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Home Front: Politix

Melania and White House aides called Ivanka and Jared 'the interns'

2021-10-03

[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham's new book is packed with condemnations of power couple Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump — and claims they meddled and muddied the early response to the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
pandemic.
From the story content, it sounds like bitchiness on the part of the author.

She writes in her new tell-all book that Kushner's 'arrogance and presumption had grown over the years, and he threw his power about with absolutely no shame.'
On the other hand, there's that Abraham Accords thing, just off the top of my head.
'He was Rasputin in a slim-fitting suit,' she writes of Trump's son-in-law, comparing him to the mystical and influential advisor to Czar Nicholas II of Russia before the 1917 revolution.
Hypnotizing the tsarina, causing the hemophiliac little prince to stop bleeding, that sort of thing. Killing him wasn't easy, and it only made him mad.
Grisham, a longtime Trump aide who later served as chief of staff to former first lady Melania Trump, writes that Kushner often took over meetings — even when Vice President Mike Pence was there — as the 'real' chief of staff.
"Jared, I'm busy with correcting Pelosi's spelling. How about going down there and stopping that meeting from turning into a clusterfornication?"
"Sure. What's the subject?"
"Peace in the Middle East."
"Okay. I can't make it come out any worse than John Kerry did, can I?"
"Heh heh. Good one!"

But she and Melania Trump also sometimes dissed Javanka as 'the interns' for their tendency to jump into all manner of subjects in the White House. 'When I worked for the first lady in the East Wing, we had all come to call Jared and Ivanka "the interns" because they represented in our minds obnoxious, entitled know-it-alls,' writes Grisham in her new book, I'll Take Your Questions Now, with her musings on Javanka excerpted in Politico.
Is it just me, or does she sound like a "obnoxious, entitled know-it-all?"
Their involvement became problematic in the early days of the pandemic, as the White House struggled to come up with a policy and a communications response. 'Mrs. Trump found that nickname amusing and occasionally used it herself. Now, during one of the most important crises to hit the country in a century, the interns were behaving true to form,' she writes.
Ahah! Having ideas, were they? Tusk tusk, as the elephant once said.
'It was another example of Jared sticking his nose into things that weren’t his expertise.'
As far as I know, no one had expertise in COVID except the Chinese at that time.
One clash came in March, after the World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Top aides were debating a partial travel ban — and whether Trump should address the nation to convey the seriousness of the pandemic. Grisham invited herself to one of the meetings as, she writes, 'just "happened" all the time.'
So lemme get this straight: Jared and Ivanka weren't supposed to go, but the first lady's social secretary was?
Dr. Anthony Fauci

...American epidemiologist with rotating opinions, warnings about the unlikely, and reassurances that if you wear a mask you won't get COVID, as long as you're wearing multiple masks, assuming wearing a mask is necessary in the first place...
and Dr. Deborah Birx were there, and advisors pitched closing the nation's borders to travelers from Europe. Another topic was whether Trump should speak to the nation amid growing alarm.
Okay. That's the setup.
'In the middle of all the discussion, Ivanka kept chiming in, "But I think there should probably be an address to the nation tonight." I let that pass because in my mind there was no way we could pull one off with no speech prepared, no communications strategy, no consensus on anything we had just started discussing, and only a few hours’ notice,' writes Grisham. 'We did a lot of random things in Trump World, but that just seemed too crazy even for us.'
Trump could wing it, and shutting down the borders is a big thing, outside of Democrat World.
Aides clashed over whether the nation should close borders (although the initial policy would take hits for being inconsistent). 'Finally, Ivanka turned to her most powerful ally besides her father. "Jared, don’t you agree?" Any guesses as to what Jared replied?' Grisham writes.

