KOREA SUMMIT
Trump is bad, we know that. But this should not blind us to the hopeful aspects of the meeting with Korea’s Kim Jung-un and its lessening of the immediate threat of war on the Korean peninsula. A lot of the mainstream commentary – especially from Democrats and the Liberal-leaning press – is expressing alarm. This is partisanship at its worse.
WHY AMERICANS (AND KOREANS) CAN SLEEP BETTER AFTER THE SUMMIT
Scads of analysts and pundits have weighed in on the Trump-Kim summit talks in Singapore, parsing the brief agreement and presidential tweets for signs of just how strongly it actually commits North Korea to total, verifiable “denuclearization.” Most of them are missing the point. The real threat to U.S., Korean, and Japanese security of late has come not from North Korean nukes, but from threats by President Donald Trump and his closest advisers to launch a regional war to preempt any further North Korean progress on warhead and missile technology. Some experts were giving even odds of a U.S.-initiated war as recently as a few months ago. So even if the spectacle in Singapore was more theater than substance, even if the president’s effusive praise for a totalitarian leader was hard to swallow, we should applaud Trump for belatedly making good on his 2016 campaign promise to sit down with Kim Jong-un over a hamburger in search of peace. More
Pundits Worry Threat of Nuclear War Is Being Reduced
Media outlets don’t want America to negotiate with North Korea; they want the US to hold North Korea for ransom… Undergirding the view that the United States should only negotiate with North Korea when “negotiation” means “forcing the DPRK under nuclear duress to do whatever America says” are entrenched notions of intrinsic US superiority… In this conception, America is the shining city on a hill that must free the people of the DPRK, though these analysts don’t ask who will liberate US citizens living under a regime with the highest incarceration rate in the world, rampant judicial and extrajudicial execution, widespread racism, obscenewealth inequality and an undemocratic political system. Calling for a US government crusade for change inside North Korea while overlooking all of these features of US society is another dimension of the imperial arrogance that insists it’s legitimate to subject the entire population of other nations to crushing sanctions and violent threats until their governments give Washington everything it wants. More
Dem senators move to halt potential US troop withdrawal from S. Korea
The amendment “would help prevent the President from making a rash decision about troop reductions on the Korean Peninsula that negatively impacts our national security,” Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) said in a joint statement.
Introduced for the Fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the provision would stop a withdraw “unless the U.S. Secretary of Defense certifies it is in our national security interest and would not significantly undermine the security of our allies in the region.” The amendment was introduced following Trump’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. would cease its joint military drills with South Korea as long as talks with North Korea are ongoing. The halted exercises seem to be a concession to Pyongyang, which has repeatedly claimed that the drills are practice for a strike against North Korea. More
Defense Stocks Fall As Trump Makes Key Concession At North Korea Summit
Defense stocks fell Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced at his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore that he would end military drills with South Korea and eventually would like to withdraw U.S. troops from the South… After reporting Q1 earnings in April, Raytheon said it expects missile defense demand to remain strong, in the Asia region specifically, regardless of what happens in expected U.S.-North Korea talks. Still, Raytheon led defense stocks lower, tumbling 2.8% to 206.64 on the stock market today. Lockheed shares fell 1.3% to 315.13. Northrop Grumman (NOC) was down 1.5% to 339.36. Boeing (BA) edged 0.1% lower to 370.61, still in buy range after breaking out of a cup-with-handle-base with a 365.10 buy point. General Dynamics (GD) lost 1.6%. More
NEVER CALL KIM JONG UN CRAZY AGAIN
The most significant development in Singapore was to complete the transformation of Kim himself from a secretive, slightly comical, definitely murderous, and possibly irrational leader of a “Hermit Kingdom” into a serious and engaged world leader of some stature. The New York Times captured this notion perfectly in an article published days before the summit, headlined “Kim Jong-un’s Image Shift: From Nuclear Madman to Skillful Leader.” In fact, the Times’ story tells you less about Kim than it does about America’s self-defeating tendency to portray adversaries as irrational, crazy, deluded, risk-seeking, suicidal, or just plain nuts. Instead of seeing foreign-policy disputes as the product of straightforward conflicts of interest or clashing political values, even well- experienced U.S. officials and knowledgeable pundits are prone to seeing them as a reflection of personality defects, paranoia, or distorted views of reality. In truth, the Kim family has never been crazy or irrational; on the contrary, they’ve just managed to keep themselves in power in difficult circumstances for seven decades. This tendency to see opponents as crazy has a long history… In a certain sense, it is not surprising that even well-informed Americans are inclined to think this way. Convinced that their own country is uniquely virtuous, exceptional, wise, and selfless, and that U.S. foreign policy is good for nearly everyone, it is easy for them believe that those who disagree with U.S. policy and question America’s motives must be suffering from some sort of mental disorder. More
