President Donald Trump is ready to launch a new trade crackdown on China next week according to a Trump administration official.
Trump’s goal (at least one of them) is to get China to crack down on North Korea. But China knows that Trump won’t stop with North Korea. Trump will want more.
Meanwhile, China does not want North Korea destabilized more.
Deutsche Welle reports US President Donald Trump ponders trade war with China.
Trump has ordered a review of Chinese trade practices that force foreign firms to partner with Chinese firms. This comes shortly after he praised Beijing for its support of harsher UN sanctions on North Korea.
While US President Donald Trump presses China to step up pressure against North Korea, he is considering sparking a trade war with the world’s second largest economy.
On Monday, Trump plans to sign an executive order asking his trade office to investigate China for its alleged theft of American technology and intellectual property.The president, who is vacationing at his golf club in the state of New Jersey, said Friday that he planned to return to Washington on Monday “for a very important meeting” and “we’re going to have a pretty big press conference.”
Trade Crackdown Coming Monday
Politico reports Trade Crackdown Coming Monday.
Trump on Monday will call for an investigation into China over allegations that the nation violated U.S. intellectual property rights and forced technology transfers, the official said.
Two Commerce Department reports examining whether to restrict steel and aluminum imports on national security grounds were expected by the end of June but have been bottled up in an internal review. Trading partners raised threats of retaliation and domestic steel users complained of being hurt by price increases and restricted supply.
Section 301 allows the U.S. to take unilateral action against countries that impose barriers to U.S. exports. That could take the form of increased import duties, but that would likely violate WTO rules. So the administration could look for some other form of retaliation, like restricting Chinese investment in the United States.
Major Economic Shock Possible
The Guardian comments, and I agree, Trump v Kim can wreck the world economy without a shot being fired.
One of the few achievements Trump can point to in his first six months in office is that shares on Wall Street have been steadily rising since his election victory last October. The “fire and fury” remark and the inevitable counter blast from Kim Jong-un gave the markets pause for thought. But not much more than that.
This is part of a recent pattern. Markets have become relaxed about geopolitical risk and with good reason. Wall Street started rising from the moment Iraq was invaded in 2003. There was barely any response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014.
Over the past decade, markets have shrugged off geo-political risk but have proved much more vulnerable to economic and financial risk. And there’s plenty to worry about in that respect.
As the economist Steve Keen notes in his new book Can we avoid another financial crisis?, many countries have become what he calls debt junkies.
“They face the junkie’s dilemma, a choice between going ‘cold turkey’ now, or continuing to shoot up on credit and experience a bigger bust later.”
The lesson of 2007 is that all bubbles burst eventually. Alan Greenspan solved the problem of the bursting of the dotcom bubble by creating an even bigger bubble in the US housing market, and the Chinese authorities have done something similar.
When China’s Ponzi scheme comes crashing down – as it inevitably will – contagion to the rest of the global financial system will be limited by the fact that the banks are largely state owned and capital controls are still in place. Beijing will do what the west did in 2008 and bail out banks in danger of collapse. Even so, the economic shock to the rest of the world will be immense. Since 2008, China’s credit-driven expansion has accounted for more than half global growth.
If it becomes clear that China cannot rein Kim in, the US has an array of economic weapons at its disposal. It has made clear that it will slap tariffs on cheap Chinese steel and aluminum, and will punish intellectual property piracy. The US could also brand China a currency manipulator, something Trump ruled out during in his love-in with Xi when they met in Florida in April. Such a move would pave the way for further sanctions and inevitable retaliation from China.
Until recently, it has been hard to see where the next financial crisis comes from. Now it is blindingly clear. Trump is talked down from attacking North Korea but decides that somebody has to pay for his climbdown. China, seen to have shown insufficient support, is the obvious candidate. Economic sanctions are imposed, a trade war erupts and China’s credit bubble bursts. The financial markets have yet to wake up to this possibility. It is probably about time they did.
Contagion Limited?
The Guardian first says “contagion to the rest of the global financial system will be limited by the fact that the banks are largely state owned and capital controls are still in place.”
Ha! You cannot disrupt half of global growth and expect contagion to be limited under any circumstances.
The Guardian gets it correct just a few paragraphs later.
“Junkie’s Dilemma”
Regardless of when the bust starts or why, Keen’s “Junkie’s Dilemma” is in play.
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly backed down from threats against China, Germany, the EU, Mexico, and Canada.
Is this trade war threat the real deal?
Related Articles
- February 6: Disputing Trump’s NAFTA “Catastrophe” with Pictures: What’s the True Source of Trade Imbalances?
