[*NOTE* Ambassador Nikki Haley will be appearing for a lengthy interview on Sunday Morning FBN news with Maria Bartiromo tomorrow (10:00am EDT).]
Today, following the historic and unanimous U.N Security Council sanction vote on North Korea, U.N. Ambassador Haley appeared on CNN for an interview:
President Trump’s strategic approach using economic leverage to gain U.S. national security has established a very rare victory in the U.N. with unanimous support for Security Council sanctions against North Korea. Yes, China and Russia supported.
Remember, from Day #1 of his administration President Trump was faced with a threat from N-Korea. On his departure President Obama told the incoming new President Trump that North Korea would be his #1 Geopolitical national security challenge.
The MSM will likely never give President Trump credit for the remarkable long-term economic strategy he deployed to gain China and Russia’s support today.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash by a third the Asian state’s $3 billion annual export revenue over Pyongyang’s two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.
The U.S.-drafted resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the current numbers of North Korean laborers working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.
After spending 72 hours looking specifically at the motives of those pushing almost identical paragraphs including the catchphrases: “holdovers”, “purging loyalists“, “unfettered access” and “Caroline Glick“; it comes as no surprise to hear the administration perceives the anti-McMasters crowd as having “jumped the shark”… “reached too far”, and “exposed their agenda” etc.
Ironically HR McMaster appears to be safer than ever in his position as National Security Adviser not specifically because of anything he has done, but as an actual outcome of the piranha approach taken by his detractors. The severity of his opposition’s group-think actually exposed the common denominator.
“General McMaster and I are working very well together. He is a good man and very pro–Israel. I am grateful for the work he continues to do serving our country.”
~ President Donald Trump, August 4th, 2017
HR McMaster might not get the Afghanistan policy outcome he prefers, but his position as NSA appears safe; and we won’t have to go to war against Iran to appease his opposition. This looks like a genuine win/win/win. Bannon wins on Afghanistan policy; McMaster wins on Iran policy; America-First wins because we’re not going into another war in either Iran or North Korea. Perfect.
WASHINGTON […] John Kelly, Trump’s new chief of staff, has told McMaster he supports him remaining as national security adviser, Politico reported, citing two unnamed senior White House aides.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley is structuring a U.N. Security Council resolution toward North Korea by targeting a ban on DPRK exports. This approach is in line with the larger Trump strategy to leverage economic sanctions as pressure on North Korea to stop advancing military expansion and nuclear weapons.
However, how President Trump has set Nikki Haley up for success on this resolution is something for the history books to write about:
♦First: A review of the possible enhanced sanctions against N-Korea should be incorporated with the larger issue of policy toward the DPRK’s enabler, China. President Trump, Secretary Mnuchin and Secretary Ross have positioned a severely consequential trade reset between the U.S. and China. [Trump and Ross delayed an announcement on trade sanctions against China which was scheduled for today.]
♦Second: The enhanced U.S. energy export initiatives, in conjunction with lower oil prices, an outcome of U.S. energy policy and a mutually beneficial relationship between President Trump and Arab states in the GCC, have severely weakened the economic position of Russia.
Russia’s energy export economy is dependent on energy prices remaining high. President Trump has brilliantly worked the geopolitical economic relationships to leverage influence over a large portion of the Russian economy.
Combine these two points and you discover the leverage President Trump’s team has created.
(more…)
There is a considerable amount of visible internet and social media angst surrounding the National Security Council and staffing decisions made by National Security Advisor HR McMaster. CTH has no insight into the inner workings of disagreements within the current NSC, however, with a modest amount of both skepticism and cynicism the current level of alarm appears over indulged.
Within any work group there’s going to be differences of opinion. Within any national security working group there’s going to be ideological differences of opinion. The issues are important and very complex. The differences should never be dismissed or marginalized in their potential consequence. That said, it’s not the differences of opinion that present problems – it’s when those differences become entrenched in opposition to the reason for the groups primary function. That’s when differences become problems.
Consider the foreign policy proposals, and worldviews therein, of candidate Donald Trump and candidate Ted Cruz. Now think about taking the foreign policy/NatSec principals from both candidate camps, and the outlooks carried therein, and put them into the same council chamber to hammer out papers of recommended action toward policy.
Can you see the structure for an underlying problem? Now overlay the ideological interests of the institutional military with a healthy dose of both deep state and religious (centered principle outlook) career ideology, and you’ve got a recipe for disagreement. Well, that’s essentially what I see when reviewing various media reports of internal group conflict points. (more…)
Today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson highlighted events over the past six months. T-Rex takes another stroll around the globe discussing regional policy, specific state policy, and ongoing challenges. Secretary Tillerson then takes questions from the media at the conclusion of his remarks.
Very informative. Very well worth watching (T-Rex Begins at 03:40):
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has announced a revised set of travel restrictions for U.S. citizens considering travel to the DPRK.
Once in full effect there will be a travel ban in place restricting all travel using U.S. passports. U.S. humanitarian groups and entities requesting travel to the DPRK will need to request a specific passport from the State Department.
WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Friday said it will bar Americans from traveling to North Korea due to the risk of “long-term detention” in the country, where a U.S. student was jailed while on a tour last year and later died.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has authorized a “Geographical Travel Restriction” on Americans to forbid them from entering North Korea, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
Good grief these insufferable beltway pundits are stuck echo-chambering their cocktail party conversations on ‘muh Russia’, and just can’t put it down to even begin to discuss more important issues du jour. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley proposed an emergency set of U.N. security council resolutions last week to deal with the North Korean aggression, but John Dickerson wants to discuss ‘Muh Russia’.
Seriously, this continual Russian drum-beating is the absolute personification of how media has detached itself from any semblance of normalcy, and presents themselves as factually incapable of advancing any discussion beyond that espoused by their own tribe of like-minded media associates. It took more than half the interview to get to the important stuff. Sheeesh…
Eventually, Dickerson gets to an issue that matters with China enabling North Korea, and that part is the only part that provides value.
Sharing only because CTH readers have a more thorough understanding than most; and we are entering a phase of extreme consequence.
Donald Trump doesn’t bluff.
Bluffing is for those who accept they may or may not win. The outcome is based on an unpredictable response from the opponent.
In business or in life, go review the decades of available information and you will see that Donald Trump, now President Trump, doesn’t bluff. It’s one of the reasons he so openly owns the downsides. It’s also the reason he has never engaged in the stock market.
President Trump controls outcomes.
Donald Trump the person, doesn’t wait for an entity, ally or opponent to enter his orbit. He greets them at the perimeter. Trump doesn’t sit with his back to the door, he positions to see all upon entrance. Donald Trump doesn’t try to hide his interest, he’s quite open about any engagement he is focused upon.
Exactly as predicted. President Trump is aboard AF1 headed to the EU. After discussions with the President this morning, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley delivers prepared remarks at the United Nations on the topic of North Korea’s continued military escalation.
Her full remarks are below. Note she discusses speaking with President Trump this morning about trade with China. Specifically note her comments about trade:
[02:59] “We have other methods of addressing those who threaten us, and of addressing those who supply the threats; we have great capabilities in the area of trade. President Trump has spoken repeatedly about this, I spoke with him at length about it this morning.”
“There are countries that are allowing, even encouraging, trade with North Korea, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Such countries would also like to continue their trade arrangements with the United States, that’s not gonna happen. Our attitude on trade changes when countries do not take international security threats seriously.”