^^^I agree with this.
The Israeli government has lost an immense amount of goodwill to their country by the way that they have behaved over the last decade or so. High powered military technology and over the top punishment dealt out to poor people armed with little more than stones inspires contempt of bullies and sympathy for the bullied…
NK official statement is interesting to read.
Here is an official translation of a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency of North Korea on Wednesday.
Kim Kye Gwan, the first vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK, made public the following press statement on Wednesday:
Kim Jong Un, the chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, made a strategic decision to put an end to the unpleasant steps for peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the world.
In response to the noble intention of Chairman Kim Jong Un, President Trump stated his position for terminating the historically deep-rooted hostility and improving the relations between DPRK and the U.S.
I appreciated the position positively with an expectation that upcoming DPRK-U.S. summit would be a big step forward for catalyzing detente on the Korean peninsula and building a great future.
But now prior to the DPRK-U.S. summit, unbridled remarks provoking the other side of dialogue are recklessly made in the U.S. and I am totally disappointed as these constitute extremely unjust behavior.
High-ranking officials of the White House and the Department of State including Bolton, White House national security adviser, are letting loose the assertions of so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment, “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization,” “total decommissioning of nuclear weapons, missiles and biochemical weapons” etc. while talking about formula of “abandoning nuclear weapons first, compensating afterwards.”
This is not an expression of intention to address the issue through dialogue. It is essentially a manifestation of awfully sinister move to impose on our dignified state the destiny of Libya or Iraq which had been collapsed due to yielding the whole of their countries to big powers.
I cannot suppress indignation at such moves of the U.S., and harbor doubt about the U.S. sincerity for improved DPRK-U.S. relations through sound dialogue and negotiations.
World knows too well that our country is neither Libya nor Iraq which have met miserable fate.
It is absolutely absurd to dare compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya which had been at the initial state of nuclear development.
We shed light on the quality of Bolton already in the past, and we do not hide our feelings of repugnance towards him.
If the Trump administration fails to recall the lessons learned from the past when the DPRK-U.S. talks had to undergo twists and setbacks owing to the likes of Bolton and turns its ear to the advice of quasi-”patriots” who insist on Libya mode and the like, prospects of upcoming DPRK-U.S. summit and overall DPRK-U.S. relations will be crystal clear.
We have already stated our intention of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and made clear on several occasions that precondition for denuclearization is to put an end to anti-DPRK hostile policy and nuclear threats and blackmail of the United States.
But now, the U.S. is miscalculating the magnanimity and broad-minded initiatives of the DPRK as signs of weakness and trying to embellish and advertise as if these are the product of its sanctions and pressure.
The U.S. is trumpeting as if it would offer economic compensation and benefit in case we abandon nuke. But we have never had any expectation of U.S. support in carrying out our economic construction and will not at all make such a deal in future, too.
It is a ridiculous comedy to see that the Trump administration, claiming to take a different road from the previous administrations, still clings to the outdated policy on the DPRK - a policy pursured by previous administrations at the same time when the DPRK was at the stage of nuclear development.
If President Trump follows in the footsteps of his predecessors, he will be recorded as more tragic and unsuccessful president than his predecessors, far from his initial ambition to make unprecedented success.
If the Trump administration takes an approach to the DPRK-U.S. summit with sincerity for improved DPRK-U.S. relations, it will receive a deserved response from us. However, if the U.S. is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue and cannot but reconsider our proceeding to the DPRK-U.S. summit.
Why does Korean to English translation allways make the North Koreans sound crazy. Is it intentional or is it a hard language to translate. You don’t really see this with other countries.
I followed this up on wiki but seems to have all the bits.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, South Africa pursued research into weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear,[2] biological, and chemical weapons. Six nuclear weapons were assembled.[3] Before the anticipated changeover to a majority-elected African National Congress-led government in the 1990s, the South African government dismantled all of its nuclear weapons, the first state in the world which voluntarily gave up all nuclear arms it had developed itself.
The country has been a signatory of the Biological Weapons Convention since 1975, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons since 1991, and the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1995.
Bait and switch is the North Korean’s favourite tactic. doesn’t matter what rubbish reason they’re spouting for pulling out of the talks, they were never going to go anyway. Clinton and Bush went though the same thing. they make it looks like they’re giving concessions, then pull back once the "US announces a their side of the deal and alternateley claim victory or viale betrayal, while everyone else in the world rolls their eyes. They’ve done it with every president, Trump is no different in this department, and the failure of the talks aren’t actually his fault (and yes, this is me saying that!), though he will look sillier than the other presidents did because they were smart enough not to talk it up too much so early.
Bolton is a murderous warmongering lunatic, but he’s too focused on invading Iran to give much of a ■■■■ about North Korea.
Nothing to see here either:
You need to remove that tin foil hat. Its not healthy.
I was under the impression that Bolton had a history of aggressive warlike ■■■■■ given towards NK.
Yeah, but most of that was BEFORE they got working nukes. He’s a much bigger advocate of sanctions now…
So you’re PRO Hamas then.
Ah I misunderstood, thank you. I had a feeling I should have read your last sentence as if there was a “now” on the end.
And anti Semitic
And a socialist
The Office of Goverment Ethics (OGE) has referred Trump’s 2017 and 2018 financial disclosure statements to the Department of Justice, suggesting that the addition of the debt to Michael Cohen on the ‘18 statement makes the ‘17 disclosure potentially of interest to any ongoing inquiries.
Ronan Farrow is fast becoming one of my favorite journalists. This is another incredibly well researched article:
I read an article in tabletmag, which is a Jewish journalism outlet, titled “13 inconvenient truths about what has been happening in Gaza”. Though I have little ability to judge, the Middle East being an opaque mess to me, it felt balanced and was certainly interesting. It was recommended by a different journalist I follow. It talked about: how the protests were part of an ongoing series adapted to capitalise on the publicity surrounding the Embassy move as opposed to being a response to said move alone; how the Israeli blockade is inconsistent and more draconian than it needs to be to keep Israel safe, thus to a degree self-defeating; of the problem of Hamas and how it maintains control, how it helps to impoverish and also use its own people; how absolutist opposing narratives and disinformation flourished; the unarmed protestors hoodwinked into charging the fences, the armed Hamas contingent; the difficulty with setting up a genuine impartial inquiry into the actions of various parties etc. Left you with the idea of the everyday Palestinian citizen, the ones who don’t want to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, just being stuck with nowhere to go.
Would funny if it wasn’t probably so close to the truth.
Nothing to see here either:
Bringing peace to the Middle East, as he and Ivanks did in opening the Embassy in Jerusalem.