- February 12: Killing the Trade Golden Goose: Farmers Rattled by Trump’s NAFTA Rescinding Plans
- February 27: Global Trade Disaster Nearly Certain
Explaining Balance of Trade
The seeds of trade imbalances were sewn in 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window. The trade deficit rose, then skyrocketed.
Smoot-Hawley
Smoot-Hawley did not cause the Great Depression, but it certainly made matters much worse. In general, that’s precisely what tariffs do in every case.
No one wins trade wars. Both sides always lose something. In the case of unwinding NAFTA, Mexico would get hit harder, but US farmers would also pay a price.
Net it all out, and US farm losses will be much greater than manufacturing gains (if indeed any).
For more trade discussion and charts, see link numbers 1 and 2 above. Also see War Games: China Say It Will Prevent US From Attacking North Korea First (Is this a Game or is it Real?)
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
The SSE: Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index is down, as of our Sunday afternoon
https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SHCOMP:IND
There will be no meaningful trade war with the PRC.
This POTUS is the biggest bluffer that the world ahs ever seen. The man enjoys being unique and at least in this he is.
Further to the bluffing point, I doubt that this POTUS will actually attack the DPRK unless and until the DPRK actually kills someone (other than a random South Korean or group of South Koreans) or lobs a weapon into US or allied territory (other than South Korea).
So, the DPRK tests another ICBM ….. lots of words but no action. The DPRK tests a miniaturized nuclear device (apparently already in the “tunnel”) … lots of words but no action. The DPRK tests payload re-entry engineering and technology … lost of words but no action.
The beauty of all this is that our man Trump creates in real time the mother of all walls of worry for the equity markets to climb…
… and what if that is the overarching plan behind all of the noise.
After all, the one thing Trump wants and needs uber alles is a rising stock market.
https://theconservativetreehouse.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/us-vs-china-7-e1502656780990.jpg
It’s going to hurt them more than us
Maybe Trump should give the bomb to the South Koreans. That might get China’s attention,😁
Not to worry, boy wonder Jared and his shiksa will be heading to China to pour oil on troubled waters (and maybe facilitate more green card sales for Kushner Corp).
Now thats when a trade war gets serious, if China blocks more US green card sales to it’s citizens by Kushner corp!
J C : Does the US Gov’t allow a ‘free’ green card to you IF you actually bring $500,000 into the deal and invest it in the USA in a business or real estate? I believe it does, and therefore your statement about Kushner ‘selling’ green cards is bullshit. One of us is incorrect. Someone straighten both of us out, plz.
…or free for any chick that looks even remotely close to Sofia Vergara. Which is a good thing! I was in Miami airport a few days ago, and there was no shortage of ones that deserve to be given U.S. passports.
Washington is going to find it rather difficult to get Peking to the table in any meaningful way. 2 weeks ago, Peking voted at UNSC in favor of NK sanctions. Yesterday, Trump declares a trade war. Peking will treat this as a betrayal. They will also conclude that Washington is a unreliable & unstable actor.
The Euros & Japanese are rapidly distancing themselves from Washington.
Result ? We can expect to see deeper integration of China-Russia-EU-Japan in all areas.
A unintended consequence of Trump acting strong & powerful will be the weakening of Washington’s influence.
The only winners will be China-Russia. Defence of Europe and Japan weakened.
Time will come when Russia will feel emboldened in Eastern Europe with China watching their back.
Ready for war?
the only people who want war are some deep state fools in washington – the rest of the world is perfectly happy working hard and getting rich.
The only person making war noises is Trump, not Putin. It is not in Putin’s interests to invade Eastern Europe because of the EU trade – only might happen if some madman OK’s release of the weaponry owned by the USA positioned on Russia’s borders. Putting them there is almost an act of war in itself – check Cuba. Nth Korea’s verbal diarrhea is tame in comparison. You guys are being softened up and scared to keep you compliant whilst the 0.1% rip you off and distract you from the real advantages of open world wide free trade.
In the search for cheaper labor US industry transferred US technology to China it took China just a few decades to acquire the knowledge that took the West 500 years to learn. From the most admired country we are fast turning to the most feared .
China has been stealing American technology for decades. Patents mean nothing to them. It is about time someone is trying to do something about that, but the Chinese are tough negotiators. It is not going to be easy, which is why previous administrations have just ignored the problem. I’ll give Donny some credit for trying.
And virtually all Americans “stole” literacy from their first grade teacher. Someone with oragne hair needs to “do something”, and talk mean, about that!!
Why in the heck should someone competent enough to be able to build something useful, have to ask a bunch of less-than-nothing lawyers and patent trolls for permission first?