"I agree, honey. Bite my ass, Grisham. And ditch the telephone. The Washington Post is closed this time of night."
She had her own doubts about a presidential address
Who did? Grisham or Ivanka?
— but admits she didn't share them at the time. 'In my mind I kept saying, "This is not a reality TV show.
Jab at Trump there. Missed him by that much.
We cannot address the nation with a bunch of mumbo jumbo just so he looks presidential. That’s not how this works,' she wrote.
No. It wasn't a reality teevee show. The lives of millions were on the line. Or so we thought at the time.
And Ivanka, the women’s rights / small-business / crisis communications / and now Covid expert, just kept repeating, "There should be an address from the Oval."

Like she actually believed it or something.
Trump told aides to 'figure out what to do,' according to Grisham. That led to more interventions by the president's daughter, writes Grisham. Both Jared and Ivanka served as unpaid senior advisors to the president. 'Ivanka was also doing her "my father" wants this and "my father" thinks that routine, making it impossible for staff members to argue a contrary view,' she wrote.
Maybe because they had already discussed it with him before arriving at the meeting? When I was a chief of staff that's the way we did it, if it wasn't on a subject we'd already argued to death and come to an agreement.
She was 'outraged' by Kushner's behavior because 'he was not an expert' on borders, the economy, or health consequences of the moves Trump would announce.
He seemed to be on the Middle East. I understand he's a quick study. And I'll betcha he was way more of an expert on borders than the first lady's social secretary.
'After he wrote the speech, there was no time for fact-checking, vetting, or notifying friends and allies on the Hill or abroad. There was hardly any time for the president to read it and make changes to it. It was a total clusterf*** from start to finish because Ivanka and her crew wanted her father to be on TV.'

There's always that danger when you have to do things on short notice. If Roosevelt had waited for his staffniks to work over his December 7th, 1941, speech they'd still be arguing, Roosevelt would be dead, and the nation left of the Mississippi would be speaking Japanese. Und der rrright zide vould be shpeaking Cherman!
'And of course the speech that night contained a number of misstatements and sloppy wording,' she wrote. But when Trump's speech and delivery led to some confusion and required cleanup, it didn't weight down the power couple. 'No, they were in the dining room off of the Oval Office, Trump’s usual hangout, congratulating themselves and telling the president how awesome he was.'
Maybe they were expressing their opinions?
Grisham quit the White House after the Capitol riot Jan. 6th.
That was... just just two weeks before Biden's inauguration, right?
Neither Ivanka Trump nor Jared Kushner have commented on the book, although former President Trump trashed it in a statement that went after Grisham's personal life (she previously dated former Trump White House aide Max Miller).

It would have been unlike Trump not to swat at an annoying insect.
'Stephanie didn't have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning. She became very angry and bitter after her break up and as time went on she was seldom relied upon, or even thought about. She had big problems and we felt that she should work out those problems for herself. Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things,' Trump said in a statement through his spokeswoman.
So Max Miller broke her widdle heart and she took her troubles to work with her?
The ex-press secretary also recalled how Trump insisted his penis was not shaped like a toadstool - responding to comments made by porn star Stormy Daniels.
Easy enough to prove, but that would have led to a really long chapter titled "The President Drops His Drawers." Right or wrong, he would lose..
Daniels wrote in a 2018 book on her affair with the former president: 'I lay there, annoyed that I was getting f***ed by a guy with Yeti pubes and a d*** like the mushroom character in Mario Kart.'
Well, that certainly sounds tasteful. Or tasty, if you're Stormy Daniels, represented by a Creepy Porn Lawyer©.
Trump, upon hearing the allegation, called his press secretary from Air Force one to assure her his penis was neither small nor shaped like a toadstool, Grisham said.
"Boss," the press secretary replied, "you're trying to make me squirt coffee come out my nose, aren't you?"
Grisham also wrote that the former president once asked her former boyfriend, Miller, if she was good in bed.
"No. Why do you ask, boss?"
"I just noticed how fond she is of mushrooms and toadstools!"
The Daniels affair, Grisham wrote, 'unleashed' Melania's vengeance as she began trying to contradict her husband in public.
I'm sure her press secretary would be the first person my wife would tell if it was she and it was I...
The first lady told Grisham she didn't believe her husband's denials.

