President Trump has empowered South Korean President Moon Jae-in to be the tip-of-the-spear for friendship-based face-to-face negotiations with North Korea with the goal of a denuclearized peninsula.
Though it was a very unconventional approach, President Trump created the foundation for stability and amicable regional relationships by fracturing the controlling influence of Beijing, China over Chairman Kim Jong-un.  Amid many international accomplishments, the results in North Korea are a truly remarkable exhibition of how the Trump doctrine uses economic power to achieve national security objectives.
During the public bilateral discussion, President Moon Jae-in carries a message to President Trump from Chairman Kim Jong-un; and President Trump announces the likelihood of a second summit with Chairman Kim in the “not-too-distant” future.

(more…)

Earlier today President Trump spoke to the U.N. on the issue of illicit drug supply and global distribution.

.
[Transcript] New York, New York – 8:35 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for being here this morning. It is a great honor to address you on an issue that affects every nation across the globe: the world drug problem. And a big problem it is.
The scourge of drug addiction continues to claim too many lives in the United States and in nations around the world. Today, we commit to fighting the drug epidemic together.
(more…)

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears on Fox Sunday with swamp guardian Chris Wallace to discuss North Korea, the global trade reset with China and the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.

(more…)

President Trump has arrived in New York this afternoon in advance of next week’s meetings and speeches at the United Nations General Assembly.

(more…)

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley discusses upcoming international issues that will be addressed by President Trump this week at the United Nations General Assembly.
Topics include: (1) upcoming sanctions against any nation that engages with Iran [stage 2 sanctions scheduled for November 1].  (2) The ongoing conflict in Syria.  (3) The denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and issues with North Korea ballistic missiles. (4) the ongoing trade reset and geopolitical strategy with China.

I will Chair the United Nations Security Council meeting on Iran next week!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018

(more…)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press conference today reacting to how Obama administration officials were intentionally undermining current U.S. policy.  Those actions include former Secretary of State John Kerry traveling to various hostile nations, specifically Iran, and telling our adversaries to “wait out the Trump administration”.
There’s a bigger, biggger picture here, that few are paying attention to.  We shall outline that in greater detail.  However, for now here’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responding to John Kerry’s intervention(s).  WATCH:

.

John Kerry had illegal meetings with the very hostile Iranian Regime, which can only serve to undercut our great work to the detriment of the American people. He told them to wait out the Trump Administration! Was he registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act? BAD!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2018

This is in keeping with a pattern.  Obama instructed Trudeau (Canada) to oppose Trump on trade and wait-out the mid-terms.  Obama officials have instructed China to oppose Trump on trade and wait-out the mid-terms.  Now John Kerry is not only instructing Iran to wait-out mid-terms, he is instructing Europe to rebuke U.S. sanctions on Iran and wait out the mid-terms.  Hopefully, everyone can see what is happening here.
(more…)

There are moments when the professional narrative engineers go so far with falsehoods even their ideological co-horts have to admit they’ve gone to far.  Such is the case today with a New York Times article written to criticize U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley:
(Via New York Times) The State Department spent $52,701 last year buying customized and mechanized curtains for the picture windows in Nikki R. Haley’s official residence as ambassador to the United Nations, just as the department was undergoing deep budget cuts and had frozen hiring.
The residence, in a new building on First Avenue, has spectacular views, and Ms. Haley is the first ambassador to live in it. For decades, her predecessors lived in the Waldorf Astoria hotel. But after the hotel was purchased by a Chinese insurance company with a murky ownership structure, the State Department decided in 2016 to find a new home for its top New York diplomat because of security concerns.
The government leased the apartment, just blocks from the delegation’s offices, with an option to buy, according to Patrick Kennedy, the top management official at the State Department during the Obama administration. The full-floor penthouse, with handsome hardwood floors covering large open spaces stretching nearly 6,000 square feet, was listed at $58,000 a month. (read more)

Except there’s a problem here.  This was all done by President Obama, Secretary John Kerry and U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power.  Nikki Haley had nothing to do with it.
(more…)

The Trump Doctrine is easiest to describe as: deploying economic leverage to achieve national security interests.  The Trump Doctrine is unique and stunningly effective.

Many of the geopolitical decisions have multiple facets which connect like small gears on a much larger machine.  One of those small dual-purpose gears is the Doctrine as it is applied to Pakistan.  The downstream moves impact China, our #1 geopolitical and economic adversary, then Russia, and also support new alliances with India and the broader Middle-east.

Toward China = ♦Squeeze #3. In 2017 Trump and Secretary Tillerson, now Secretary Pompeo, put Pakistan on notice they need to get involved in bringing their enabled tribal “extremists” (Taliban) to the table in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s primary investor and economic partner is China. The U.S. removed $900 million in financial support to pressure Pakistan toward a political solution in Afghanistan, China has to fill void.  [NOTE: Last month the World Bank began discussions about a financial bailout for Pakistan.]  Again, more one-way bleed for China. {Go Deep}

When President Trump removed the $900 million in aid to Pakistan, he empowered the Pentagon via Defense Secretary James Mattis, with an option to give $300 million to Pakistan if Mattis felt positive steps were being taken to change behavior.  Today the Pentagon announces no change in behavior is noted:
(more…)

When President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the intensely short-sighted JCPOA (Iran deal), there was a period of preparation for our allies and partners prior to the re-institution of the first round of U.S. sanctions against Iran.   The transition period ends tomorrow as the sanctions begin August 6th, 2018.
Europe and NATO allies are under pressure to discontinue any trade action/terms with Iran as the U.S. sanctions will also apply toward any nation that engages in economic transactions with the Iranian regime.

(more…)

Against the backdrop of U.S. withdrawing from the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA); and against the backdrop of looming U.S. sanctions therein; there has been an ongoing geopolitical simmering/positioning between allies and adversaries surrounding the current and future disposition of Iran.
Recently China, likely responding to economic trade leverage from the U.S., made a deal with Saudi Arabia for petroleum purchases weakening their alliance with Iran.  At the same time Turkey, a tenuous NATO ally, began positioning in advance of U.S. sanctions and removing Iran oil purchases.  Collectively, and with President Trump putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin via Syria and Iranian influence, this has led to Iran feeling an economic squeeze similar to the previous Trump Doctrine leverage as witnessed in N-Korea.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is feeling the heat.  On Sunday he said “war with Iran is the mother of all wars.” That led to the tweet reply from President Donald Trump:

This follows on the immediate heels of a speech given by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley, CA.
There is a clearly coordinated and unified message:
(more…)