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[US Foreign Policy] POTUS Ends SK Military Exercises in Exchange for a Handshake pg 87

monikermoniker Registered User regular
edited June 2018 in Debate and/or Discourse
A new thread to discuss what amounts to our supposed policies to foreign nations.

Previously on The State Department:
We used to have a Secretary, but he left with hard feelings about DC. Eventually the Senate will likely confirm Secretary Pompeo. Probably.

Also: New National Security Advisor, Ambassador Bolton, who advises that the nation is secure by starting wars for fun and profit.

Also, also: Tarriffs! Because shooting wars aren't the only kind.

What will happen next? Events, dear boy, events.

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Posts

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    China has announced its retaliatory tariffs, btw.

  • ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User, Moderator mod
    Since it came in just under the wire before the last thread hit 100:

    NYT article on Bolton replacing McMaster

    WaPo article on same

  • KetBraKetBra Dressed Ridiculously Registered User regular
    Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like week ago

    KGMvDLc.jpg?1
  • ViskodViskod Registered User regular
    John Bolton as our NSA chief just puts us one step closer to not being able to tell the difference between hyperbolic statements about the Trump administration and legitimate concerns.

  • TaramoorTaramoor Storyteller Registered User regular
    KetBra wrote: »
    Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like week ago

    You mean Tuesday?

    nUzGRMY.gif
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    @TaramoorPlays
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  • ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User, Moderator mod
    KetBra wrote: »
    Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like week ago

    Let's be fair, there aren't really plans in this administration as much as series of autonomic lurches and jerks.

  • NSDFRandNSDFRand FloridaRegistered User regular
    While I'm glad to see Tillerson out (even though I agree with some of the things he did such as his uncensored opinion of the current POTUS and declaration in support of the UK against Russia), I do not like that McMaster is being pushed out. Generally it's good if the SecState, the National Security Adviser, and the POTUS have a good, strong relationship because it means other states we interact with can assume that our officials speak for the POTUS. That doesn't mean they must be lock step and both SecState and NSA should be able to provide dissenting POVs without worrying about job security. If this continues, and IIRC correctly that someone else posted it first in the previous thread and I agree with them, that attention may turn towards Mattis due to his disagreement with POTUS.

  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    KetBra wrote: »
    Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like week ago

    Let's be fair, there aren't really plans in this administration as much as series of autonomic lurches and jerks.

    So, you're saying they're zombies?

    You're muckin' with a G!

    Do not engage the Watermelons.
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    Odds of a new war just skyrocketed

  • KetBraKetBra Dressed Ridiculously Registered User regular
    Taramoor wrote: »
    KetBra wrote: »
    Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like week ago

    You mean Tuesday?

    look, it feels like a year, or a minute, can't tell anymore

    KGMvDLc.jpg?1
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    KetBra wrote: »
    Taramoor wrote: »
    KetBra wrote: »
    Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like week ago

    You mean Tuesday?

    look, it feels like a year, or a minute, can't tell anymore
    "Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like a week ago?"
    "That was the post above yours."
    "FUCK."
    Fencingsax wrote: »
    China has announced its retaliatory tariffs, btw.
    What are these retaliatory tariffs? News link?

  • UnknownUnknown
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  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    China really has the ability to hurt the USA when it comes to agriculture given their imports from the USA.

  • UnknownUnknown
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  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    edited March 2018
    Zibblsnrt wrote: »
    Since it came in just under the wire before the last thread hit 100:

    NYT article on Bolton replacing McMaster

    WaPo article on same

    Well, I was getting tired of the US only being in 1 war. It's time to return to the glory days.

    Betting pool guidlines:
    - most expected is North Korean invasion so the payout is pretty low
    - Iran is the dark horse invasion most people have forgotten about but it's got good odds
    - Syria for the plausible invasion no one sees coming
    - Canada for the long-shot hail mary you throw $5 at and treat it like the lottery
    - Mexico for the lols

    shryke on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Oghulk wrote: »
    The Chinese love our fucking corn. They import a lot of it.

    A trade war will gooo great
    I've been told they're easy to win though!

  • UnknownUnknown
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  • RingoRingo He/Him a distinct lack of substanceRegistered User regular
    Henroid wrote: »
    Oghulk wrote: »
    The Chinese love our fucking corn. They import a lot of it.

    A trade war will gooo great
    I've been told they're easy to win though!

    Profit off of

    easy to profit off of

  • MolotovCockatooMolotovCockatoo Registered User regular
    Does Bolton need to be confirmed by the senate?

    Poorochondriac wrote: »
    Killjoy wrote: »
    No jeez Orik why do you assume the worst about people?

    Because he moderates an internet forum

    http://lexiconmegatherium.tumblr.com/
  • GONG-00GONG-00 Registered User regular
    MolotovCockatoo wrote: »
    Does Bolton need to be confirmed by the senate?