"Well, it is kinda stubby, and the head's twice the size of the rest of it... Maybe more like an umbrella, only without the curvy handle?"
When Grisham drafted a tweet requesting privacy at the time of the affair, saying that Melania would focus on being a first lady, wife and mother, the first lady asked Grisham to scrub the tweet of the word 'wife.'
"What should I call it?"
"I don't know! Rearrange the furniture or something! An idea will come to you!"
Trump continued the womanizing behavior he was known for as a brash Manhattan real estate tycoon at the White House, Grisham revealed, writing that he repeatedly invited a young press aide to his Air Force One cabin - one time to look at her behind.
Trump is my age., which ain't young. I can sympathize with him a lot more than I can with a woman who tells tales, true or not, out of school.
'A couple of times I came close to telling Mrs. Trump about the president's behavior. I thought that if she would say one little word to him about it, she could make it stop. But I could never bring myself to say anything,' Grisham wrote.

She could have titled her book "The Cowardly Cow."
Ultimately, she was too 'chickens***' to tell the then-first lady or 'maybe it wasn't my place or any of my business,' she noted.
Didn't want to lose her job before she was absolutely sure it was gone.
And she reveals Melania Trump may still not know about the former president's behavior.
"And why not?"
"Moo!"
Grisham revealed in her book that the former president took 'an unusual interest in a young, highly attractive press wrangler on my team.'
There are lots of girls I find uncommonly pretty. Looking isn't the same as touching. If you want touching, look in Delaware at the other end of the state from where I live.
She details what she called inappropriate behavior by Trump and noted she tried to protect the staffer, who she doesn't name.
Monica?
Grisham writes Trump would tell her to put the staffer 'on TV. Keep her happy, promote her.'
Implying it was Kayleigh McEnany, who should sue her for libel.
Trump, a former reality TV star, consider being on TV a great compliment and hired some of his staff and lawyers based on their appearances on Fox News. Grisham also reveals that on one Air Force One trip Trump asked that the staffer be brought to his cabin, saying: 'Let's bring her up here and look at her ass.' She said after that she tried to keep the staffer off trips: 'I needed to protect her and, frankly, the president as well.'
Never having seen either or both of Ms McEnany's buttocks, I couldn't say, but I can't think of a wittier and more solidly grounded press secretary. Certainly not Ms Grisham.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Kim Jong Un's nephew Kim Han-sol reportedly taken in by CIA after dad's murder

2020-11-24

[NYPOST] Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
’s nephew was taken into protective custody by the CIA just days after his dad was murdered with a nerve agent, according to a report. Kim Han-sol, 25, sought the help of a Free Joseon, a group of "freedom fighters" aiming to bring down Un’s "evil" North Korea

...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
n dictatorship, just days after his father was assassinated at a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur in 2017, the group told the New Yorker.

Han-sol was considered by many to be the rightful heir of the former Great Leader, his grandfather Kim Jong Il, and capturing him dead or alive would be a "zero-sum game," the group told the magazine.

Free Joseon’s New York-based leader Adrian Hong also said he had "never met a kid with so much money," because Han-sol’s father — the estranged half-brother of the Hermit Kingdom’s despot — had "stashed away a lot of cash during his life."

Han-sol fled Macau with his mother and teenage sister after noticing that their police guard disappeared after the murder of his father, the report said.

The family then spent a full day in an airport lounge in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, with a Free Joseon agent who tried to negotiate with at least three countries to take them in.

Link

-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

American diplomats in Cuba may have been exposed to pesticides, not 'sonic weapons'

2019-09-22

[LI] Legal Insurrection readers may recall that in 2017, after several American diplomats developed odd neurological problems that were theorized to be caused by sonic attacks, President Donald Trump ordered all non-essential personnel out of Cuba, then sent 15 Cuban diplomats packing.

Subsequently, in May of 2018, American diplomats in China developed similar symptoms.