They do not ask for permission Stuki, they ask for protection so they can get a profit from their engenuity, at least for a little while. You usually have good comments; have you been drinking?
Over at least the past 50 years, patent law in America has been expanded so far past it’s usefulness, that even disregarding foreigners altogether, it has become more of a burden for innovation than a boon. Amazon’s “one click” patent is only the most over the top ridiculous example. Up and down the line, triviality upon triviality is “patent protected,” to the point it has become so exhaustive and expensive to jump through the hoops required to ensure one is not “violating” some nonsensicality, that why even bother?
I’m sure the original intent was good. Protecting genuinely novel, and expensive to develop, products and processes from opportunistic copying. But like most else in our bankster and ambulance chaser ran Dystopia, it is now not about protecting and encouraging innovation. But rather, it is yet another avenue to facilitate crass rent seeking, and unearned privilege, by the wealthy, the connected, and those who live off facilitating the rent seekers’ rent seeking.
If you look at the history of innovation, it is almost always the case that many come up with the same solutions to problems at around the same time. Simply because they live in a world where a given problem is becoming obvious. So they solve it. It’s not as if the world would forever remain wheel less, were it not for that first guy who built a wheel. Ditto for gunpowder and Pagerank like search algorithms. Nor one click ordering, for crying out loud.
America was wealthy before China. Hence faced new sets of problems in many areas, before those became a pressing problem for the Chinese. Now the Chinese are catching up wealth wise, and facing the same problems. Which they’ll often find very similar solutions to as Americans once did. There is zero benefit, for the world nor anyone in it, aside from a cadre of rent seeking leeches and their handmaidens, from running around banning some Chinese from employing and expanding upon those solutions, just because someone else arrived at a similar solution halfway around the world years and decades ago.
True Stuki the US has been known in the past of grabbing copyright from others and successfully exploiting it but the Chinese have a reputation for stacking the odds against foreigners. Many companies that formed associations in China have been check mated by partners and factories taken over. Japanese are generally more reliable in overseas partnerships but still sometimes ‘difficult’ with foreigners in their own Country.
Nonetheless a case can be made for co-operating and revealing ‘secrets’, everyone benefits from competition in the end. If people get too greedy look at Japan example and German dominated EU ready to fall apart, Japan was convinced in the 1980’s that they were unstoppable. Hubris has a reward, even USA hubris eventually.
Funny thing about knowledge,it’s not a monopoly , it’s a global thing.
I suppose the threat of nuking guam had nothing to do with the stock market. The threat of a rouge nuclear state who seems quite willing to shove it up someone’s sphincter has me on the short side in the market……two media using alarmists and fake media haven’t cornered any market, its the potential of a nuke and the threat of what will happen after the first one goes off. ……..shall we Play a GAme?
So…..have y’all read “One Second After” ? Or others of like theme? Re: An Electronic Magnetic Pulse ( EMP ) that occurs when a nuke is detonated about 300 miles high over a target….. shuts down ALL electronics (except your ’57 Chevy would still run….) and is BAD JUJU.
Wonder if we could do a ‘teeny’ one only 100 miles high over the Little Fat Boy’s house without hurting South Korea? Is that possible to kill all electronics to his military, where – if ALL electricity goes out – they would be blind to anyone else doing anything…?
they still yous vacuum tubs an relays.
What is your native language, John?
His native language is probably a dialect of Android that I occasionally use. i recognized it immediately. Damn phones, lol.
Well….IF they’re still using tubs, it might NOT be as much of a problem to them. But I’d guess their military communications and missile launch capability doesn’t use too many tubs……..I’d think they’d be using their trans-sisters by now…
Hopefully, our CIA would know about those sisters….ESPECIALLY if they were in their tubs.
I like your sense of humour BillyBob!
Trade war could bring the inflation the fr wants.
Can NOBODY HERE READ???
The article says “launch an investigation”, but the MSM is calling that a trade war. Why is everyone falling for this nonsense?
Apparently it is politically incorrect to even look into it.
As a counterbalance how about Beijimf
https://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/26681-imf-boss-threatens-to-ditch-us-for-communist-china-again
…good riddance maybe.
Or even better a NWO Globalist mixdown
https://leblogalupus.com/2017/08/12/loligarchie-globaliste-alliee-de-loligarchie-communiste-christine-lagarde-voit-deja-le-siege-du-fmi-a-pekin/
… from across the pond (in French).
