trying to unilaterally pressure the country into abandoning its nukes.

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