Now, a new study proposes that the affected employees may have been exposed to a pesticide that caused their health effects.

The mysterious high-pitched buzzing sound associated with the so-called "sonic attacks" on nearly 40 U.S. and Canadian diplomats living in Cuba may have been caused by a neurotoxic agent used to kill mosquitoes, a new study commissioned by the Canadian government claims.

...There have been various theories floated ‐ everything from crickets to microwave weapons ‐ as to the cause of the headaches, dizziness and other concussion-like symptoms.

Global Affairs Canada commissioned a clinical study to get to the bottom of the case.

"The working hypothesis actually came only after we had most of the results," Alon Friedman, the study’s lead author, told Canada’s CBC News.

The suite of symptoms was described as the "Havana syndrome" and included headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, ~~shriveling nuts which soon fell off~~, and tinnitus.

Canadian diplomats were affected by similar reactions to US counterparts ‐ though the study noted that the symptoms of the Canadians were more gradual than the "acute, directional... auditory stimulus" in some of the US cases.

The study notes that tests carried out on 28 participants ‐ seven of whom were tested both before and after being posted to Havana ‐ support a diagnosis of brain injury acquired by diplomats and their families while in Cuba.

The patterns of brain injury "all raise the hypothesis of recurrent, low-dose exposure to neurotoxins", the report said.

Specifically, the results were "highly suggestive" of something called cholinesterase inhibitor intoxication.

Cholinesterase is an important enzyme in the human nervous system, and blocking it through an inhibitor can lead to death. The chemical weapon, Sarin, is an example of a potent cholinesterase inhibitor, as is VX, which was used in the killing of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader.

But the low, consistent doses the researchers believe were delivered are consistent with exposure to commercial pesticides, the study’s authors said.

The timing is suggestive: The Cubans had stepped-up their fumigation efforts in the wake of the Zika outbreak.

Some pesticides work by inhibiting cholinesterase, the report said, and during the 2016-2018 period when diplomats became ill normal fumigation in Cuba was stepped up due to the Zika epidemic in the Caribbean.

The report said the diplomats’ illnesses coincided with increased fumigation in and around residences where they lived. One of the authors of the study, the professor Alon Friedman, clarified in an email to Reuters that both Canadian and Cuban authorities were fumigating.

Link

Southeast Asia

Judge: 'Well-planned conspiracy' to kill Kim Jong-nam

2018-08-17

[Al Jazeera] A Malaysian judge has ruled that two women accused of participating in the liquidation of the

North Korean leader's estranged brother must mount a defence, setting the stage for a lengthy case, which could last for several more months.

The proceedings on Thursday could have ended with the court ordering the release of 25-year-old Indonesian citizen, Siti Aisyah, and Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong, who is 28.

They are accused of killing Kim Jong-nam by smearing a toxic agent, known as VX, on his face while he was at Kuala Lumpur's airport on February 13, 2017.

The women say that they thought they were taking part in a prank for a reality TV show. Defence lawyers said the real culprits had left the country at a hearing last year.

South Korean and US officials have said Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
's leadership was behind the death. North Korea denies the allegation.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Kim Jong-nam murder suspects to plead not guilty

2017-07-28

[Al Jazeera] Two women accused of poisoning the estranged half-brother of

North Korea's ruler are expected to plead innocent when they appear in a Malaysian court on Friday, their lawyers said.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 29, from Vietnam are suspected of smearing Kim Jong-nam's face with the banned VX nerve agent at a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on February 13.

The women, who face the death penalty if convicted, say they were duped into thinking they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera show.

They are the only suspects in jug in a killing that South Korea's spy agency said was part of a five-year plot by North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
to kill his half-brother.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Malaysia gives Kim Jong-nam's family three more weeks to claim body from morgue

2017-03-14

[SCMP] Malaysia’s health minister said on Monday the government will give relatives of

North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
’s estranged half brother two to three weeks to claim his body before deciding what to do with it.