China is and has always been a mandarin society, ruled from the center. The US, despite severe shortcomings especially recently, is by ethos a more egalitarian open society. China has gained tremendously by the stupid shortsighted greed of western multinationals and their hired help in Congress. Domestic western populations are rightly demanding a change. China needs to grow up and truly join the international community with a more open society that plays by the rules. The US needs to focus on mending its own economy and acknowledge and give space to China, a new super power. The world is in desperate need for statesmen so as to avoid war.
PS: North Korea is China for all practical purposes.
Fatboy Kim is a danger to the safety of the entire globe. Every other week he threatens to turn the USA into a fireball. If someone threatened to do that to your home would you take him seriously? I certainly would.
This is not Trump’s fault. Trump is taking action that his 3 predecessors should have taken over the last 25 years. All of them kicked the can down the road. And now that Kim can actually hit the US with a nuke Trump can no longer ignore reality.
China should volunteer to help counter NK for the good of the Planet. Resistance only indicates their complicity with NK.
Besides, China has been playing the USA like a fiddle on the international trade front for decades. It’s refreshing to have a President who wants to bring back a sense of balance so Americans get a fair deal for once. IMHO any American who defends China on this issue is not a true American who supports his or her own country.
When the bully gets his way for a prolonged period of time and someone finally musters up the courage to punch him in the nose you’ll always get a certain group of people who’ll defend the bully and blame the one who confronts him.
China is North Korea. China is using NK to let its neighbors know that the US is a paper tiger. NK will not fire or initiate attack on US assets because China will not allow it. Nothing will change regarding NK because China does not want it to change.
China did not play the US like a fiddle rather US multinationals in the interest of short term gains voluntarily moved production there. US multinationals bribed Congress to accelerate the outsourcing process with tax advantages and got Congress to turn a blind eye to unfair Chinese trading methods. Look in the mirror to see who is to blame. We as a people lulled ourselves into a stupor surrounded by cheap Chinese goods whilst corporate America stole our livelihood for humongous private gain. We let the robbery happen and only we as a people can change it. Throw the rascals in Congress out!
Finally the pendulum is swing back but it will not be smooth.
You have a good gripe on reality, group thinking always tows the line of propaganda.Frontiers r nothing more than history’s bandaids
China has been manipulating the yuan for decades to screw over it’s best trading partners like the USA. Common knowledge. Now that Trump intends to derail their gravy train it’s not fair. ha. Screw ’em. Let the pendulum swing back in our direction for once no matter how ugly it gets. China can cooperate to restore balance or suffer the consequences. It’s not all about them.
Of course it is common knowledge, a peg is a peg and all dollars earned get sent back, directly or indirectly, to be spent again and again. However the US chose this, as far as it affects the US, it was and is a US choice, no point blaming China.
https://lupus1.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/dgd0jz3xsae8pjd.jpg
Trump is not “blaming China”. He has said repeatedly that they are the smart ones, that is is WE who are screwing up.
I think Trump is trying to tell us all, not just Americans, but every people of every nation that it is their own leaders and business people who are their problem. Trump tells us that it is our government negotiators who have failed, and we KNOW they only act at the behest of their corporate masters….like in every country.
I didn’t have anyone particular in mind on ‘blaming China’, any rhetoric does reduce to “we do not agree with this framework, it must change or we must leave it”. Each country will defend its point of view and that will necessarily exclude the other when there is conflict of interest.The 3rd party leverage which distracts from or avoids saying something like “We don’t like the use of resources, the purchase of influence, policy etc. of China in our country , which we can stop it from earning” or ” We want our country to be less dependent on your ways, for its own good” , both of which are politically charged, is to use trade disputes to shut down trade. No one seems to dare put the peg fully on the table though, and that tells me the arrangement suits certain people, while it is still touted as a stability and tool of incorporation to lead China into a global community. A lot of what is said and done is contradictory, probably due to different policy layers built up and conflicting domestic authorities (right down to the voter base). Very unwieldy setup to be part of, in many ways.
How ironic that to the rest of the countries in the world, both Trump and Kim look like indulgent, belligerent, adolescents. Oh, and to me also.
_aleph_
All we need is a piece of paper for “peace in our time”
Eight years obama did nothing.
Now he has missiles that can hit the western US with nukes.
Maybe Trump should kick the can down the road until they can hit the entire United States.
Exactly. I’m dumbfounded that grown adults can’t connect those dots.
I guess their hate for Trump overrides their common sense.
Obviously you know nothing about negotiation, Sal, and neither did Obama. I would like to negotiate with you sometime! Lucky for Obummer the RINOS were just as bad at it.
Oh and BTW thumbs up to OldTimer.
Haircuts a little different, but both give the same impression.
I question whether US farmers would be hurt at all…Where, exactly, is Mexico going to get the food it so desperately needs? I submit there is only one answer.