    No.

    “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
    Law and Order ≠ Justice
    xu257gunns6e.png
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    MolotovCockatoo wrote: »
    Does Bolton need to be confirmed by the senate?

    Nope

  • UnknownUnknown
    This content has been removed.

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    MolotovCockatoo wrote: »
    Does Bolton need to be confirmed by the senate?

    No he's in a position that doesn't require confirmation I believe.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • RingoRingo He/Him a distinct lack of substanceRegistered User regular
    Oghulk wrote: »
    Nope!

    Hey remember how people said at least Trump wasn't a war hawk like Hillary?

    Hahahahaha

    Surely Congress will reign in ou-

    I actually thought I could get farther into that sentence without getting sad

  • SmurphSmurph Registered User regular
    The big mac daddy issue with Chinese trade is going to be plastics. US or even North American production and expertise cannot match Chinese, they are decades apart. Their whole economy was built on plastic and they have tech and infrastructure that nobody else it close to right now. If Trump reacts to their tariffs with tariffs on plastics, a lot of US businesses are going to be screwed when they find out that their parts are going to cost 10x as much to be made in the US.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Oghulk wrote: »
    The Chinese love our fucking corn. They import a lot of it.

    A trade war will gooo great

    Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Terry Branstead's office when he heard about these tariffs being imposed...

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    Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
  • hippofanthippofant ティンク Registered User regular
    edited March 2018
    Smurph wrote: »
    The big mac daddy issue with Chinese trade is going to be plastics. US or even North American production and expertise cannot match Chinese, they are decades apart. Their whole economy was built on plastic and they have tech and infrastructure that nobody else it close to right now. If Trump reacts to their tariffs with tariffs on plastics, a lot of US businesses are going to be screwed when they find out that their parts are going to cost 10x as much to be made in the US.

    Huh. That wasn't what I was thinking about in the post I made in the last thread - I have a tech bias due to my background - but that's another great example. China did a really good job of boxing out American interests in their technological development, and have shepherded more than a few areas of advantage for themselves. They had a plan to challenge the US' economic dominance, which started with technology and expertise, and they executed well. (Also education. Sending a lot of Chinese students abroad to gain experience and then bringing them back.)

    hippofant on
  • Edith UpwardsEdith Upwards Registered User regular
    KetBra wrote: »
    Remember how there were 'no plans' to replace McMaster like week ago

    Trump just read the headline of Bolton's horrible, gorhnb op ed where he says a first strike on North Korea is totally okay.

    Anyway, Sam Seder has this to say. He is a journalist who occasionally appears on msnbc.

  • AbacusAbacus Registered User regular
    Seems like another example of "madman theory" aka getting Bolton to play bad cop on the NK negotiations. And Bolton seemed all too willing to kiss ass, while that's concerning, Graham has been kissing ass to get his Iran War since a while ago and Trump hasn't bitten.

    Also, rumor is that the author of the "Do not congratulate Putin" leak was McMaster.




    Kaitlan Collins is a CNN reporter.

  • AbacusAbacus Registered User regular
    Also, Bolton and NK in specific have, let's say, a history:
    North Korea bans Bolton from talks

    By - The Washington Times - Monday, August 4, 2003
    SEOUL — Pyongyang, calling a senior American official “human scum” for criticizing North Korea’s leader, banned him from U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons.

    North Korea said that it won’t deal with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton because he described communist leader Kim Jong Il as a “tyrannical dictator” and said “life is a hellish nightmare” for many North Koreans.

    Mr. Bolton made the remarks during a visit to South Korea last week.

    “Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks,” said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

    “We have decided not to consider him as an official of the U.S. administration any longer nor to deal with him,” the unidentified spokesman said.

  • hippofanthippofant ティンク Registered User regular
    edited March 2018
    TryCatcher wrote: »
    Seems like another example of "madman theory" aka getting Bolton to play bad cop on the NK negotiations. And Bolton seemed all too willing to kiss ass, while that's concerning, Graham has been kissing ass to get his Iran War since a while ago and Trump hasn't bitten.

    Also, rumor is that the author of the "Do not congratulate Putin" leak was McMaster.

    Lol. 3-star US Army general was gruff and not deferential? You don't saayyyyyy.... Unimaginable!

    hippofant on
  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    TryCatcher wrote: »
    Also, Bolton and NK in specific have, let's say, a history:
    North Korea bans Bolton from talks

    By - The Washington Times - Monday, August 4, 2003
    SEOUL — Pyongyang, calling a senior American official “human scum” for criticizing North Korea’s leader, banned him from U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons.

    North Korea said that it won’t deal with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton because he described communist leader Kim Jong Il as a “tyrannical dictator” and said “life is a hellish nightmare” for many North Koreans.