Malaysian authorities said Kim Jong-nam died after two women smeared his face with the banned VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur’s airport on February 13 but North Korea ‐ which is widely suspected to be behind the attack ‐ rejected the findings.

North Korea demanded the body back from day one and objected to Malaysia’s autopsy. Pyongyang also refused to acknowledge Kim Jong-nam was the victim and referred to him as Kim Chol, the name on the passport Kim was carrying when he was attacked in a crowded airport terminal.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Tillerson to visit S. Korea this week

2017-03-13

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will stay in South Korea for two days from March 17 during which he will meet with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and other senior government officials.

Tillerson's talks with Yun will be held on the first day of his stay in Seoul. They are expected to discuss mostly the North's nuclear threat and cooperation in applying more pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang, according to the officials. This marks the second face-to-face meeting between the two following brief talks in Bonn, Germany, on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers from Group of 20 nations last month.

Tillerson's visit to South Korea is a part of his Asia tour which will also take him to Japan and China.

This came amid heightened tensions in the region in the wake of North Korea's successive missile launches and the killing of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In particular, what messages Tillerson is to provide during his stay is drawing keen attention in that the diplomatic landscape surrounding the Korean Peninsula appears to be getting more cloudy and complicated.

South Korea currently remains at odds with Japan over a girl statue symbolizing Tokyo's wartime sexual slavery of Korean women. It faces stepped-up retaliation from China over the planned deployment of a U.S. missile defense called THAAD on its soil.

Experts said that Tillerson's trip to Seoul could also be a chance for the U.S. to reaffirm its strong commitment to alliance with South Korea at a time when Seoul is going through a leadership vacuum caused by the ouster of President Park Geun-hye.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Who is Kim Han-Sol, son of slain Kim Jong-nam and heir to North Korean regime?

2017-03-08

The son of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un assassinated in Malaysia on 13 February, made a rare video appearance, speaking publicly for the first time since his father's death.

The video was published on 7 March by the Cheollima Civil Defense, an organisation that focuses on rescuing North Korean defectors and refugees, and appeared to show the 21-year-old, who identified himself as "Kim Han-sol from North Korea, part of the Kim family".

Who is Kim Han-sol?

Kim Han-sol first attracted international attention when he moved to Bosnia to study at the United World College in Mostar, an international boarding school offering a multicultural learning environment and a mission to create a peaceful and sustainable future. He was the first North Korean student to attend the school, and indeed one of the first members of the secretive North Korean ruling family to be interviewed in Western media.

Speaking to Finnish broadcaster YLE in 2012, Kim Han-sol talked about his life, his relationship to his family and his hopes for the future.

Born in North Korea, he said he lived an ordinary yet isolated life in the country, until he moved to Macau after his father, who had been tipped to be the first in line to Kim Jong-il succession, reportedly fell out of favour with the regime after attempting to enter Japan to visit Disneyland with a fake passport in 2011. He would still come back to North Korea to visit his relatives, presumably his mother's family as he said he never met his paternal grandfather.

At his school in Macau he met people from other countries, including the US and South Korea, which sparked a desire about seeing more of the world and leaving Macau to study elsewhere. After graduating from UWC Mostar, Kim Han-sol moved to France in 2013 to study for a Bachelor degree in social science at the Sciences Po campus of Le Havre, where students follow the Europe-Asia programme. Following the assassination of Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek, Kim Han-sol was assigned police protection and asked journalists to leave him alone, as reported by South Korean media.

Where is Kim Han-sol now?

His current whereabouts are unknown. South Korean intelligence officers said they believe his family where living until recently in Macau under Chinese government protection, the New York Times reported.

In the video posted by the Cheollima Civil Defense, Kim Han-sol said he is with his mother and sister. The group said they assisted the three family members to relocate them to safety, but that the family's whereabouts will not be addressed. In a statement, the group thanks the governments of the Netherlands, China, the US and a fourth, unnamed one, for the support received in helping the family.