The bottom line.
China wants a divided Korea…forever.
They will do everything they can to prop up and protect North Korea.
China also deeply fears another Tiananmen Square event.
And that will happen if their economy hits a hard recession.
Trump is going to make them choose.
Get rid of crazy nuke boy or watch your economy crumble.
China needs to export iPhones to survive.
America doesn’t need to import them to survive.
Good comments, second banana….
The Guardian first says “contagion to the rest of the global financial system will be limited by the fact that the banks are largely state owned and capital controls are still in place.”
A meme in 2000 was that the Nasdaq couldn’t crash because tech companies had no debt. A problem was that their customers did.
The 2008 contagion was “limited” by FED actions, but unemployment ran up to 10% in the U.S., regardless.
The market is ready to crash big time. The market was in a bubble before Trump got elected and is in even a bigger bubble now. Needless to say I am out of stocks.
Never be fully out of stocks. There are shorts to make if you are bearish and there is always a bull market somewhere.
China can have their One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative… **OR**… they can keep pandering to the Kim clan and their NK tree fort. China can’t have both, and Trump knows it. Xi probably knows it, but doesn’t want to admit it.
Obama and Bush never grasped negotiating 101, and the Chinese probably figured (initially) that Trump was another dim-witted US politician. Trump may or may not be a dim-wit like Bush/Obama, but Trump definitely has a different style of thinking. The Chinese misread him completely.
NK is 110% China’s problem, and Trump won’t let Xi forget it. Will Xi really sacrifice the OBOR to save North Korea? No chance. He might do a lot of posturing, but push comes to shove “social harmony” inside China is 1000000x more important than North Korea. And China no longer needs NK to act as a buffer zone.
Kim is expendable, Xi just has to figure out a way to mitigate the refugee crisis.
My bet is the Chinese military has been tasked with finding an NK general who isn’t an escaped mental patient. Once they find that person, the Chinese will see to it that Kim has a terrible accident.
OBOR must succeed, because the global consumer of last resort (USA) is out of money and out of credit.
Trump and Xi are negotiating about OBOR, not North Korea. NK is just a smoke and mirror show for western media.
BlauGloriole said: North Korea is China.
China aided and abetted NK in their development of nuclear weapons and missiles. China is our enemy. They are communist hammers and would no less nail the world than the Soviet Union hammers. I don’t buy Chinese products except where I absolutely have no alternative. And I suffer for it. The rest of you can do the same. It won’t kill you.
+1000
I’ll see your +1000 and raise you +5000.
paranoid much ?
The topic of next week’s board meeting is “Where in the USA do we relocate manufacturing. And how soon can we do it?”
I am tired of the argument that we do not want a trade war. Anyone paying attention knows we’ve been (on the losing side) of a trade war with China since the mid ’90’s, when they first pegged their currency cheaply to ours.
Those who say it is the multinationals and their influence in Washington are right. Walmart’s solution to profitability was to buy cheap in China and sell dear in the US. It is a major player in buying congressional influence, and not to be outdone by GE which does the same. As a result we have not retaliated for the currency manipulation for years.
People who claim that threats against China’s trade are anti “free trade” do not know what they are talking about. Free trade requires that trading partners allow their currency exchange rates to adjust to correct for trade imbalances. As evidence it isn’t working, China has racked up more than $4 Trillion of trade surpluses against the US since the ’90’s. That’s literally millions of jobs sent overseas.
Thank you Mr Goodrich; great comments here.
Strange how we can point out how our trade imbalance is directly related to the abandoning of the gold standard, yet ANYTHING we do to counter its effects is contradictory to “free trade” and destabilization of our markets.
The blessings of “funny money”?
There has to be serious consequences to this, like anything else, yet we say, no, no, no, we can’t do anything NOW because the pain is just too great! We closed the gold window due to PAIN, and we are still waiting for a painless escape from those consequences. Now we see almost 100 million without jobs, chronically. Massive loss of manufacturing, reliance on cheap imported labor and goods while our debt is rising (fast) and our ability to pay (personally as our productivity declines) and nationally as profitable corporations keep their money out of our economy. We are transferring our wealth to the pockets of relatively few and those are increasing outside of our country.
But we always have the promise of technology that will replace the remaining jobs and gift us with more personal time for introspection…and praying that those few who own all of our brilliant technology will continue to “gift” us with continued production when we have no visible means of paying for it.
In the 30′ gun boat diplomacy was the rule. China was the most exploited colony in the world, even tiny Portugal owned piece of China if a westerner killed a Chinese it was no big deal but all hell broke lose if the opposite happened. Generalissimo Chiang was the most corrup leader ever, I may not agree with all things they do but what they have accomplished is nothing less than a miracle, what would we have done if the reverse was true?
