And the Rest of It

Well, this is something of a surprise:

President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came to an abrupt and early end without a deal between the two countries on Thursday. During a press conference after talks concluded in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, Trump described them as a “very productive time.” 

However, the president also said that he “felt that it wasn’t a good thing to be signing” an agreement.

“It was … a very interesting two days, and I think, actually, it was a very productive two days,” Trump said. “But sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.”

The entire thing was not productive but Trump was right - the time to walk was then. 

There is no reason to believe that Kim would ever surrender his nuclear or other military ambitions, as is evidenced by the sites still producing weapons. A communist dictator does not surrender his power so willingly.

The only way for North Korea to thrive, as Trump puts it, is to be a nation free from the Kim regime and allowed to use its own resources:

For sure, North Korea could have a brighter future.

“Using the words ‘great economic power’ is a Trumpian exaggeration, but a useful one,” said William Brown, a North Korea economy expert and former CIA analyst. “The truth is North Korea quite easily could become a prosperous country, growing faster than any of its neighbors and catching up with them in terms of income per capita. It has what it takes.”

Brown cited North Korea’s strong human capital, low wages and high levels of verbal and math literacy. He also noted it has a potential bonanza of natural resources such as lead, zinc, rare earths, coal, iron ore and hydropower. He agreed with Trump about location — saying North Korea sits “between four big economies that are far richer but increasingly moribund.”

But girding against a foreign threat is a time-tested justification for giving a leader extraordinary powers and limiting individual freedoms, like travel and expression. Opening up to foreign capital and bringing his country in line with international financial standards means giving up a great deal of control.

Control, for Kim, is the most important commodity of all.

South Korea does  not seem too distressed by this failed summit, as though it almost expected it:

South Korea described the breakdown of nuclear talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday as unfortunate, but expressed hope that the two countries can continue an active dialogue.

The collapse of the Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam is a setback for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, whose desire for closer relations between the Koreas hinges on a nuclear breakthrough between the U.S. and North Korea. Moon had planned to announce new proposals for inter-Korean engagement, possibly including economic co-operation, in a ceremony Friday marking the 100th anniversary of a 1919 uprising by Koreans against Japanese colonial rule.

Moon has been held back in his drive for inter-Korean engagement by tough U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea which prohibit many kinds of economic ties.

Trump told reporters in Hanoi that his summit with Kim collapsed after North Korea demanded a full removal of the sanctions in return for limited disarmament steps. Washington sees economic pressure as its main leverage with the North.

No Kaesong Village, I guess.


(Kamsahamnida)




Years ago, people claimed that opening up China as a market would democratise it.

Does it look democratised to you?:

Detectives have begun investigating whether some of the thousands of angry online texts Chemi Lhamo received after being elected as a University of Toronto student-union president constitute criminal threats, Toronto police confirmed Wednesday.

The Internet barrage — and a petition signed by 11,000 people demanding Lhamo be removed from the position — was one of two incidents at Ontario universities this month that have raised the spectre of Chinese government interference on Canadian campuses.

Muslim and Tibetan student groups have called on the federal government to investigate whether such incursions did occur. China’s embassy in Ottawa has denied playing a part in either episode.

Meanwhile, Lhamo said university police have asked her to develop a safety plan in the wake of the online deluge, which would include letting them know where she is on campus hour by hour.

Russia tells its Syrian migrants to take a hike:

In pre-war Syria, Safaa Al-Kurdi sold wedding dresses. Fed up with the conflict, the mother-of-three fled Damascus four years ago and sought asylum in Moscow. Now, Russia is saying she must go home.

Safaa is one of thousands of Syrian refugees that Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, is urging to return. Large parts of Syria are safe, Russian officials say, and there is no reason for asylum seekers like Safaa, 55, to remain.

A mass grave, long forgotten, has been unearthed in Belarus:

Soldiers in Belarus have unearthed the bones of hundreds of people shot during the Second World War from a mass grave discovered at the site of a ghetto where Jews lived under the Nazis.

The grave was uncovered by chance last month on a construction site in a residential area in the centre of Brest, near the Polish border. The remains were discovered when builders began to lay the foundations for an apartment block.

Soldiers wearing white masks on Tuesday sifted through the site with spades, trowels and their gloved hands to collect the bones. They also found items such as leather shoes that had not rotted.

Dmitry Kaminsky, a soldier leading the unit, said they had exhumed 730 bodies so far, but could not be sure how many more would be found.

It's just money:

The purchase of used Australian jets to boost Canada’s current fleet of fighter planes could cost taxpayers more than $1 billion, a figure 22-per-cent higher than the Department of National Defence is claiming, according to a new report from parliament’s financial watchdog.

Also:

The U.S. Department of Commerce says it is looking into allegations that some fabricated structural steel products from Canada, China and Mexico are sold in the U.S. at prices well below their fair value.

In addition to the so-called dumping allegations, the department says it will also investigate whether producers in the three countries are receiving unfair government subsidies in the form of tax credits, grants and loans, and export insurance.

The Commerce Department says the investigations into fabricated structural steel products were initiated based on petitions from the American Institute of Steel Construction.

The AISC alleges that Canada and Mexico are dumping some steel products into the U.S. at a discount of as much as 30 per cent, while China's dumping margin is alleged to be as much as 222 per cent.

If the investigation finds the allegations are valid, it could result in duties and tariffs of that size being put on those products from those countries.

Now schools will have to teach subjects kids can use:

An Ontario court dismissed a challenge Thursday from elementary teachers and a civil liberties group over the Progressive Conservative government's repeal of a modernized sex-ed curriculum.

The challenge from the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association argued that changes made by the government infringed teachers' freedom of expression and put students at risk by failing to be inclusive.

The Tories repealed a 2015 curriculum from the previous Liberal government that included lessons warning about online bullying and sexting, as well as parts addressing same-sex relationships and gender identity.

A Divisional Court ruling released Thursday said that it is the role of elected officials, not the courts, to make legislation and policy decisions.