According to British tabloids, Kim Han-sol was admitted to Oxford University to further his education, but had to turn down the offer after his father's assassination. In the 2012 interview, Kim Han-sol said that after completing his studies, he was going to focus on volunteering and peace-building projects. "I have always dreamed one day I will go back and make things better, make it easier for all the people there," he told the interviewer.

What does Kim Han-sol think of Kim Jong-un?

Kim Han-sol said in the 2012 interview he never met neither neither his grandfather Kim Jong-il nor Kim Jong-un, who succeeded him as the country's supreme leader after his death in December 2011.

In fact, he hardly even know who his paternal grandfather was and only understood later in life he was North Korea's ruler, after piecing together conversations his parents had. "I really did not know if he knew I existed". Kim Han-sol said he was living the life of an ordinary citizen in North Korea, before the family left the country to live in Macau. "My dad was definitely not really interested in politics. I really don't know how he [Kim Jong-un] became a dictator ... It was between him and my grandfather," he added.

He expressed a strong desire for the reunification of the country. "I also dream of reunification because it's really sad that I can't go to the other side [South Korea] and see my friends there."

He added: "It is just political issues that divide the nation in half."

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

North Korea orders Malaysian ambassador out after its own envoy is expelled

2017-03-08

[SCMP]

North Korea’s expelled ambassador fired a final salvo at Malaysia on Monday over its investigation into the liquidation of the half-brother of Pyongyang’s leader, describing the probe as biased.

Speaking at Kuala Lumpur International Airport before his flight left, ambassador Kang Chol criticised what he called a "pretargeted investigation by the Malaysian police".

The murder of Kim Jong-nam with VX nerve agent at the same airport last month sparked an acrimonious dispute between the two countries.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

North Korea is holding our citizens hostage, says Malaysia’s PM Najib

2017-03-08

[SCMP]

North Korea banned Malaysians from leaving the country Tuesday, triggering a tit-for-tat response from Kuala Lumpur which said its citizens were effectively being held "hostage" in the row over the liquidation of Kim Jong-nam.

Pyongyang’s extraordinary move came as it faced growing international condemnation for a volley of missiles it fired into the Sea of Japan (East Sea), defying stringent global sanctions aimed at halting its weapons programme.

Tuesday’s developments marked a dramatic heightening of tensions with Malaysia three weeks after the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
was murdered at an airport with the banned VX nerve agent.

The North decided to "temporarily ban the exit of Malaysian citizens in the DPRK", the official news agency KCNA said, citing the foreign ministry and using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The prohibition would remain in place "until the safety of the diplomats and citizens of the DPRK in Malaysia is fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case that occurred in Malaysia".

The Malaysian foreign ministry said 11 of its citizens were currently in North Korea, including three embassy staff, six family members and two others who work for the UN’s World Food Programme.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the bar, and said he was ordering a similar ban on the movement of "all North Korean citizens in Malaysia". Analysts said they could number around 1,000.

"This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms," Najib said.

"As a peace-loving nation, Malaysia is committed to maintaining friendly relations with all countries.

"However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
protecting our citizens is my first priority, and we will not hesitate to take all measures necessary when they are threatened."

Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur had unusually strong links for years, but ties have rapidly degenerated in the weeks since two women wiped a deadly chemical on Kim Jong-nam’s face.

An autopsy revealed that to be VX nerve agent, a substance so dangerous it is classed as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN.

The two women - one Indonesian and the other Vietnamese - were charged last week with the murder. Both women have denied any wrongdoing. The police are still hunting for seven North Korean men allegedly linked to the homicide, which Seoul blames on Pyongyang.

Of the seven, three men, including Hyon Kwang-song, second secretary at the North Korean embassy, have taken refuge in the embassy building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said.

"We will wait, if it takes five years, we will wait outside. Definitely somebody will come out," Khalid said.

The North has never confirmed the dead man’s identity, but has denounced the Malaysian investigation as an attempt to smear it.