“what would we do” ???
WE TRIED TO KILL ALL THE ‘OCCUPYING BRIT’S’ THAT WE COULD before they quit and shipped themselves back home……
(Same thing we did to Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna down here in The Republic…..)
Too bad it only cost the Chinese people MILLIONS of lives and unfathomable suffering for DECADES trying to reach Mao’s utopia. But we don’t talk about those types of things, now do we. Our glorious state department played a significant role in putting Mao in power by refusing to give Chiang Kai Shek any support. His exile to Taiwan was an economic force long before China ever recovered from their “cultural revolution. Chiang was anti communist but for some reason our state department saw Mao as the preferred choice, just as they saw Castro in Cuba, refusing to support Batista to the point of even providing him small surveillance planes to patrol the communist camps. That worked out so well too. America has been really good a picking winners. The US helped create a slave labor state in China and then after they were completely on their knees, open trade to a labor market they KNEW would destroy our own jobs. America has funded the reconstruction of virtually every nation in the world. We rebuilt Europe, not that have any appreciation for it. Now they are pissed we we even mention “America FIRST” for a change. Is it any different that the street protests we see in America whenever there is even the suggestion of reducing entitlements?
The US did in fact go to a great deal of trouble to support Chiang during WW2, to defeat the Japanese. . After that, not so much. Chiang opposed communism and was more culturally Chinese, which means a dictator. Neither Chiang nor Mao were good choices for the US.
Wikipedia says: ” the Communists won the Civil War because they made fewer military mistakes than Chiang Kai-Shek, and because in his search for a powerful centralized government, Chiang antagonized too many interest groups in China. Furthermore, his party was weakened in the war against Japan. Meanwhile, the Communists told different groups, such as peasants, exactly what they wanted to hear, and cloaked themselves in the cover of Chinese Nationalism.
Following the war, the United States encouraged peace talks between Chiang and Communist leader Mao Zedong in Chongqing. Due to concerns about widespread and well-documented corruption in Chiang’s government throughout his rule, the U.S. government limited aid to Chiang for much of the period of 1946 to 1948, in the midst of fighting against the People’s Liberation Army led by Mao Zedong. Alleged infiltration of the U.S. government by Chinese Communist agents may have also played a role in the suspension of American aid.[72]
Chiang’s right-hand man, the secret police Chief Dai Li, was both anti-American and anti-Communist.[73] Dai ordered Kuomintang agents to spy on American officers.[74] Earlier, Dai had been involved with the Blue Shirts Society, a fascist-inspired paramilitary group within the Kuomintang, which wanted to expel Western and Japanese imperialists, crush the Communists, and eliminate feudalism.[75] Dai Li died in a plane crash, which was suspected to be an assassination orchestrated by Chiang.[76]
Though Chiang had achieved status abroad as a world leader, his government deteriorated as the result of corruption and inflation. In his diary on June 1948, Chiang wrote that the KMT had failed, not because of external enemies but because of rot from within.[77] The war had severely weakened the Nationalists, while the Communists were strengthened by their popular land-reform policies,[78] and by a rural population that supported and trusted them. The Nationalists initially had superiority in arms and men, but their lack of popularity, infiltration by Communist agents, low morale, and disorganization soon allowed the Communists to gain the upper hand in the civil war.
As for Fidel, he didn’t really come out of the closet as full-blown commie dictator type until after he assumed power. Until then, many Americans supported him.
The simple fact of it is that the state department WAS infiltrated by communist interests and the communist threat was downplayed until it reached some critical mass and became undeniable in its threat. Meanwhile we aided Mao, we aided Castro and we aided Russia…..if nothing else by omission. The US was instrumental in the creation of world wide communism, until as is so typical, we decide that our friends are now our enemies and enemies, friends.
Much ado about nothing. Trump talks a lot, but never follows through. I doubt he will actually start a trade war with China. But he can appeal to American voters by “talking tough”. Then they will believe that he is keeping his campaign promises. That’s all he cares about.
If Donny can accomplish his objectives with tough talk and no “wars” (of any kind), he is a freaking genius. His tough talk on immigration and the Wall has already produced spectacular results. Or didn’t CNN report that? Like they never reported Debbie Schultz’s support of the spectacular DNC mole?
Trump did not create the North Korean conflict. It, like our economy, was “created” over decades of kicking the can, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and all the rest of our deflections from realities that are coming to roost on our doorstep. Now people are scared to death that someone actually points out the obvious and actually attempts to deal with it.