Iran is not North Korea: Trump's regional allies prefer civil war to peace
As US President Donald Trump returns from a successful photo-op in Singapore with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, his focus will soon return to Iran. Israel and Saudi Arabia have eagerly hoped that the Singapore summit would help neutralise the Korean issue so that Trump could turn all his energy towards Tehran. Yet no one seems to know what Trump's Iran policy actually is. Is he looking for another deal? Is he paving the way for war? Is regime change the real goal? If Saudi Arabia and the UAE decide, it will be none of the above – it'll be much worse… This is one of the main differences between the US-North Korea and US-Iran conflicts: while America's regional allies in the former conflict seek to avoid war and favour a diplomatic solution, US allies in the Middle East oppose negotiations in the latter conflict. In fact, they have played an important role in keeping the US-Iran enmity alive. More
ASSAULT ON YEMEN′S HODEIDA WILL BRING ′FAMINE′ AND ′DEVASTATION′
A Saudi-led coalition backed by Western countries, including the United States and France, has been launching airstrikes to take back the city of Hodeida from Houthi rebels. For civilians, the situation is dire, as the port of Hodeida brings in 70 percent of Yemen's food imports. Aid agencies have warned that a battle there could exacerbate Yemen's humanitarian crisis. One of those agencies, Save the Children, is still on the ground in Yemen providing relief and promoting children's rights in the country… There is a moral culpability, particularly for governments that sit on the UN Security Council who have the ability to influence the conflict. These governments include the United Kingdom, the United States and perhaps even France. These governments have had the ability to help Yemenis and bring actors both in and outside of the country in finding a sustainable peace. More
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WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME
Immigrant Families In Mass. Shouldn't Have To Live In Fear Of The Police
In May, in a historic 25–13 vote, the Massachusetts Senate adopted a state budget amendment to protect immigrant families that shares much in common with proposed legislation, the Safe Communities Act. The amendment protects against ethnic profiling by barring police from questioning people about their immigration status unless required by law. It also ensures that people in custody are informed of their rights before any ICE interview, prohibits collaboration between Massachusetts sheriffs and ICE, and bars state participation in any registry based on ethnicity, religion, country of origin or other protected characteristics. The budget now goes to conference committee, which will issue the final version by the end of June. The challenge now is that House leaders do not seem to see protecting immigrants as a political priority. Gov. Charlie Baker has promised to veto this legislation -- should it reach his desk — so House Speaker Robert DeLeo feels little pressure to take a strong stand. Changing their minds will require mobilizing support all across Massachusetts. More
WHO BENEFITS FROM THE “BOOMING ECONOMY”?
Buoyed by soaring corporate profits and stock prices, the richest Americans have reached new and dazzling heights of prosperity… But a great many Americans are not doing nearly as well as the nation’s super-wealthy. That 40 percent of the wealth, in fact, constitutes twice the total wealth held by the bottom 90 percent of the American public (about 294,000,000 people). On May 17, 2018, the United Way released a study indicating that nearly half of American households could not afford basics like food, housing, and healthcare. Many of the wage earners in these households were child care workers, home health aides, office assistants, and store clerks―people who had low-paying jobs and minuscule (if any) savings. Furthermore, according to U.S. government statistics, some 41 million Americans live in poverty. Of these, over 5 million reportedly live on $4 a day or less―at least as long as they continue living. Life expectancy in some parts of the United States, for instance in Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, is lower than in Bangladesh. More
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