CTH will not be part of the insufferable media narrative that China and North Korea are detached and independent; that nonsense is just plain silly.  Beijing’s old communist guard tells Kim Jong-un what he can and cannot do.
That said, Beijing flinched. Kim Jong-un takes finger off trigger. It appears Guam has nothing to worry about for the moment.
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un received a report from his army on its plans to strike the area around Guam and said he will watch the actions of the United States for a while longer before making a decision, the North’s official news agency said on Tuesday.

“The United States, which was the first to bring numerous strategic nuclear equipment near us, should first make the right decision and show through actions if they wish to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and prevent a dangerous military clash,” Kim was cited as saying in the report by KCNA.
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During an afternoon announcement with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, President Trump announced the launch of section 301 trade investigations into China’s business practices for theft of U.S. technology and violations of U.S. intellectual property rights.
Perhaps the most overlooked portion of the remarks from President Trump happened as he sat down to sign the Presidential Memorandum authorizing the official investigation:

…This is only the beginning folks. This is only the beginning…

For approximately 30 years China has been engaged in a unidirectional trade war against the United States of America; facilitated and enabled by both Democrats and Republicans who have been purchased by multinational and corporate lobbyists to block any effort to defend our U.S. interests.  The biggest victims have been U.S. middle-class workers.
Today, for the first time in modern U.S. history, a singular President stood up and began what will be an arduous process of fighting back, defending the U.S. economy and balancing the rights of U.S. workers and companies with “fair” and “reciprocal” trade.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides the United States with the authority to enforce trade agreements, resolve trade disputes, and open foreign markets to U.S. goods and services. It is the principal statutory authority under which the United States may impose trade sanctions on foreign countries that either violate trade agreements or engage in other unfair trade practices. When negotiations to remove the offending trade practice fail, the United States may take action to raise import duties on the foreign country’s products as a means to rebalance lost concessions. (LINK)

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis release a joint Statement/Op-ed discussing North Korea and accountability.  However, against the backdrop of visible diplomacy the joint statement is more about terms, than accountability.
Note a pointed subtlety.  Secretary Tillerson lays down the terms to China; while Secretary Mattis lays down the terms to North Korea.

WASHINGTON – The U.S., its allies and the world are united in our pursuit of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
In the past few months, multiple illegal North Korean ballistic-missile and ICBM tests—coupled with the most recent bellicose language from Pyongyang about striking the U.S., Guam, our allies and our interests in the Asia-Pacific region—have escalated tensions between North Korea and America to levels not experienced since the Korean War.
In response, the Trump administration, with the support of the international community, is applying diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a dismantling of the regime’s ballistic-missile programs. We are replacing the failed policy of “strategic patience,” which expedited the North Korean threat, with a new policy of strategic accountability.
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Asian policy specialist Gordon Chang interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on her Sunday talk show and accurately outlines the key to a denuclearized North Korea is an economically defeated China.  It appears Mr. Chang fully understands the Trump policy of using economics to achieve national security.
As we have continued to outline, China, specifically the old guard communist control agents within Beijing, use Kim Jong-un as a foil against the west, specifically against the United States.  The long-term objective in using the DPRK is retention of China’s economic strategy, and blockage of President Trump from upending their goals.  Watch:

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As we have outlined extensively, President Trump holds all of the cards in this economic and trade standoff.  The U.S. is China’s customer and there’s a $500 billion trade deficit.
However, President Trump cannot be completely open with the strategy because part of the long-term plan is to allow China to save face by giving up North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. It would be against Trump’s interests if the entire global and geopolitical community understood what was happening.
So they question becomes, how will we know when President Trump has won in the economic and national security challenge?
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President Trump uses economic leverage as a national security policy; and to understand who opposes President Trump specifically because of the economic leverage he creates, it becomes important to understand the objectives of the global and financial elite who run and operate the institutions.  The Big Club.
Understanding how trillions of trade dollars influence geopolitical policy we begin to understand the three-decade global financial construct they seek to protect.
That is: global financial exploitation of national markets:

♦Multinational corporations purchase controlling interests in various national elements of developed industrial western nations.
♦The Multinational Corporations making the purchases are underwritten by massive global financial institutions, multinational banks.

♦The Multinational Banks and the Multinational Corporations then utilize lobbying interests to manipulate the internal political policy of the targeted nation state(s).
♦With control over the targeted national industry or interest, the multinationals then leverage export of the national asset (exfiltration) through trade agreements structured to the benefit of lesser developed nation states – where they have previously established a proactive financial footprint.

Against the backdrop of President Trump confronting China (tomorrow), and against the backdrop of NAFTA being renegotiated starting Wednesday, revisiting the economic influences within the import/export dynamic will help conceptualize the issues at the heart of the matter.  There are a myriad of interests within each trade sector that make specific explanation very challenging; however, here’s the basic outline.
For three decades economic “globalism” has advanced, quickly. Everyone accepts this statement, yet few actually stop to ask who and what are behind this – and why?
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CIA Director Mike Pompeo appears on CBS Face the Nation with DC advocate John Dickerson to discuss the issues surrounding DPRK ongoing hostility.  As with all MSM interviews the discussion begins with the first two minutes dedicated to undermining President Trump around the “weak Charlottesville response” narrative.
Fortunately Dickerson only stuck with that narrative for around two minutes and then began discussing North Korea, U.S. security policy, and the intelligence communities’ confidence in understanding the current level of the threat posed by Kim Jong-un.

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National Security Adviser HR McMaster appears on NBC ‘Meet the Press’ with Chuck Todd to discuss issues surrounding North Korea.   However, Todd predictably uses the first half of the interview to discuss the “Charlottesville Trump-is-racist narrative”, and then, rather sneakily, shifts the discussion into the “alt-right” -vs- McMaster angle.
Chuck Todd uses the “Bannon-wing talking points” and “allies within the White House” to draw out a division within the administration.  It’s obvious the MSM are ‘all-in’ on the strategy to highlight the division.  The second half of the interview finally focuses on North Korea.
At 08:06 the China as an economic enabler to DPRK comes in. Watch how HR McMaster responds on the economics of the North Korean issue.

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HR McMaster takes center stage representing the White House this weekend due to national security ramifications surrounding North Korea.
McMaster’s visibility should also highlight the weak hand held by Bannonites, Israelites and Never-Trump Cruzbots who are all trying to get HR McMaster fired.  However, those efforts are most likely to end with with Bannon removed from the White House.

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While President Trump confronts the North Korean military aggression through economic trade leverage with China, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads the diplomatic efforts toward regional partners in Southeast Asia.
Toward that end the Department of State conducts a Washington Foreign Press Center Briefing on “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent Trip to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum.  Patrick Murphy DAS of State for Southeast Asia holds a press availability to debrief. (Q&A begins at 12:00)

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Really good stuff – President Trump called Guam’s governor Friday night to assure him the U.S. will protect its Pacific Island territory “1,000 percent” from North Korean aggression.
Guam’s governor, Eddie Baza Calvo, posted a video to Facebook in which he has a more-than-three-minute phone conversation with Trump, heard on speakerphone. WATCH:

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