Just how bad does it need to get before people will be willing to actually do something…about ANY of this?
NK is directly threatening their neighbors and the rest of the world. Miniaturized nukes on ICBMs and the best that the chattering class can do is suggest that they couldn’t hit their target and this is no different that it ever has been….EXCEPT they now have the actual capability to put a warhead on our continent as well as any of their neighbors…..and they threaten to do so daily. But no, lets have some MORE secret back channel talks where we offer them bribes and capitulation in return for NOT NUKING US. Everything we had always hoped for, right???
We could have stopped him before they had the bomb, but it was just too dangerous. We could have stopped him before they developed rockets, but nope…too dangerous. And now…NOW we are afraid to use threatening rhetoric. Not only can we not afford to stop him, NOW we can’t afford to insult or threaten him. Another “safe space” from Trump? Perfect.
Our government, all of our past leaders and state department employees, should be SO proud.
And TRUMP is our problem….sure, that’s it. If ONLY we had Hillary. All of our “friends” that Trump has made uncomfortable, you know, those who were working so hard to make America “not so great”, keeping their beneficial trade deals in place, and the status quo that has lined all their pockets for so long, would be pulling for us, right?
If Trumps policies were actually so harmful to America, why is it that foreign countries are so upset? Is it like when the democrats so helpfully give advice to the republicans on how to win….like the way they so graciously warned republicans of how badly Hillary would beat them if they ran with Trump? I THINK NOT.
We have been sold the notion that our prosperity (when they see fit to even use the word) is tied to that of our neighbors around the world, yet these are the same people intent on redistribution, the notion that there is but a fixed wealth that must be manually divided based upon some notion of economic justice. Why are we shocked that our economic condition is declining with the growth of our neighbors (competitors, another “dirty” word), and then when someone points this out, it is called a lie, that we CANNOT defend our economic future from our competitors.
Apparently we have lost our “collective” minds.
wrong – the Norks have been consistent that they view their nukes as a deterence. They have never threatened a first strike or pre-emotive strike.
What is it that you fail to comprehend in regard preventing nuclear proliferation, beyond it has failed. No person could see NK as rational beyond the most ruthless mentality. NK has been a hell hole since inception and the ONLY thing the Kims are protecting is THEMSELVES.
Where did China learn the fundamentals of running an export economy and manipulating their currency against the dollar…….The Japanese of course! Why are they allowed to continue to do what the Chinese are merely copying?
In my best guesstimate, this is not about NoKo. It’s about China and all about China for these reasons:
1. China’s past currency manipulation is not an issue, but the demand against American companies for their product technology is, When it becomes the contingent of make a sale, of say Boeing jets, it’s a big problem.
2. China’s push to open the Silk Road would undermine the Petro Dollar. Same reason for the island building… why build expensive air craft carriers when the only reason for their existence is to eventually keep the shipping lanes for themselves.
3. Rare earth technology resides in China since American companies sat on the technology for years. Much of the rare earth metals come from N Korea. This rare earth industry is exactly what all our advanced systems depend on. This is a huge national security risk for which we now stock pile rare earth ores in case of war. This is precisely the subject that the Obama Administration refused to discuss and kept nearly all related documents classified.
4. China now has Quantum computing. Unhackable. Quantum communication is ultra-secure as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated.
http://english.chinamil.com.cn/news-channels/today-headlines/2016-08/16/content_7210313.htm
I expect the loony left to blame Trump for 30 years of neglect and incompetence that put us in the positions we’re in today.
What irks my butt is when independents listen to what the libs have to say and then parrot it back to others.
All I can figure is that the prolonged deterioration of the US school system is beginning to catch up to us and destroy whatever remnants that were left of rational thought.
There is no reason to blame Trump for the past. Conversely, there is no reason for anyone to listen to a single word he says. Virtually every statement he makes gets reworded by his staff to state what he “really” meant after each crazy, inaccurate, or unintelligible thing he says.
All hot air. But scare-mongering headlines drive media ratings and revenues sustaining propaganda axis-of-evil (e.g. CNN, WaPo). Trump failed to even repeal Obamacare individual mandate penalty, and IRS penalties will be going up as Hillary wanted. USA Senate not likely to approve even tiny things Trump campaigned for. So all Trump can do is threaten China, North Korea, Venezuela, etc. Congress plays up Russia, diverting attention as DNC evil agendas continue forward.
Guardian and Politico anti-China measures make no sense at all. Declare China a “currency manipulator,” and they have nothing to lose by an instant 20% devaluation. China can devalue faster than the USA can raise trade barriers, and then you would see real currency manipulation. Stop Chinese investment in the USA, and China will invest and create jobs in other countries instead. Plus rest of world will take notice, and reduce USA trade and investment in pro-active self-defense.
