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foxnews.com/us/2018/03/06/trump-cites-possible-progress-in-talks-with-nkorea.html
Trump commented Tuesday on Twitter after the South Korean government announced that North Korea has agreed to halt tests of nuclear weapons and missiles if it holds talks with the U.S. on denuclearization. South Korea and North Korea have also agreed to hold summit talks in late April.
Trump tweeted: "Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!"
The Associated Press has some additional information:
While the offer of talks could ease tensions, the adversaries will still have to overcome deep mutual suspicion. The U.S. has consistently demanded North Korea give up its nukes, which the reclusive socialist state had previously insisted was off the table until Washington abandoned its "hostile policy" toward it. At a minimum, the Americans wanted a halt in nuclear and missile testing for talks to begin.
"Maybe this is a breakthrough. I seriously doubt it," Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told a Senate hearing Tuesday. He said his doubts are grounded in what he called failed efforts by previous U.S. administrations to negotiate with North Korea over its nuclear program.
Coats said Kim is "very calculating" and views his nuclear capabilities as "essential to his well-being as well as the well-being of his nation."
[...] Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. would remain "firm in our resolve" whichever direction talks with North Korea go. "All options are on the table and our posture toward the regime will not change until we see credible, verifiable and concrete steps toward denuclearization," Pence said in a statement.
[...] On returning from Pyongyang, Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's presidential national security director, said North Korea expressed willingness to hold a "candid dialogue" with the United States to discuss its nuclear disarmament and establish diplomatic relations. Chung said North Korea "made it clear that it won't resume strategic provocations like additional nuclear tests or test-launches of ballistic missiles" while such talks are underway.
[...] But the administration will have difficult questions of its own as it gauges North Korea's intentions. An initial hurdle could be presented by U.S.-South Korean military drills that were postponed during the Olympics and are due to resume next month. North Korea is likely to push for a suspension of the drills which it views as a provocation and a threat, and may ask for relief from U.S.-led economic sanctions.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday March 07 2018, @04:57PM (2 children)
(continued from my last post; being able to edit would be nice here...)
Of course, the list is biased, since different people have different opinions and political views. But looking at the list, I have some of my own problems with it. LBJ is 2 spots down from Obama at #10, but he's the guy who doubled down on the Vietnam War and got 50,000 Americans killed there (plus far more Vietnamese). But he does get some credit for passing the CRA, and at least trying to help things with his "great society" program even if it had some big problems. Why is Reagan at #9? He didn't do anything useful except run up a massive deficit, and fire a bunch of striking ATCs, and honestly it seems like there was a bit of a conspiracy there with the Iran hostage crisis, and also he was involved in the Oliver North scandal. FDR at #3 signed the executive order to deprive Japanese-Americans of due process and stick them in concentration camps, not much better than the Nazis really. Truman at #6 dropped two atomic weapons on an already-defeated country just to show off to the Russians. Eisenhower at #7 should probably be much higher, or at least higher than those guys. Bush 43 at #30 got us into 2 wars, one of which was obviously bullshit; he really should be closer to the bottom. Jackson at #15 set us up for the Depression by closing the US Bank, was a strong supporter of slavery (at a time when it was waning), and is directly responsible for the Trail of Tears which really puts him in the same league as the Nazis. Coolidge, way down at #28, should be ranked higher: he was a strong supporter of racial equality, restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals (including the Teapot Dome scandal) of his predecessor Harding, and managed to leave office with considerable popularity.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:52PM
End of Cold War without a billion people dying.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 07 2018, @08:54PM
Part of what makes him #6 to be honest. With that and the Korean War, he stopped the Soviet military machine. It's educational to compare the number of countries that the USSR absorbed up to 1945 with the number they absorbed after.