In his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump lays out his vision for a more prosperous and free future for all nations. [WH Background Link]:
[Video Below – Transcript will Follow]

(more…)

Earlier today President Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in (the Asian Obama) to discuss issues of mutual interests.  The relationship between Trump and Moon is one of the more interesting geopolitical dynamics.  President Moon is consistently flummoxed by the effectiveness of Trump and has learned to respect a strategy he doesn’t understand. [Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We’re pleased to be with President Moon of South Korea. We have a long-term friendship, and we are making a lot of progress. We are working on tremendous trade deals. We — as you know, we’ve completed a trade deal, and that’s working out very well for both countries. That deal is completed now, and it’s been in existence for — solidly in existence for six months. And it’s been very good.
(more…)

President Trump meets with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt at the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders discussed the conflict in Libya and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the development of a unified and democratic Libyan government able to stand against terrorism.
President Trump and President Al Sisi also discussed the recent attack on critical energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the need to work together to safeguard global commerce and regional stability. [Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s an honor to be with my friend, the President of Egypt. And he is a real leader. He’s done some things that are absolutely amazing in a short period of time. When he took over not so long ago, it was in turmoil. And it’s not in turmoil now.
(more…)

President Trump meets with Prime Minister Lee Hsien-Loong of the Republic of Singapore at the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders celebrated the longstanding and expanding U.S.-Singapore bilateral security partnership, and formally renewed 1990 Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries on Defense Cooperation.
The leaders also discussed the extensive economic relations between the United States and Singapore, and reaffirmed their commitment to promoting free, fair, and reciprocal trade and investment among the world’s economies. The President thanked Prime Minister Lee for hosting the first U.S-DPRK summit, and the two leaders agreed to sustain efforts to bring about the final, fully verified denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. [Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. As we just said, we signed a very important agreement having to do with defense and mutual defense, and I guess you could say mutual offense, also.
(more…)

For the second bilateral meeting President Trump meets with President Andrzej Duda of Poland at the 2019 United Nations General Assembly.  The two leaders discussed partnerships on defense, security, and energy.  Specifically, President Trump highlighted the great progress on the joint basing arrangement with Poland, and signed the Joint Declaration on Advancing Defense Cooperation. Both Presidents acknowledged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a threat to Europe’s energy security, and discussed how best to stop the project. Finally, President Trump informed President Duda that he expects to announce Poland’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program in the coming weeks.
[Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with President Duda of Poland. And we’ve become friends over the last fairly short period of time. But it’s been — it was quite a day in Poland, when we made the speech. You said some nice remarks, I said some nice remarks, and a lot of people remembered what we said. And that was a big — that was a big afternoon, a big weekend, and it’s something we — that I will never forget, frankly. And I know the United States was very well received.
(more…)

The first bilateral discussion meeting at the 2019 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) takes place between President Trump and Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan.
As customary during each of the bilats the leaders take questions from the media. [Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with my friend, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. And we have some great discussions going on with Pakistan about a lot of things, including the Taliban and Afghanistan, and many other things. And trade, I think, maybe is one of the most important. We’re going to increase trade with Pakistan by a tremendous margin.
(more…)

President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence convened a meeting at the U.N. General Assembly of international leaders to discuss religious persecution and religious freedom.  It is the first such discussion initiated by a U.S. President.
[Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: That’s very nice. Thank you very much. That’s very nice. And I want to thank Mike. Today, it’s a true honor to be the first President of the United States to host a meeting at the United Nations on religious freedom. And an honor it is. It’s long overdue. And I was shocked when I was given that statistic that I would be the first. That’s very sad, in many ways. And it’s great to be with you.
(more…)

Earlier today President Trump arrived at the U.N. General Assembly for discussions and bilateral meetings with various world leaders. As the president arrived he briefly stopped to talk to a massive assembly of international journalists.

.
The global leftists brought the child-prop for their current cause célèbre to the U.N. President Trump ignored the child and the climate nuts went bananas.
(more…)

President Trump is in New York City for the majority of this week attending the United Nations General Assembly.  Today, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham makes two rare appearances on television to discuss ongoing events/issues.

.
Ms. Grisham also appeared on Fox Business News with Maria Bartiromo:
(more…)

The Southern District of New York has released a criminal complaint to accompany the seizure of a North Korean freighter “Wise Honest” (Full pdf below). The freighter was seized by Indonesian authorities on/around April 2, 2018 [media story here]. However, the background story of Wise Honest is more interesting.

The indictment outlines how the freighter was used to transport coal from North Korea to China and Russia and back-haul heavy equipment from Chinese ports into the DPRK. However, the transport network changed with the timing of increased sanctions on the DPRK.  Simply, the ship was routed to avoid being caught for violating sanctions.
The indictment also outlines how Chinese entities in Hong Kong assisted with routing the vessel to avoid maritime surveillance. There’s an aspect here that overlays a prior set of CTH discussions surrounding U.S. Navy training for a potential U.S. maritime blockade.
You might remember November 2017 CTH discussions about U.S. vessels conducting training exercises in/around shipping lanes. In 2017 and 2018 there were some maritime collisions that seemed to align with the possibility of these training exercises. In June 2017 The USS Fitzgerald was one such example near the coast of Japan.
(more…)