North Korea is also a buffer state for China and Russia, sharing borders with both. China is not going to let North Korea become a hostile border state under USA influence, like Ukraine, Baltics and Georgia are being used against Russia. Only real threat from North Korea is if USA attacks. North Korean leader, like Reagan, knows that a strong defense is essential to keep the peace. USA breaks its treaties as soon as advantageous, and North Korea would be stupid to disarm. Libya agreed to give up nuclear ambitions, and USA/NATO promptly bombed the defenseless country to Stone Age rubble and sodomized, dismembered and fed body parts of its leader to the dogs. North Korea is reacting rationally to barbaric enemy.
EVERYONE feels justified for what they do. The Kims seek to preserve themselves, not their nation. They have put themselves up as the irreplaceable element and have killed everyone in the military and family that poses even the most remote threat. They symbolize the absolute worst in paranoid behavior and offer NOTHING to the world or even their own people. Relativism fails. The US has undoubtedly been misguided in its pursuits, but where stomping out garden snakes is an extremist act, beheading a rattle snake is not. Ghaddafi actually worked to improve his own people’s lives even if he did so brutally sometimes, whereas I do not believe there is ANY evidence of that for North Korea. They have stolen their nations wealth to defend the indefensible. Cut the head off.
+1
Kim is a rogue dictator who rose to power on the coattails of his sperm donor father & born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Not on merit. He spent much of his life in Switzerland where he received the bulk of his education. He’s as westernized as you and me. A spoiled brat used to getting whatever he wanted in life. And now he’s taking that attitude on an international scale. No doubt mental issues too. Very dangerous.
Go read Ghaddafi’s bio. Whatever you thought of him – he earned the power that he acquired. He was born in a stinking tent. His dad was a sheep herder. He rose through the ranks. And he made enormous progress for the Libyan people until Obama set him up for assassination.
No comparison between Ghaddafi and Kim.
It’s impossible to have a civil negotiation with a madman.
Trump needs to figure out a way to overthrow or rid the earth of Kim.
Schumer, Deep-State, Democrats and some GOP would like to overthrow and rid the earth of Trump even more than Kim. Democrat-linked operatives are good at hiring/mobilizing violent thugs (e.g. Trump rallies, anti-Milo, etc.). Encouraging killing Kim and other national leaders Hillary style (like in Libya) makes DNC base salivate, and should not be advocated as it will boomerang against you in unexpected ways. The bigger evil than Kim is DNC in USA. Terry McAuliffe, former DNC head and now Virginia governor, setup strategic Leninist violence at Charlottesville. He knew campaign to rid earth of Robert E. Lee statues would attract violence. “Ridding the Earth” is Taliban-style fanaticism, and does not lead to good outcomes. Those advocating the violence often end up the victims. Bad karma.
North Korea is arming so as not to be like Libya, which disarmed and got bombed to rubble while USA/NATO mercenaries dismembered the leader. Bigger threat than Kim is USA falling under a DNC/Leninist regime, which almost happened in last election. Trump said country would be lost for next 100 years, and DNC is still trying to make that happen.
You, McCain, and the War Party may be in the majority on this. I have never been to the Korean peninsula to see for myself. I only “know” what the mainstream media says, and on other matters like Iraq, Libya, Russia hacking of the USA election, etc., the mainstream media has not proven reliable. All this garden snake stuff sounds like recycled WWI propaganda about the German Kaiser, who was described in similar terms (perhaps rightly). I hope you have reliable inside information on North Korea that is the source of your certainty. I also hope you will act as bravely and selflessly as Senator McCain, who had the courage to get in a plane and personally bomb North Vietnam (I forget if that war was about Gulf of Tonkin, oil, or the domino theory of communist domination?).
In any case, Congress obviously needs to raise business taxes (“fair share”), certainly not cut them as Trump urges, in case Congress declares Korea War II a “just cause.” Otherwise, instead of guns and butter like Vietnam, it could be guns and Obamacare. Nonetheless, you prove my case that North Korea is acting rationally by having a big army with lots of artillery and is right to develop missiles and nukes against a hostile USA. Irrelevant whether the leader is good, bad or corrupt. Just another War Party slogan/excuse, war propaganda like “imminent massacre” in Libya. According to Schumer and USA Democrats, Trump is also bad and corrupt and should be gone along with Kim. I suspect polling data would show North Korea’s people and their leader are on the same side, both favoring military strength and going to war again if national sovereignty is threatened.