North Korean ambassador Kang Chol slammed what he called a "pre-targeted investigation by the Malaysian police" on Monday, moments before leaving the country after being expelled.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Malaysia expels ‘rude’ North Korean ambassador over Kim Jong-nam assassination row

2017-03-06

[SCMP]

North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia has been ordered to leave the country by a deadline of 6pm Monday in a major break in diplomatic relations over the airport liquidation of the half-brother of Pyongyang’s leader.

Malaysia said it expelled ambassador Kang Chol for refusing to apologise for his strong accusations over Malaysia’s handling of the investigation into the February 13 killing of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport.

North Korea has not acknowledged the dead man’s identity but has repeatedly disparaged the murder investigation, accusing Malaysia of conniving with its enemies.

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said a notice was sent to the North Korean Embassy about 6pm Saturday, declaring Chol persona non grata. The notice meant that Kang must leave the country within 48 hours.

Arch-rival South Korea has blamed the North for the murder, citing what they say was a standing order from leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
to kill his exiled half-brother who may have been seen as a potential rival.

The diplomatic spat erupted last month when Malaysian police rejected North Korean diplomats’ demands to hand over Kim’s body.

Kang then claimed the investigation was politically motivated and said Kuala Lumpur was conspiring with "hostile forces".

Malaysia had summoned Kang for a dressing-down over his accusation, with Prime Minister Najib Razak describing the ambassador’s statement as "totally uncalled for [and] diplomatically rude".

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

As North Korea Loses Its Use, China Loses Its Patience

2017-03-06

[SCMP] China’s move to effectively cut off

North Korea’s revenue lifeline by banning coal imports is the first significant signal that Beijing is willing to work with the United States to rein in its defiant neighbour after President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
’s repeated complaints.

This latest move might also indicate a willingness to break the deadlock between China and the US since Pyongyang quit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003.

Trump has made repeated calls for China to get tough on North Korea, saying Beijing could end its neighbour’s nuclear programme "very quickly and easily".

China does provide most of North Korea’s food and fuel; it has long played a crucial role to effectively keep the regime afloat and avoid a repeat of the famines of the 1990s. But the solution China truly seeks is not what the US anticipates.

China’s strategists have long-feared any tough action against the reclusive state might lead to its collapse, triggering a refugee wave at China’s borders and leave Beijing without a geopolitical buffer to US forces under a unified Korea.

There also remains a significant ideological and historic bond between the two nations since fighting together during the Korean War.

However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
China has failed to tame North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
since his ascension in 2011, a year before President Xi Jinping (習近平) took power in China. Xi has met his South Korean counterpart many times, but has never met Kim.

Since he came to power, Kim has purged bigwigs with close links to China in fear of a Beijing conspiracy to replace him, and accelerated Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes despite China’s objections. During Kim’s five years in power, North Korea has implemented 36 ballistic-missile tests and three nuclear tests.

The recent killing of Kim Jong-nam, the leader’s estranged brother, might be the last straw. While Pyongyang denies any role, the use of the VX chemical agent ‐ a weapon of mass destruction according to the United Nations
...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships...
‐ might prompt Beijing to further distance itself from Kim’s dynasty.

China may now realise that continued inaction on North Korea conflicts with its rising international clout and contradicts its national interest. Kim’s weapons of mass destruction pose the same risk to China as they do to South Korea, Japan or the United States.

North Korea’s relentless weapons build-up has fuelled an arms race in the region. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India and Australia are scrambling to upgrade their defences. South Korea’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system to contain the North’s nuclear capability is perhaps the highest-profile reaction, a move that Beijing is fiercely fighting against for fear it could also be used to curb China.

All this risks triggering a nuclear domino effect in Northeast Asia. Trump has even suggested that Japan and South Korea acquire nuclear weapons to counter any challenge from North Korea.

In this volatile environment, China’s continued support of a regime widely seen as a state sponsor of terrorism and a major threat to peace in the region will only damage Beijing’s international image and undermine relations with most of its important trade partners ‐ South Korea, Japan and the US, among others.

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