    Mr. Bolton made the remarks during a visit to South Korea last week.

    “Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks,” said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

    “We have decided not to consider him as an official of the U.S. administration any longer nor to deal with him,” the unidentified spokesman said.

    Did America just kick itself out of the talks? That's what it looks like.

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    That was a decade and a half ago

  • knitdanknitdan Registered User regular
    You think they’ve forgotten?

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • ShortyShorty touching the meat Intergalactic Cool CourtRegistered User regular
    it's really weird that he would choose the worst possible moment to be correct about a single goddamn thing

  • ShortyShorty touching the meat Intergalactic Cool CourtRegistered User regular
    edited March 2018
    it's incredible to me that, after stuff like that, Bolton and people exactly like him* still get treated with anything other than dismissive contempt by any newspaper editor

    *
    William Krystol is the main one here but you can sub in literally any conservative pundit/intellectual/policy maker, since they're all exactly as incompetent

    Shorty on
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    Harry Dresden wrote: »
    TryCatcher wrote: »
    Also, Bolton and NK in specific have, let's say, a history:
    North Korea bans Bolton from talks

    By - The Washington Times - Monday, August 4, 2003
    SEOUL — Pyongyang, calling a senior American official “human scum” for criticizing North Korea’s leader, banned him from U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons.

    North Korea said that it won’t deal with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton because he described communist leader Kim Jong Il as a “tyrannical dictator” and said “life is a hellish nightmare” for many North Koreans.

    Mr. Bolton made the remarks during a visit to South Korea last week.

    “Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks,” said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

    “We have decided not to consider him as an official of the U.S. administration any longer nor to deal with him,” the unidentified spokesman said.

    Did America just kick itself out of the talks? That's what it looks like.
    To be honest, with the kind of people that are still there, I'm not sure that keeping the US out of the talks isn't a good idea to begin with.
    Shorty wrote: »
    it's incredible to me that, after stuff like that, Bolton and people exactly like him* still get treated with anything other than dismissive contempt by any newspaper editor

    *
    William Krystol is the main one here but you can sub in literally any conservative pundit/intellectual/policy maker, since they're all exactly as incompetent

    I mean, Kissinger was still a regular guest in these kinds of circuits, despite being a literal War Criminal. And someone double check to see if Ollie North was a CNN panelist as well

    steam_sig.png
  • TNTrooperTNTrooper Registered User regular
    Spoit wrote: »
    Harry Dresden wrote: »
    TryCatcher wrote: »
    Also, Bolton and NK in specific have, let's say, a history:
    North Korea bans Bolton from talks

    By - The Washington Times - Monday, August 4, 2003
    SEOUL — Pyongyang, calling a senior American official “human scum” for criticizing North Korea’s leader, banned him from U.S.-proposed multilateral talks on its suspected development of nuclear weapons.

    North Korea said that it won’t deal with U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton because he described communist leader Kim Jong Il as a “tyrannical dictator” and said “life is a hellish nightmare” for many North Koreans.

    Mr. Bolton made the remarks during a visit to South Korea last week.

    “Such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks,” said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

    “We have decided not to consider him as an official of the U.S. administration any longer nor to deal with him,” the unidentified spokesman said.

    Did America just kick itself out of the talks? That's what it looks like.
    To be honest, with the kind of people that are still there, I'm not sure that keeping the US out of the talks isn't a good idea to begin with.
    Shorty wrote: »
    it's incredible to me that, after stuff like that, Bolton and people exactly like him* still get treated with anything other than dismissive contempt by any newspaper editor

    *
    William Krystol is the main one here but you can sub in literally any conservative pundit/intellectual/policy maker, since they're all exactly as incompetent

    I mean, Kissinger was still a regular guest in these kinds of circuits, despite being a literal War Criminal. And someone double check to see if Ollie North was a CNN panelist as well

    Ollie North is a Fox News talking head.

    steam_sig.png
  • ViskodViskod Registered User regular
    So the DOJ announcement today wasn't about Russia unfortunately, it was about Iranian hackers and Iranian state backed hacking of the US.

    Which, will be all the excuse Trump needs to pull out of the Iran deal, and all the excuse John Bolton will need to urge Trump to go to war with Iran.

  • BlackDragon480BlackDragon480 Bluster Kerfuffle Master of Windy ImportRegistered User regular
    Viskod wrote: »
    So the DOJ announcement today wasn't about Russia unfortunately, it was about Iranian hackers and Iranian state backed hacking of the US.

    Which, will be all the excuse Trump needs to pull out of the Iran deal, and all the excuse John Bolton will need to urge Trump to go to war with Iran.

    Oh, you mean the process they started investing in after the US and Israel hit them with Stuxnet?

    No matter where you go...there you are.
    ~ Buckaroo Banzai
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