The Trump Administration is said to be pushing a proposal to impose “broad” new sanctions against North Korea, with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster putting together the policy recommendation, which aims to impose the sanctions ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit on April 6.
The United States, of course, does virtually no trade with North Korea in the first place, which means that any economic sanctions directly targeting them would necessarily be extremely limited. The recommendation, according to those familiar with the situation, is to target Chinese banks and businesses that do business with North Korea.
Last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited several countries around East Asia, declaring diplomacy with North Korea to have failed, and vowing a “new approach.” Though sanctions are apparently among the moves considered, Tillerson also talked up the possibility of a US military strike on North Korea.
North Korean officials dismissed the idea of the US making any further moves against them, insisting they are continuing to develop their nuclear and missile programs, and are “not afaid” of any action the US might take.
Is this ‘escalation’ of the N.Korea situation or is it just preparation for ‘escalation’?
In Trumpland that is?
Will somebody ask Raimondo because I’m not allowed to ask him?
Sanctions are always effective in hurting the country that is on the receiving end. And will to N.Korea to maybe a limited degree because China is always going to make up any shortfalls. And gleefully I would suggest from their POV.
That which you are talking about with sanctions not working is only from an American’s POV where sanctions don’t help your country’s cause. And we don’t really care about that.
More important is that N.Korea sees it as an act of war, which of course it is, and they escalate their defensive actions of sending the message to the US.
I think they’ve already made their point quite well though and they must surely feel quite secure with China having their backs. Maybe one could even suspect that they’re acting on the direction of China!
“China is always going to make up any shortfalls”
Actually, China recently levied its own sanctions on North Korea, banning millions of tons of coal trade.
Yeah, I had heard of that being mentioned on this site a few times, probably once by you already. I’m just not accepting that it’s as clear as you indicate because I’m stuck on the idea of China being in bed with N.Korea, just as the US is in bed with Israel. Which gives us all reason to doubt that which appears to be reality. Or at least suspect other motives.
Yes, China is ALLOWED to import North Korean coal under the UNSC resolution.
It was China which UNILATERALLY DECIDED to ban imports of North Korean coal:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/china-suspends-north-koreas-coal-imports-striking-at-regimes-financial-lifeline/2017/02/18/8390b0e6-f5df-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html
My link offers a reason why China banned N.Korean coal. That paragraph I quoted didn’t contain the reason the link offered.
OK, so you think China and North Korea are BFFs, and I think China has finally grown tired of the Kim family’s melodramatic horseshit. We disagree. And that’s fine.